Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Animals have always played a significant role in people’s lives. Lately, the technological and market economy has anthropomorphized dogs to human-like behavior, particularly to status of family member or child. This study expands upon the current studies on consumption and animals and society by exploring how human-canine relationships are anthropomorphized by a market culture at Three Dog Bakery. The type of person who attends Yappy Hour on a weekly basis has a unique and special type of connection with their dog that goes beyond most people’s relationships with dogs. Most of the dog lovers interviewed do not perceive their dogs as dogs; they are family members, best friends, and “fur babies.” These dog lovers also do not perceive themselves as dog owners; they are mothers and fathers. The social and market environment of Three Dog Bakery, not only reinforces their relationship with their dog, it shapes community, friendships, and personal identity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: City councils provide multiple views of group communication. Council members have multiple commitments to themselves, their fellow council members, their constituency and other social organizations. Humor provides a way to address these multiple, and often conflicting, needs in a manner that is acceptable within the context of the public meeting.

Consider the vote at the July 2000 meeting of the Boulder, Colorado City Council regarding the pet guardianship issue. The Council doggedly analyzed this agenda item many hours into a lengthy meeting. The issue to replace the name owner with guardian was embedded in almost 40 pages of ordinance revisions, yet that single word change had ignited the attention of the public and media—not always favorably either.

When the Council debated the practicality of a nomenclature change from pet owner to pet guardian, not surprisingly, humor surfaced in many ways.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In a system of shared powers, a chief legislator’s ability to accomplish his goals is limited. One of the tools he has at his disposal is the power of rhetoric. Presidents enter office with many policy goals that, if successful, not only shape public policy, but also can aid their re-election and their desire to secure a positive legacy. Often times, one policy in particular, a “pet project” will be personally important to a president and will ultimately be placed on the agenda because of the attention given to it by the president. When Bill Clinton campaigned for office he advocated a national service program. Once in office, this program was ultimately enacted and became known as the AmeriCorps program. Following the “compassionate conservative” campaign theme, George W. Bush proposed a series of “faith based initiatives.” Both presidents talked about these programs in major, as well as minor addresses and treated them as central to how they would define their presidencies domestically. We seek to examine how these presidents highlighted their “pet projects” for the public and for Congress as chief legislators. A close examination of these two case studies provides insight into how these two presidents used available rhetorical resources to pursue a particular aspect of their legislative agendas to accomplish the multiple goals of a chief legislator including making public policy, being re-elected, and securing a positive legacy. Our two case studies provide an examination of how two presidents talked to the Congress (as well as the public) as chief legislator about an agenda item of their own choosing - their “pet” issue - where attention could be focused and the situation defined by the president, in the president’s terms. Both presidents were successful in making public policy. Each, however, took a different path rhetorically and employed a different presidential role in pursuing their goals. Clinton achieved legislative success. He acted as chief legislator by utilizing rhetoric that focused national attention early by employing national and major addresses to his advantage. He worked with Congress to pass his pet project. Bush, however, was less successful as chief legislator, having few legislative victories. A major aspect of his faith-based initiative was successful, however, because of his use of executive powers. Clinton and Bush used rhetoric differently when it came to their pet projects. For Clinton, the focus on his legacy and on being an active chief legislator by extensively using rhetoric to push for his policy was central to how he pursued his pet project. Bush, however, favored exercising the powers of the chief executive to accomplish his policy goal, something that can be done unilaterally; in the area of faith-based initiatives, Bush favored acting as chief executive and this is reflected in his rhetoric.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper, I analyze 35 children's picture books that focus on the death of a child's pet to determine how they portray the relationship between a child and a pet, what they describe as memorable about a pet, whether the book encourages any compassion for the dying animal, and how the animal's death is described. I found that the majority of these books treat the death as less worthy of grief and less fear-producing that human death and therefore a good way for the child to learn about death and the life cycle.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This content analysis of advertising in four popular magazines investigates whether the role of pets—specifically dogs and cats—has changed as they have grown in popularity and power in American culture. Analysis of print ads in 1994 and 2004 suggests that although the frequency with which household pets appear in print ads has declined slightly, portrayals of “Rover” and “Fluffy” have changed to reflect society’s growing fascination with and devotion to our furry family members.