Rebecca Leonardi

Project Leader: 'Paws for Progress': An Animal Assisted Intervention for Male Young Offenders

I graduated with a First Class degree in Psychology from the University of Stirling in 2010, and was awarded the Peter McEwan Prize for Best Single Honours Student and the British Psychological Society Undergraduate Award for Best Overall Degree Performance. My postgraduate project involves developing, implementing and evaluating an Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) for male young offenders, and is in association with the Scottish Prison Service and Dogs Trust. HMYOI Polmont give their full support to the project. This research project is supervised by Prof. Hannah Buchanan-Smith, Prof. Gill McIvor and Dr Sarah-Jane Vick.

• Human-Animal Interactions                                          
• Offender rehabilitation                                              
• Social behaviour, relationships and health
• Animal welfare
• Animal behaviour and comparative cognition
• Statistical methods

'Paws for Progress' : The Animal Assisted Intervention for Male Young Offenders

This project (my PhD research) involves the development of a prison-based animal assisted intervention programme; specifically, a dog training programme for young offenders serving custodial sentences. The aim of this intervention is to offer vocational, educational and therapeutic benefits to participants, improving their future outcomes. The course teaches male young offenders to improve rescue dogs' behaviour by training basic obedience through positive reinforcement methods, and in doing so, provides the young offenders with positive and rewarding interactions with the dogs, and the opportunity to gain valuable employability skills.

For more information on this project please visit Paws for Progress, where you will also find all our latest news. 

I am a teaching assistant in Psychology at the University of Stirling. I teach sessions for PSY914: Research Methods, and PSY9AO: Developmental Psychology.

I am a registered member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), Membership Number 01117.

I am also a trainer for Crieff Dog Club, teaching basic obedience classes, working trials training, and providing one-to-one assistance with behavioural issues. I am currently lead trainer for the advanced classes.

Leonardi, R., Vick, S.J. and Dufour, V.M. (2011) Waiting for more: The performance of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) on exchange tasks.  Animal Cognition, available online.

Leonardi, R., Buchanan-Smith,  H.M., Dufour, V., MacDonald C. and Whiten, A. (2010)  Living Together: Behavior and welfare in single and mixed species groups of capuchin (Cebus apella) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). American Journal of Primatology, 72, 33-47.

Conferences

Leonardi, R., Buchanan-Smith, H.M, McIvor, G., and Vick, S.J. (2011). AAI for Young Offenders. Paper presented at the SCAS Conference: Dogs and Young Offenders Working Together, July 2011.

Leonardi, R., Buchanan-Smith, H.M, McIvor, G., and Vick, S.J. (2010). AAI for Scottish Male Young Offenders. Paper presented at the seminar event at HMYOI Polmont, November.

I recently attended the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organisations (IAHAIO) 2010 Conference: People and Animals; For Life, and was interviewed by Emma Dahm (editor of Veterinary Nurse (VN) Times), for the conference review article Humans and other animals: the consequences of interactions in VN Times, N° 9, September 1, 2010.

Leonardi, R., Vick, S.J. and Dufour, V.M. (2010). Waiting for more: The performance of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) on exchange tasks. Paper presented at the Behaviour and Evolution Research Group meeting, Stirling, April.

 

Leonardi R. and Buchanan-Smith, H.M. (2009) Living Together: Behaviour and welfare in single and mixed species groups of capuchin and squirrel monkeys. Paper presented at the Living Links Research Group meeting, Edinburgh, January, and at at the Scottish Primate Research Group meeting, Edzell, January. .

Leonardi R. and Buchanan-Smith, H.M. (2009) Interspecific interactions and behaviour: Assessing the impact of living together on groups of capuchin (Cebus apella) and squirrel (Saimiri sciureus) monkeys. Paper presented at the Scottish Conference on Animal Behaviour, Glasgow, April.

Buchanan-Smith, H.M., Leonardi, R. Dufour, V.M., MacDonald, C., and Whiten, A. (2009) Mixed-species exhibits – are they really enriching?  Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Environmental Enrichment, Torquay, June.

Buchanan-Smith, H.M., Leonardi, R., Richmond, S., Dufour, V., MacDonald, C. and Whiten, A. (2009) Living Links to Human Evolution: The first year of a University Research Centre in a major Zoo. Invited plenary paper presented at the BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) meeting, Blackpool, July.