Pet Assisted Therapy

Pet Assisted Therapy

After we adopted our first dog Casey, I found an article on pet therapy and was amazed at the work pets do in schools, hospitals and long-term care facilities. The origins of pet facilitated therapy go back to the 18th century at a York retreat where the patients cared for small animals and learned self-control by caring for creatures weaker than themselves. Florence Nightingale observed that small animals were excellent companions for the chronically ill and thought caged birds would benefit someone confined for a long period. Finally, Boris Levinson discovered the benefits of pet therapy accidentally when a boy and his mother arrived an hour early for an appointment and the boy started interacting with Levinson’s dog. The boy had been nonverbal in previous sessions, yet he responded to the dog and Levinson started exploring the benefits of the human-animal bond.

So how does it work and how do you know if your pet has what it takes to work in pet therapy? First, a dog needs to pass the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test and that consists of ten areas of testing. The dog must be friendly, remain calm when approaching a stranger or another dog, and remain that way as the handler addresses the stranger. The dog must walk on a loose lead, come when called, heel and follow the owner’s lead and be able to walk in a crowd and not react to loud noises. The pet must allow a stranger to brush it and touch his paws and ears. Finally, the dog should remain calm when a friendly stranger stays with the dog for three minutes, out of the owner’s sight.

All of these areas are ones the dog will potentially encounter as a pet therapy dog. I was involved in pet therapy programs for many years in a middle school and the dog encounter erratic behavior from students at times, fire drills, and students passing in the halls between classes.

Check out the Delta Society or Therapy Dog’s International for more information on becoming a pet therapy team. I am writing about dogs, however cats, birds, fish and small animals can be a part of a pet therapy team.

Contact me if you are interested on a bibliography of articles and books on the topic of pet therapy. I did a thesis on the benefits of pet therapy in a variety of settings and have articles and a bibliography on hand.