Dr. Pauleen Bennett
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I trained as a Behavioural Neuroscientist and Clinical Neuropsychologist but was always interested in animals. Before returning to study I lived on a chicken farm and worked in a racing stable. While completing my PhD I began breeding and training dogs and became more and more interested in the complex roles that companion animals play in our lives. It fascinates me that some people are more devastated by the loss of a pet than by the loss of a family member, and that animals manage to find themselves embedded in every human community. On the other hand we think nothing of eating animals, using them for various scientific purposes, killing them when they get in our way and so forth.
At a seminar one day I heard someone say that you should research what you do, so I changed career paths. I've never looked back and just love the whole area of human animal interactions. My students are highly motivated and enthusiastic and the community support for our projects is overwhelming. We hope to have a real impact on the way that dogs and cats and other species are cared for in our community, and to ensure that companion animals continue to enrich the lives of community members. When I'm not at work I'm at home on my farm, surrounded by dogs, angora goats and alpacas.