Therapy Dogs Info

What Does a Therapy Dog do?

Therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort and affection to people other than their handlers or owners. That could mean visiting a variety of places where people need love and affection, such as hospitals, schools, hospices, nursing homes, disaster areas, and more. They are encouraged to interact with a variety of people and should have a friendly and warm disposition.

The exact nature of their role differs from dog to dog and from institution to institution. Some include:

Improving patients’ mental health through socialization and engagement

Giving learning disabled children the confidence to read out loud

Aiding physical rehabilitation by walking people through processes, with the aim of helping them to recover certain physical skills

The history of therapy pets can be traced back to Ancient Greece. In more recent times, Florence Nightingale put forward the concept of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). In Notes on Nursing, published in 1860, the “Lady with the Lamp” suggested, “a small pet is often an excellent companion for the sick” and Dr. Sigmund Freud followed this line of thought by using his dog to calm patients with anxiety.

Elaine Smith, a registered nurse who spent some time working in England, also noticed dogs helping with anxiety, and upon returning to New Jersey established the first formal training program for dogs to visit institutions.

How Therapy Dogs Can Boost Your Health

Some mental health challenges and psychiatric disorders are known to respond well to therapy dogs. Patients diagnosed with a range of issues, such as depression, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and Alzheimer's disease, benefit from their interaction with therapy dogs and other companion animals.

Sometimes, emotional challenges are the result of physical health problems, and therapy dogs can help with those too. Research suggests that patients who are recovering from difficult surgery or a bad accident who participate in animal-assisted therapy may feel less pain. Studies have shown that such interactions can increase the mood-boosting hormone oxytocin and decrease the stress hormone cortisol.