Who let the dogs in?

Picture the scene. Two opposing parties come face to face at the beginning of a day of mediation. They’re stressed, anxious and feeling combative. Suddenly, their eyes spot a friendly-looking dog in the corner of the room and without thinking they both walk over and stroke it. Suddenly, they feel a bit lighter, a little less angry. They look up, smile at their opposite then walk back to their separate rooms.

This may be imaginary – but until a few weeks ago who would have thought the new normal would be mediating online via Zoom? What COVID-19 has taught us is that mediators must be ready and willing to adapt.  Could that include dogs in mediation being part of our future? Well there are certainly plenty of benefits of having a furry friend around.

The ice breaker effect

Dog owners will know that you can’t get far on a walk without strangers stopping to say hello. It happens all the time with our four-year-old cockerpoo, Bertie. Dogs make the perfect icebreaker and conversation starter. And they can bring people together. When two people interact with a dog it gives them a common point of contact and that contact, however brief, could help parties in mediation be more open minded in their negotiations.

 A calming presence

Dogs seem to have a calming, neutralising presence. At home, I’ve noticed that when I need to have difficult conversations with my children communication is less strained and more free-flowing when Bertie is around. For some reason, it’s harder to be unreasonable with him lying there, one eye open, quietly listening. His non-judgemental presence seems to act as an emotional bridge between the different sides.

A furry companion

Quite commonly at mediation people will bring a family member or a friend for moral support. Sometimes, they don’t even speak to that person, they just want them there for company. A dog would make an equally good – if not better – companion. During mediation a party may feel powerless to change the views of the other side, but if their dog were there to stroke they’d be instantly and unconditionally rewarded with a positive reaction in the form of a lick or a wagging tail. Knowing that they can be persuasive, if only with their dog, can give the party a little more sense of control.

Changing the mood

At mediation people often turn up feeling ‘anti’ to the other side and that affects their mood and mindset. But you’d have to be quite a hard person not to have your heart a little bit softened by a dog. When one of the parties has a friendly encounter with a dog it can spark a change in them – they may feel more ‘human’ and so they may start to feel more empathetically towards the other side. And that could lead to a more favourable attitude towards resolution.

The future of dogs in mediation

I don’t know that we’ll be seeing dogs as a common fixture in mediation any time soon – I suspect it’s just a bit too quirky and leftfield. Certainly, I couldn’t see it going down too well at higher value commercial disputes. But it would be interesting to see how dogs worked with mediations between individuals where there’s a high level of personal stress and emotion involved – for example probate cases or family shareholder disputes. Here, I think there would be a more receptive audience to a wet nose and a wagging tail. When we’re back to face-to-face meetings, perhaps Bertie and I should give it a go.