‘Imagine you are a Dog’: embodied learning in multi-species research

Abstract

Based upon a multi-species ethnography of companion dog training in the UK, this paper examines the training class as a site of inter-species communication through which dogs and their humans are mutually affected and transformed. We argue that dog training represents an important form of multi-species learning in which participants (human trainer, trainee and canine) shape one another, jointly if asymmetrically, through the performance of particular tasks and challenges. Successful training requires ‘attunement’ to the haptic and sensory experiences of another species and the creation of shared embodied languages through which relationships of trust and reciprocity are formed. Responding to calls for less human-centred methods we examine the possibilities of visual and ethnographic methods for capturing the ‘animal’s point of view’ and explore how deep ethnographic involvement of the researcher’s own body can draw attention to the everyday complexities of embodied inter-species communication. We consider the importance of our own embodied learning in decentring the human in the research process, engendering a corporeal understanding of the multi-sensory nature of inter-species interaction and transforming ourselves in the process. Through the use of ethnographic vignettes, photos and video stills we highlight the importance of body language, sound, touch, smell and training atmospheres in the creation of shared knowledges. In doing so we explore the possibilities of such methods for evoking the affective dimensions of human-canine interactions and attending to the complex and multiple actors and sensibilities which comprise multi-species training relationships.

Intergenerational Transmission of Human Parenting Styles to Human–Dog Relationships

“…One explanation for the increased acknowledgment of a dog's dependency and agency is the growing popularity of positive training. Positive training, which emphasizes a "dog-centric approach," encourages caregivers to "see the world from a dog's point of view" and consider the dog's individual temperament and preferences, changing how people view their dog from a "replacement child" to another respected living being in the relationship [102,103]. This aligns with Greenebaum's [104] research, indicating that a dogcentric training approach influences perceptions of the roles and status of both the dog and the caregiver.…”

Multispecies Occupations Involving Equines: An Action-Oriented Inquiry to Inform Occupational Therapy Practitioners

“…Although the presence of embodied communication involving equines and humans has been documented (e.g., Ford, 2019), most studies focused on the human participant’s perceptions of their mutual communication system. Although these mutual processes of embodied communication have been documented in canine-human engagement (e.g., Fox et al, 2023) and human engagement (e.g., Taylor & Fraser, 2019), there is a need to expand our knowledge base to incorporate MSO with additional species, as well as to explore embodied communication and processes of occupational engagement in non-vocal (human) individuals.…”

Prosthetic species: Security dogs and the more‐than‐human sensing of urban danger

“…Animals, such studies demonstrate, play an active role in creating meaningful relationships with humans and places (Bull et al., 2018; Lorimer et al., 2019; Porter & Gershon, 2018). These are two‐way relationships—to accurately interpret dogs' attempts to signal threats, their owners or handlers must engage in long‐term embodied learning, become attuned to canine forms of communication and ways of being in the world (Fox et al., 2023).…”