The first of a planned series of articles exploring the 'human - canine relationship' has been published in Society & Animals. The first four papers will focus exclusively on the association between the presence of licensed dogs and property crime rates in Milwaukee, WI in 2011. The first paper is a simple assessment of whether the presence of licensed dogs is associated with lower property crime rates. The second paper will look at differences (if any) in property crime rates and dog breeds/classifications and will take socio-economic factors into consideration as well. The third paper will investigate adjacency benefits (if any). The fourth will report the results of a survey to measure perceptions and realties of the impact dogs have on community safety.
Broadly, I am interested in understanding how human - canine interaction benefits both species in our shared society. Besides my specific community safety interests, policies designed to improve conditions of sheltered dogs (and reducing the need for sheltering of dogs) are of paramount interest.