Dogs and Children's Development in a Northern Plains Tribe

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然人与动物的互动（HAI）领域近年来取得了重要进展，但在社区环境中与儿童接触动物的全方位体验尚未发生，在美国印第安人保留地的工作是一个特别显著的差距。鉴于在许多这些社区的流浪狗的程度，有重大的问题，在何种程度上的HAI模型的基础上宠物所有权可能适用于思考如何狗可以解决儿童的需求。该项目建立在俄克拉荷马州大学应用社会研究中心的教职员工和蒙大拿州黑脚族成员之间的伙伴关系之上，他们正在努力恢复孩子和狗之间的尊重关系。该项目有三个具体目标：1）探索狗对当代黑脚家庭的意义; 2）描述当代黑脚社区中狗与儿童之间的互动; 3）阐明一个改善与狗互动的模型，目标是改善儿童的结果。作为一笔小额赠款，其主要目的是产生知识，以支持干预措施的发展，该项目利用参与性和人种学方法，但这样做的明确目标是支持未来更大的多学科努力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While the field of human-animal interaction (HAI) has made important advances in recent years, engagement with the full range of children's experiences with animals in community settings has yet to occur, and work in rural American Indian reservations is an especially notable gap. Given the extent of roaming dogs in many of these communities, there are significant questions about the extent to which models of HAI based on pet ownership may be applicable to thinking about how dogs can address children's needs. This project builds upon a partnership between faculty and staff from the University of Oklahoma's Center for Applied Social Research and members of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, who are leading an effort to restore respectful relationships between their children and their dogs. The project has three specific aims: 1) to explore the meaning of dogs to contemporary Blackfeet families; 2) to describe interactions between dogs and children in contemporary Blackfeet communities; and 3) to articulate a model for improving interactions with dogs with the goal of improving children's outcomes. As a small grant, with the primary aim of generating knowledge to support intervention development, the project utilizes participatory and ethnographic methods, but does so with the express goal of supporting larger multidisciplinary efforts in the future.