We know it when we see it — a child's shoulders drop, a witness takes a breath, a survivor finds words they couldn't find before. But what is actually happening in those moments? Science is beginning to tell us.
Dr. Kerri Rodriguez, one of the world's leading researchers in human-animal interaction, closes Day 1 with a session that gives the justice facility dog community something powerful: the evidence to match the instinct. As Director of the HAB Lab at the University of Arizona, Dr. Rodriguez has spent her career investigating the measurable impacts of the human-animal bond — from stress buffering and trauma recovery to the wellbeing of both the humans and animals in these partnerships.
Drawing on her extensive body of research — work that has been featured in the BBC, Washington Post, National Geographic, People Magazine, and beyond — Dr. Rodriguez will explore what the science tells us about dogs in high-stakes settings, what we still don't know, and why that research matters for the future of the justice facility dog model. For handlers who have always known this work changes lives, this session will give you the language, the data, and the confidence to say exactly why.
