Are Dogs Good For Therapy?

Nightingale and Freud’s contributions to psychotherapy methods using animal-assistance did not end where they began. Dr. Boris Levinson made-- what was just a curiosity by some-- a legitimized

Most of the therapy dogs come from a selective breeding program known as the American Kennel Club (AKC). These dogs go through several months of obedience training and must be able to strictly follow commands. These dogs must also feel comfortable in the presence of wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, oxygen tanks, food carts, and any other equipment patients and therapists use. A number of studies have demonstrated that the presence of therapy dogs serve to increase the quantity and quality of positive attention directed toward the physically handicapped by both familiar individuals and

In the field of therapy, there are numerous of therapy available out there for different type of individuals and situations as well. There is one type of therapy that usually contains people and animal, it is animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic approach that brings animals and individuals with physical and/or emotional needs together to perform the therapy. Animal-assisted therapy tend to be focused on individuals either children or elderly for them to be able to connect with the animal thus feeling comfortable talking with the therapist. Pet therapy works for all ages, whether sick or not (Lanchnit, 2011). Although, this paper, most of the focus is on animal-assisted therapy towards children using dogs.

Emotional support animals can take on a multitude of jobs that “may include reminding the handler to take medicine, providing safety checks or room searches, or turning on lights for persons with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, interrupting self-mutilation by persons with dissociative identity disorders, and keeping disoriented individuals from danger,” (Brennan). These animals are often considered pets but are actually so much more than that, emotional support animals have a very important role in protecting the mental health of their owners and keep them safe. Not only do these animals protect people’s mental health but they also give people a purpose. Taking care of one of these dogs or other animals gives people something to take care of and focus on. Knowing that there is another living thing that relies on them can be very grounding and keep people connected to something outside of themselves.

Pets have long been known to have beneficial health effects on people, both physically and mentally. However, for someone with severe mental illnesses like major depression and anxiety, a psychiatric service dog can be a life-saver. With time, these dogs become more attuned to the needs of their handler/human, and can often recognize signs that even other people cannot. These non-judgmental, loyal, and trained animals can provide the right kind of care to mental health patients and set them on the path to

Main point one: Companionship is important to have in your life, even if it comes from your dog. When life gets stressful it’s nice to have a companion to play with, take a walk with or even cheer you up. Companionship can be hard to come by with humans sometimes and easily found in dogs. While their personalities vary according to the breed of the dog, one characteristic remains the same, their loyalty. Dogs make great listeners, maybe because they can’t tell you to stop talking, but either way they seem to listen with interest. Many dog owners find themselves telling dogs things they can't seem to tell anyone else. This is what makes dogs good therapeutic animals. A dog is an especially good animal for someone who lives alone or suffers from depression. Having a dog present can also help people who have suffered a tragic loss in their life and need the company of another life for comfort. I know from my personal experience of losing a loved one, what a dog can do to help you through. Owning a dog gave me responsibility at me weakest and gave me a

These dogs learn many tasks so they are specialized for their certain patient. Therapy dogs learn special tasks to decrease the anxiety in a patient during certain situations, so “Stanek trains his dogs to perform 10 or so PTSD-specific tasks. Some of them are designed to ease concerns about blind spots, not unlike the way a military unit designates someone to watch troops' backs or to scout ahead. Stanek's 2-year-old Catahoula mix, Sarge, for example, has been trained to check around the corner to see what's in the next aisle at a store.”(Thompson 3). When therapy dogs are in public areas, they tend to use tasks like checking around the corners at stores. Those with PTSD sometimes believe there are attackers around the corner. This helps relieve stress of the war veteran by assuring that when the veteran turns the corner they will not get hurt. Not only do the dogs go through training to become perfect for their patients, but they also have to become trained in “normal” tasks, whether their patients use it or not. A therapy dogs may be complicated or not but either way “To qualify as a service animal, dogs must be trained to do work or perform tasks like providing safety checks and room searches for a person with PTSD.”(Thompson 3) . When dogs successfully pass the tests to become a therapy dog, people know therapy dogs are effective at reducing symptoms due to all the standards they must meet. People can usually tell when it is a therapy dog or a pleasure dog just by how they act. Therapy dogs tend to be much calmer and are very good at calming people down. The special training dogs go through make them not only able to but also extremely talented at decreasing a PTSD patient’s

