Table 6 Direct, indirect, and total effects observed when predicting the well-being variables for the significant mediation models.

Small-self

  Condition → Frequency dog initiates

0.29

0.05

0.000

0.197, 0.374

  Frequency dog initiates → Small-self

0.22

0.10

0.020

0.035, 0.407

  Condition → Small-self

0.61

0.06

0.000

0.496, 0.718

  Order (covariate) → Small-self

0.16

0.16

0.339

 − 0.164, 0.477

  Order (covariate) → Frequency dog initiates

0.36

0.36

0.320

 − 0.352, 1.076

  Indirect effect

0.06

0.03

0.035

0.004, 0.122

  Total effect

0.67

0.05

0.000

0.579, 0.761

Awe

  Condition → Duration owner communicates

0.77

0.04

0.000

0.692, 0.838

  Duration owner communicates → Awe

0.40

0.15

0.009

0.099, 0.693

  Condition → Awe

0.36

0.14

0.011

0.081, .636

  Order (covariate) → Awe

0.12

0.24

0.619

 − 0.353, .593

  Order (covariate) → Duration owner communicates

0.00

0.33

0.995

 − 0.648, 0.652

  Indirect effect

0.30

0.11

0.007

0.082, 0.523

  Total effect

0.66

0.06

0.000

0.545, 0.777

Gratitude

  Condition → Duration owner communicates

0.77

0.04

0.000

0.692, 0.838

  Duration owner communicates → Gratitude

0.26

0.13

0.038

0.015, 0.513

  Condition → Gratitude

0.45

0.10

0.000

0.256, 0.640

  Order (covariate) → Gratitude

0.54

0.27

0.047

0.007, 1.063

  Order (covariate) → Duration owner communicates

0.00

0.33

0.995

 − 0.648, 0.652

  Indirect effect

0.20

0.10

0.034

0.016, 0.388

  Total effect

0.65

0.04

0.000

0.567, 0.733

Vitality

  Condition → Duration owner communicates

0.77

0.04

0.000

0.692, 0.838

  Duration owner communicates → Vitality

0.37

0.17

0.029

0.038, 0.704

  Condition → Vitality

0.24

0.14

0.092

 − 0.039, − 0.517

  Order (covariate) → Vitality

0.11

0.25

0.666

 − 0.386, 0.604

  Order (covariate) → Duration owner communicates

0.00

0.33

0.995

 − 0.648, 0.652

  Indirect effect

0.28

0.13

0.030

0.027, 0.541

  Total effect

0.52

0.05

0.000

0.419, 0.627