page_title: Pauleen Bennett
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Pauleen Bennett / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Pauleen Bennett, psychologist who studies anthrzoology
context_page_description: Pauleen Charmayne Bennett is an Australian scientist researching anthrozoology at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia.
  Bennett's research in the field of human-animal interactions has informed government policy and covered areas of: human attitudes, health and behaviour; ethics of animals in society; animal behaviour, physiology and welfare. Her research interest lies in understanding the diverse psychological connections between humans and animals, particularly companion animals, positive psychology, and in the use of animals in human health therapies.
  In 2002, Bennett founded the Anthrozoology Research Group, an interdisciplinary team of postgraduate and undergraduate researchers with over one hundred peer-reviewed journal and conference publications. She is chair of the Australian Anthrozoology Research Foundation, a non-profit foundation set up to raise research funding for students investigating the potential benefits for human health of engaging with companion animals.
context_section_description: Bennett lives in regional Victoria outside of Bendigo with her partner, Ron Wheeler, and their collection of dogs, horses, goats and one cat. She used to farm alpacas, is a certified pet dog training instructor and is a registered dog breeder, having bred Jack Russell Terriers, Australian Shepherds and Lagotto Romagnolos under the kennel name of HevnSent. It was Bennett's personal appraisal of the breed standard requirement to dock her puppies' tails, and subsequent review of the complex attitudes related to the issue of tail docking in dogs, that prompted her to change her professional focus from the neurosciences to pursue improved understanding of human-animal interactions in the inter-disciplinary field of anthrozoology.
caption: Pauleen Bennett and a dog (2012)
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