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  • Scent Dogs in Society Seminar

    Scent Dogs in Society Seminar

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    Learn about the fascinating world of scent dogs and their roles in society – join us for Scent Dogs in Society on 13 September 2026.

    Scent Dogs in Society explores the world of scent dogs and their roles in society. This seminar delves into the science and practice of working dogs—covering scent detection, medical alert dogs, cognition, well-being, and the human-animal bond—through engaging research talks and a panel discussion.

    The event is open to professionals, researchers, and the public. Participation is free. Registration is required, you can register here.

    Location and registration

    On-site: Main Building, University of Helsinki
    Online: Online participation link by email. The link will be sent shortly before the event, not immediately after registration.

    Registration is required. Please register using the link below.

    Register here

    Programme

    Please find the preliminary programme below. The programme and topics are subject to change. Last updated 18 June 2026.

    10:00 Opening Speech
    Inka Hopsu, Member of Parliament (to be confirmed)

    10:15 Developing new Detection Dog applications by using OSAC standard guidelines
    Adee Schoon

    11:00 Emotional Labour in Human–Dog Work
    Tiamat Warda

    11:45 Lunch

    12:45 Co-Regulation in Human–Animal Interaction
    Aija Koskela

    13:30 Cognition and Resilience: Traits of a Successful Scent Detection Dog
    Katriina Tiira

    14:15 Implementation of K9 individualized Scent Discrimination Training
    Ilkka Hormila

    15:00 New Research in Focus: Short Presentations on Ongoing Medical Detection Dog Research

    • Pia Siljamäki – Migraine Detection
    • Petri Turtiainen – Fatigue Detection
    • Ria Malminen – Detection of Equine Gastric Ulcers
    • Nona Borgström – Chronic Pain Detection

    15:40–16:00 Panel discussion with all speakers

    Thank you!

    All lectures are in English. The lecture hall is accessible.

    Contact

    For more information, please contact:

    Nona Borgström
    PhD researcher, University of Helsinki
    nona.borgstrom(at)helsinki.fi
    044 248 5105

  • Exploring Animal Welfare and Wellbeing of Sled Dogs from a Guides Point of View

    Exploring Animal Welfare and Wellbeing of Sled Dogs from a Guides Point of View

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    One of the dogs who didn’t enjoy the old free run before is super happy about the new one. The old one was a small one between the kennel rows, with all the dogs being super close to each other. Now in the new one, which is set up in a U shape, there is more space between the kennels and the free run, and he really likes it. It’s nice to see how some dogs change because of a better and calmer free run area.

    14.07.2025, Company 2, new dog yard

    This is one of my diary entries I wrote down as data for my master’s thesis. I work with sled dogs since October 2020, the reason why I decided to do my thesis about animal welfare and wellbeing of sled dogs based on my experiences and knowledge. During my studies, I worked at two different tourism husky farms, one during wintertime and at the second one during summertime. At both places, I wrote down observations and informal conversations I had with colleagues with the focus on aspects and factors impacting the dogs’ welfare and wellbeing. In total, I wrote down 149 diary entries of my workdays.

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  • Recent Publications on Guide Dogs’ Emotional Labour

    Recent Publications on Guide Dogs’ Emotional Labour

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    To understand well-being at work we need to understand emotional labour. “Emotional labour” refers to a specific, critical labour process. It can be understood as the management (e.g., inducing, suppressing, redirecting) of emotions to perform a demeanour of professionalism that is appropriate for a specific working context. This is a performance, because every worker will be carrying out their tasks within social and organisational contexts that form expectations around how they act while working. Yet, while emotional labour can be an enjoyable labour process, it is not always aligned with how a worker actually feels.

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  • Reflections from an Inspiring Conference – The International Working Dog Conference 2025

    Reflections from an Inspiring Conference – The International Working Dog Conference 2025

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    One of our PAWWS members, PhD researcher Nona Borgström, participated in the International Working Dog Conference 2025 (IWDC 25) in Warwick UK, presenting her poster with the topic: Medical pain alert dogs for patients with paroxysmal pain.

    The conference talks covered a broad field of expertise and research covering areas such as breeding genomics, animal welfare, technology, stress impacts on our working dogs, case reports, olfactory research.

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  • How Tourists View the Ethics of Sled Dog Safaris in Finnish Lapland

    How Tourists View the Ethics of Sled Dog Safaris in Finnish Lapland

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    ‘So, to me it was incredible [to meet the sled dogs]. I mean, it was incredible to be able to spend time with them and stuff. But in the back of my mind, I feel a bit, you know, sad for some of them that had to pull the sled and stuff, but maybe they liked it, I don’t know.’ (Interviewee 4)

    This quote is from my master’s thesis where I studied tourists’ ethical views on sled dog safaris. I had a great opportunity to research sled dog safaris as a commission for the PAWWS project. The research data consisted of six interviews with international tourists who visited sled dog kennels in Finnish Lapland. I conducted the research via video calls in spring 2025 and I focused on four larger safari operators. In this overview, I present the findings of my research.

