Abstract

BALTAR, Juliana Gomes da Cunha  and  GARCIA, Agnaldo. Homeless people and their dogs: relationship fragments in fragmented lives. Gerais, Rev. Interinst. Psicol. [online]. 2019, vol.12, n.2, pp. 191-209. ISSN 1983-8220.  http://dx.doi.org/10.36298/gerais2019120202.

In this paper, we aim to investigate and understand the particularities of human-canine relationships in homeless people. Twelve homeless people from the metropolitan area of Vitória took part in individual semi-structured interviews. The collected data was analyzed qualitatively and divided into three central themes. From the results obtained, we highlight the public safety´s perception on homeless population, the complications for the permanency in institutions and the peculiar aspects of the human-canine affective bond for the studied population. Special attention is given to the public policies that regulate the monitoring of animals in shelter institutions or similar services. Although the conceptual framework for dealing with animal social behavior is distinct from that used for understanding human relationships, the gap can be partially solved through the approximation of the knowledge about animal behavior and Social Psychology studies. Thus, one of the basic references is the study of Hinde, author of prominence in Interpersonal Relationship.

Keywords : Human-canine relationship; Homeless population; Public policies.

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