Issue 31 | July 2025 — Working Animal

The Paradox of Standards: Ethics in an Unregulated Industry

Abstract In the absence of formal regulation, the dog training and behaviour consultancy industry relies heavily on self-defined ethical standards to guide practice. This commentary examines the limitations of ethical codes in an unregulated field, arguing that while...

Written by Erin Jones, PhD, MSc, PgDip, BSc (Hons), CPDT-KA, IAABC-ADT, CDBC

Issue 24 | July 2025 — Working Animal

Everybody loves Fido! The Ethics of Including Animals in Mental Health Work

Summary: Animals have been used as adjuncts in therapy since the time of Freud, and there are more and more programs that use animals to help patients communicate and heal. Animal Assisted Play Therapy is a combination of play therapy and animal assisted therapy,...

Written by Tara Moser and Jodi Smith

Issue 23 | June 2022 — Working Animal

COVID-sniffing Dogs One Year Later: New Studies Show Promise

Summary: The canine nose is the most sophisticated tool we have for detecting odors in real-life environments. As soon as the pandemic hit, researchers started looking at whether dogs could be trained to detect if a person is infected with the COVID-19 virus. One year...

Written by Kayla Fratt, CDBC