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  • Transdisciplinary approaches to multispecies justice

    Transdisciplinary approaches to multispecies justice

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    On 25th April 2025, one of our PAWWS members, Linda Tallberg was invited to participate and share her throughs in a panel at the ‘Transdisciplinary approaches to multispecies justice research workshop’ at Oulu University (Finland) organized as part of the Biodiverse Anthropocenes Research Program 2025 Thematic Semester “Research and Learning Paths in the Anthropocene”  and hosted by researchers from the AniMate Research Collective who work in different multispecies research projects: MUST: Enabling Multispecies Transitions in Cities and Regions, (Maria Saari), Fellow Feelings (Marina Pliushchik) and HOMINGS (Kristina Vitek).

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  • PAWWS at Parliament: Advocating for medical pain alert dogs

    PAWWS at Parliament: Advocating for medical pain alert dogs

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    Last month, on a cold sunny day on February 19, our researcher, Nona Borgström, part of the University of Helsinki’s (UH) veterinary science and social health section of project PAWWS, had the unique opportunity to visit the Finnish Parliament to advocate for medical pain alert dogs. This visit was timely, as discussions are underway on a legislative initiative to grant medical pain alert dogs an official status. The visit also aimed to highlight the current assistance dog situation in Finland, especially concerns about their availability and the processes involved.

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  • Interspecies Wellbeing at Work Symposium

    Interspecies Wellbeing at Work Symposium

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    ZOOM RECORDING AVAILABLE BELOW
    📅 May 22, 2025
    🕒 15:00–17:45 EET

    Project PAWWS (People and Animal Wellbeing at Work and in Society), funded by the Research Council of Finland, invites you to a free online event. This spring event will showcase the research being conducted by PAWWS’ three work packages – from University of Lapland, University of Helsinki, and Aalto University – on multispecies wellbeing at work in Finland. You can read the bios of the PAWWS team here.

    Prof José-Carlos García-Rosell will open this event by sharing about his work in developing the first sled dog welfare criteria for auditing and certifying sled dog kennels in the Finnish tourism industry. Prof Kendra Coulter will close this event with a keynote entitled “Humane Jobs and Work-Lives”.

    Thank you to the speakers and participants who came to project PAWWS’ spring symposium entitled “Interspecies Wellbeing at Work”. If you were unable to attend or wish to revisit the event’s contents, a recording has been made available and is shared below. 

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  • Pulling the Weight of Tourism: Multispecies Welfare in Finnish Husky Safaris

    Pulling the Weight of Tourism: Multispecies Welfare in Finnish Husky Safaris

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    While the holiday frenzy has faded for much of the world, in Finnish Lapland, sled dogs continue to pull tourists through the snow-covered landscapes of the North—often until late April. Particularly in more popular places such as the official hometown of Santa Claus, Rovaniemi, and the ski resort Levi, husky safaris are now established as a key attraction rating as one of the top tourism activities For many, it is becoming increasingly “difficult to imagine a visit to Lapland without huskies” (Bohn, García-Rosell, & Äijälä, 2018; 3). With approximately 2 million tourists visiting Lapland in 2024, this creates pressures on husky safaris to cater to an increasing demand. As a result, the number of sled dogs, guides, and working hours continue to rise at a concerning rate. At the moment, there are over 50 kennels ranging from 12-500 dogs per operator.

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  • Eduskunnan eläinavusteinen työryhmä

    Eduskunnan eläinavusteinen työryhmä

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    Olemme mukana vaikuttamassa eduskunnan eläinavusteisessa työryhmässä. Työryhmä on perustettu edistämään eläinten roolia ja näkyvyyttä yhteiskunnassa.

    Eduskunnan eläinavusteisen työryhmän Facebook-tili

    Eduskunnan eläinavusteinen työryhmä tukee kansalaisaloitetta eläinten perusoikeuksien saamiseksi perustuslakiin (STT Info)

    Eduskunnan eläinavusteinen työryhmä: Eläinavusteisuutta lisäämällä edistetään ihmisten hyvinvointia Suomessa (Aamuset)

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animal assisted interventions (AAI) (1) animal assisted therapy (AAT) (4) animal welfare (6) emotional labour (2) events (4) guide dogs (1) IWDC (1) language: english (12) language: finnish (6) language: swedish (4) multispecies research (6) organisational research (3) pain dogs (3) podcast (1) scent dogs (1) sled dogs (2) workshop (2)

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