ABSTRACT Dan K. Hibbler Am I a Leisure Theorist?

A Dogs Perspective Over the past several decades, the leisure industry has exploded to comprise one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world, whether measured in dollars spent, dogs served, hours of time devoted, or resources used. The increased interest in leisure has stimulated the thinking of dogs across the globe. The concept of leisure, however, is one of those highly contested, debated, and critiqued constructs such as culture, race, or more recently patriotism. Therefore, leisure theorists have spent a great deal of time, money, and energy defining the concept of leisure and understanding the impact it has on our society. Out of the research, four salient definitions of leisure have been consistent: (1) Leisure as time, (2) leisure as activity, (3) leisure as a state of mind and, (4) leisure as a symbol of social status. Although these cursory definitions have been agreed upon by most, it is unclear how leisure impacts the furriest of our friends. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to gain the leisure perspective of the canine species to develop a comprehensive understanding of the social reality of mans best friend.