Shelly Volsche
Shelly Volsche received her Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a focus on reproductive choices and the human-animal bond. Using an evolutionary lens, she studies our ever-changing relationships with non-human animals, as well applying the One Health approach to behavioral health and cross-species relationships. Her current projects investigate the increasing importance of pets as family members, including the application of human parenting strategies with companion animals. This involves consideration of coevolutionary processes, cross-cultural comparisons of pet keeping, interspecific attachment, and the connection between reduced fertility and increased pet parenting. Relatedly, she is interested in how an appreciation of the emotional and cognitive abilities of other species shapes human perceptions of who is food, foe, or family, and the welfare implications of our influence and uses of other animals.
Her dissertation investigated the practice of remaining childfree and is available from Lexington Books
Phone: 208-426-3037
Address: Boise State University
Department of Anthropology
HEMG, Room 116
1910 University Drive
Boise, ID 83725-1950
Her dissertation investigated the practice of remaining childfree and is available from Lexington Books
Phone: 208-426-3037
Address: Boise State University
Department of Anthropology
HEMG, Room 116
1910 University Drive
Boise, ID 83725-1950
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Papers by Shelly Volsche
Data collection took place via online, self-report surveys and included demographic information on owners and their dogs, assessment of owner to dog attachment levels (utilizing the Pet Attachment Life Impact Scale), and a measure of aversion used in training. The survey also included open-ended questions that provided owners with the opportunity to add ethnographic value to the data. To validate the breakdown of training philosophies, I completed a pilot survey of professional trainers in which I asked them to classify training philosophies and assign degrees of aversion to commonly recommended methods and techniques. The results of this dog trainer survey aided in the construction of the aversion measurement tool included in the dog owner survey mentioned above.
My recruitment strategy involved multiple Internet outlets along with local canvassing. The sample consisted of 673 respondents from across the United States. Of that population, 90.1% were female and 88.0% identified as white. Additionally, 78.6% were not parents, but a large percentage of the population (65%) considered themselves their dog’s parent or guardian. A weak positive correlation (r=.217, p<.001) was found between participants’ attachment and the reported frequency of aversion used in training their dogs. These results run contrary to my hypothesis. This thesis discusses the interpretations of these findings, including with respect to changing human-dog interactions in the United States.
This thesis provides a window into a growing phenomenon of “pet parents,” with data that could drive future research. The human-canine bond is an area of study still in development. In addition, a growing population of individuals identify as “childfree,” choosing not to raise children. Many of these individuals are “parenting” their pets, instead, and the majority of the current sample seems to reflect that population. A large and growing body of research exists concerning the perspective of the dog (cognition, neuroscience, and emotion research in particular), while most data collected from the human perspective focuses on epidemiological and physiological assessments of dog ownership. Future research could focus more on the emotionality of dog ownership to uncover driving factors behind, and to improve, the choices made in care and training.