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“He gives me everything all the time, and I feel bad that I can’t even throw him the ball” : Relational care agency in interspecies care work




TekijätHuopalainen, Astrid; Satama, Suvi

KustantajaSage

Julkaisuvuosi2026

Lehti: Human Relations

Artikkelin numero00187267261428980

ISSN0018-7267

eISSN1741-282X

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1177/00187267261428980

Julkaisun avoimuus kirjaamishetkelläAvoimesti saatavilla

Julkaisukanavan avoimuus Osittain avoin julkaisukanava

Verkko-osoitehttps://doi.org/10.1177/00187267261428980

Rinnakkaistallenteen osoitehttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/515925090

Rinnakkaistallenteen lisenssiCC BY

Rinnakkaistallennetun julkaisun versioKustantajan versio


Tiivistelmä

What might we learn about care and agency by attuning to the sensory dynamics of human-canine care collaborations? While most research on care focuses on humans, this paper extends the relational care work debate by engaging with interspecies care, foregrounding the nuanced relational care agency that entails nonhuman animal–human interdependency. Drawing on relational and interspecies care literature affording agency to nonhuman animals, we studied 13 assistance dog teams to explore how care is co-created between disabled humans and educated, yet vulnerable, animal workers. The empirical material includes ethnographic observations, interviews with human clients, and photographs. Our findings illustrate often invisible, nonverbal aspects of interspecies care, grounded in mutual trust and the aesthetic “reading” of one another, thereby contributing to a more granular understanding of relational care agency. Second, by showing how dogs, long understood through limited human conceptions, “shift” from care receivers to embodying agential care professionals who disrupt power dynamics and human-centered care norms, we nuance the carer–cared-for relationship in OS. Third, we offer novel insights into interspecies care, encompassing a broader range of animal-driven care practices than previous literature recognized. Finally, our study aims to foster more ethical relationships for working animals and humans alike.


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The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the Research Council of Finland for project PAWWS—People and Animal Wellbeing at Work and in Society (funding decision #355434).


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