PAW-WELL CARD DECK: A TOOLKIT FOR CAREGIVERS TO SUPPORT THE WELLBEING OF GERIATRIC DOGS

Date

2023-12-28

Author

Aktaş, İdil

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Depending on the aging of dogs, changes may be observed in their physical, sensory, or mental capacities over time which will affect their quality of life adversely. The biggest helpers of dogs in the process are caregivers who have the opportunity to observe the changes during the time they spend together. However, caregivers' different levels of awareness about their dog's life may affect their caring. In the caring process, creating an environment that will ensure the wellbeing of the geriatric dog and supporting them with appropriate products, and activities according to their needs and capabilities are important in slowing down the symptoms. This study aims to support the wellbeing of geriatric dogs by providing a toolkit to support caregivers' awareness levels by enhancing their observation capabilities regarding their dogs. During the toolkit design phase, the different types of enrichments suggested in the literature were one of the main focuses. The toolkit was supported with enrichment toys selected as a result of market research. To evaluate the Paw-Well toolkit, pre-interviews, two-week studies, and post-interviews with 10 caregivers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that the toolkit has the potential to inform and guide the caregiver to support their geriatric dogs’ wellbeing. The findings are used to determine the design requirements as ‘informative, guiding, adaptable to diverse dogs and caregivers, accessible, affordable, durable, and more personalized options for reminder and communication enhancers’ for improving each tool.

Subject Keywords

Animal Wellbeing, Geriatric Dog, Human-Animal Interaction, Toolkit Design

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107830

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis