Animal Assisted Therapy

Animal assisted therapy dogs have been trained to visit hospital patients and other chronically ill or developmentally disabled people living in a wide variety of community settings. Spending time with a therapy dog can decrease blood pressure, alleviate depression, relieve stress and encourage children, adults, and seniors to become more interactive with their environments.

According to Dr. Edward Creagan, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, “A pet is a medication without side effects that has so many benefits. I can’t always explain it myself, but for years now I’ve seen how instances of having a pet is like an effective drug. It really does help people.”

Although dogs have been providing companionship to the ill and disabled for centuries, in the mid-1900s, animal assisted therapy (AAT) was recognized as an accepted practice that significantly enhanced the patient’s quality of life.

What Makes a Good Therapy Dog?

Any dog of any age, breed, or pedigree can be a therapy dog, but they must possess one important characteristic: a good temperament. They must genuinely enjoy meeting new people and have good manners when they interact with others.

AAT dogs should also follow basic commands, walk nicely on a leash, and tolerate other dogs. They must also react positively to crowds of people reaching at them to pet and handle them.

Dogs are the most commonly seen therapy animals, but cats, horses, birds, and reptiles can also be wonderful sources of comfort and healing to those in need.

Training Qualifications

Although not every AAT group requires training for the dog or its handler, the most well-respected organizations, like Therapy Dogs International and the Delta Society, require dogs to complete an extensive training program. Many SPCAs and humane societies also provide therapy dog and handler training, as well as coordinated opportunities to visit patients.

Although no previous training is usually required, taking your dog through Canine Good Citizen (CGC) classes is excellent groundwork for AAT training classes. You may also want to take a handler training course, which will instruct you and other handler teams how to help your dog succeed as a therapy dog.

What Kind of Facilities Use Therapy Dogs?

When people think of therapy dogs, the first image that might come to mind is of a dog visiting a children’s cancer ward, trying to buoy the spirits of the terminally ill. However, therapy dogs can also help patients of all ages who live in long-term care facilities, at home, or in group homes.

• Hospitals: A basic visit might include a group session with ambulatory patients or visits to private rooms. In addition to visiting patients in a hospital setting, AAT dogs make wonderful visitors at hospices.
• Outpatient Programs: Therapy dogs can also make in-home visits to the elderly and people with disabilities that do not allow them to leave their homes.
• Assisted Living Facilities: Therapy dogs are in high demand at nursing homes, convalescent care facilities, and retirement homes, where patients don’t often have the opportunity for human-animal interaction.
• Mental Health Facilities: At psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and adult-care facilities for people with developmental disabilities, therapy dogs have been known to soothe people with mental challenges, especially autistic people.
• Group Homes: Sick children aren’t the only young people who can benefit from therapy dog visits. At-risk youth and children with developmental disabilities can learn compassion from their interactions with visiting dogs.
• Shelters: A recent development is using dogs to soothe anxious disaster-relief shelter evacuees, as well as people staying in other types of shelters, including women’s, family, and homeless shelters.

The best way to select a venue for therapy work is to work with an organization that manages the process. One of the unfortunate necessities of working with animals is that insurance must be in place should the worst happen; the facilities themselves may have a policy against therapy visits from animals not registered with an AAT organization.

Other Programs for AAT Dogs

In addition to the traditional work of visiting the needy, therapy dogs are also perfect for a few programs that benefit children.

Although dogs can’t read—not even therapy dogs!—they can be read to, which is exactly what many reading libraries offer. In programs like the Delta Society’s “Reading Paws,” children spend fifteen to sixty minutes reading a book to a participating canine. These programs not only help children improve their reading skills, but also build their self-esteem and public-speaking abilities. You may also be able to find a canine literacy program for adults.

AAT dogs are excellent demonstration dogs for presentations at elementary schools, where they can help teach children how to properly handle and care for a dog. They can also teach children lessons about people with disabilities, namely that they are people, too, and deserve the same respect and compassion as anyone else.

Therapy Dogs & Service Dogs

It’s important to note that therapy dogs are not service animals. According to recent amendments made to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is a dog or small pony trained to provide a specific service for a person with a disability. Service animals have the same rights as humans in that they must, by law, be allowed to accompany their owners everywhere, even into restaurants and onto airplanes.

Therapy animals, however, have no such special privileges. They might be trained to provide comfort and ease, but unless you are also a person with a disability who requires a service dog, your therapy dog is not guaranteed admittance into any business and is not covered by the ADA.

Would Your Dog Be a Good Therapy Dog?

If are interested in finding out whether or not your dog would be good at AAT, the Delta Society’s Pet Partners program screens dogs and handlers in order to ensure they’re both good fits for therapy work.

But even if your dog has the right temperament, he still may not be cut out for therapy work. If he doesn’t enjoy the work, don’t force him to do it. Therapy work should be fun for everyone, but especially your dog. If he doesn’t greet patients with a wagging tail and a smiling face, he’s probably not having a good time.

If your dog enjoys training and other structured activities but isn’t interested in animal assisted therapy, you might consider enrolling him in a canine good citizenship program, advanced obedience classes, agility, or games-based training, like flyball or freestyle.