Imagine you were in a hospital and your doctor mentions pet therapy and you decide to try it out. Your doctor arranges for you to meet with someone in the morning to tell you all about it. Soon after that, a dog and its handler visit you in your room and you are invited to pet the dog, play with it, and ask questions to the owner. After the visit you realize you're smiling, less tired, and more optimistic, and you can't wait to tell your friends and family about it, and can't wait for tomorrow to see the dog again. This is called pet therapy. Because pet therapy is popular today people should understand the physical, mental, and social benefits before making a decision.

“Isolated, his family deteriorating—“I couldn’t show affection, couldn’t hug my kids”—Soliz turned to the Palo Alto V.A. Medical Center” (Colin n.p.) “Soliz says his life is slowly coming back to him and he now can go to the movies without panicking—and hug and kiss his two kids” (Colin n.p.). Moore who explained in her dissertation that, “some of the veterans spoke of ways their Psychiatric Service Dog has bettered their relationships with other people, in particular through increasing interpersonal interactions, Similar to Ensayra and Love's (2008) finding of the dog serving as a "social lubricant”

A therapy dog is skilled to care and offer comfort to patients in hospitals, retirement homes, schools, catastrophe area, and people with learning complications. From a different perspective, a service dog is an assistance dog trained specifically to help persons with disabilities including autism, hearing and visual difficulties. The dogs aid cognitive therapy enabling the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) victims to expose themselves gradually to feelings and thoughts reminding them of the past. The dogs offer comfort, affection, and companion that enable the victims to relax triggering the sense of flashback within them. Flashback is critical in the treatment process of PTSD.

There has been a long history with animals and their natural bonds with humans for many decades now. Dogs have helped people with a multitude of illnesses for some time now, however Americans were not the first to discover this natural trait in animals. The Germans during World War 1 were the first to discover this. In the book, History of Guide Dog Use by Veterans it states that the German army in particular “relied heavily on the use of German shepherds as ambulance and messenger dogs. The Germans reportedly used more than 25,000 dogs during World War I. ' these dogs were ideally suited for this type of work, with ell-known traits such as trainability, loyalty, intelligence, strength, and endurance” (Ostermeier 587). In today 's society, we have numerous people who are unaware of the services that animals can provide for humans. Specifically humans with mental or physical disabilities. In this paper I will present various types of service animals as well as the many services they provide.

they offer their support by being a non-threatening presence during their personal grieving process. Upon further research and reading a number of testimonials, there is one particular case that stands out and draws parallels to A Simple Heart. In In correspondence, Therapy Pets: The Animal-Human Healing Partnership, by Jacqueline J. Crawford, there is one particular chapter that tells the story of a woman who learned to cope and move on with the assistance of a therapy dog named “Brutus”. The chapter tells the story of Loretta Brobst, a depressed, morbidly obese woman who had trouble coping with her life trauma. Intertwined with her morbid obesity were substantial health problems and chronic, severe psychological problems.

I think it was a great idea. It has helped me and my dog Charisma. After Charisma recovered she was not acting normal. After I brought her to your dog therapy she changed. Now she is normal and healthy again. This is also helping others, not just me. That is why I think your dog therapy was the best idea you’ve ever came up with! Thank you.

Animal Assisted Therapy dog. This type of dog will assist patients with a physical and occupational therapy by meeting goals for the patients recovery. Some tasks that these dogs can help the patient achieve includes gain motion in limbs use, fine motor control such as controlled movement, and hand-eye coordination. This type of therapy dog usually work in rehabilitation

About the therapy dog program at the rehabilitation center i think it was a great idea.It helped me alot and it made me feel joyful.The dogs reminded me when i had a dog.So playful and loving.Anyway it helped alot and i want to thank you.This therapy has help me to recover quickly and ready to go back to my family.