Being A Therapy Dog Research Paper

I talked to both my psychologist, Doctor Samantha Jordan, and my psychiatrist, Doctor Sandra Kovachi, and they both believe having a service dog would be helpful for my needs.

The benefits of animal-assisted therapy towards children varies, one of the benefits is to be able to bring out the best out of the child. The animal could connect with the child spiritually and could improve self-esteem because the child would finally feel accepted by the animal (Weston, 2010) as this quote stated, “A therapy dog may be the first creature who has listened and responded to the child with such enthusiasm and compassion. This can result in the child feeling heard and important” (Pichot, 2007 cited in Weston, 2010). The animals are capable of taking the pressure off the child as s/he is going through a difficult experience and being forced to deal with people, the animal can take up the role of being the child’s supporter. Animals can be used as a “bribe” because some children does not want to attend to therapy but is willing to show up because of the animal which is good because in the end the child would be able to receive the therapy s/he needs. Animals that are trained to be assisted therapy animal are capable of switching its beneficial roles to be able to comfort

The National Service Animal Registry defines an emotional support animal as, “ a person's pet that has been prescribed by a person's licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist,”they state that “The animal is part of the treatment program for this person and is designed to bring comfort and minimize the negative symptoms of the person's emotional/psychological disability,” (All About). Emotional support animals have a huge list of responsibilities they can take on and learn to help their owner. These animals require minimal training and their jobs are specifically tailored to what their owner needs to maintain their mental health. Still these animals have less rights than service animals. Still, they have laws protecting them and their owners. My brother and I each have our own emotional support animals that provide us with their multiple skills that help keep us mentally safe.

There is a reason people say dogs are a man’s best friend. When I was younger, I was always afraid that some “bad guy” would break into my house. This fear caused me to have nightmares and lose sleep. Then I got a dog and I felt so much safer! Right now there is a case going to the Supreme Court to decide if service dogs should be allowed in schools. Service dogs should be allowed in schools because they help people with disabilities, they provide comfort to people, and because dogs are frequently used in fields of medicine. If I found comfort with a dog, so can students with disabilities.

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

While the use of service dogs, therapy dogs and emotional support animal is legitimate for people that have disabilities, many people abuse and fake their pets as service animals. In his Psychology today article, “Service Animal Scams: A Growing Problem,” author Hal Herzog Ph.D. explains how a growing number of Americans are faking their pets as service dogs. Herzog reports, “the present system governing the status of service animals is rife with abuse” and blasts The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Air Carrier Access Act for its loopholes. For example, if a person has a service dog, the ADA prohibits questions that involve the person’s disability, including documentation. Another issue is that the Air Carrier Access Act “gives legal

Pet therapy is a way of comforting a patient. Although dogs are primarily used, they are not the only

This act guarantees that all people with disabilities have legal right to use their assistance animals in all areas that are open to the general public. Any “no pet policy” does not apply to service dogs. As such, businesses cannot charge extra fees for service dogs accompanying the individual. Service dogs are trained specifically to assist people with physical and mental impairments. They are trained over a span of approximately 120 hours over six months of training, to be alert and on guard. With that in mind, it is important to always ask before coming into contact with a service dog, as any distraction may hinder them from their job. Service dogs are usually recognized by wearing collars, harnesses, and/or vests. Although unnecessary, identification papers should be present when the service dog is in use. Fraudulent claims of service dogs include penalties such as: a minimum $1000 fine, jail time, and confiscation of the

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, or depression, amongst many other disabilities deserve to be acknowledged because of the medical advancements in the past several years which support the effectiveness of service animals. These disabilities affect the everyday lives of thousands of people throughout the United States, which is why I believe that service animals can be a beneficial component that may boost a person’s endurance. In the article, Service Dog Training Program for Treatment of PTSD in Service Members, a study written with the United States Army, results concluded that service animals were deemed effective in their practices. The article reports that veterans and service members had an “increase in patience, impulse control, [and] emotional regulation” (Yount, et al.). As a helpful practice for disabled persons, it is a civil injustice to discriminate against a person with a service dog. To neglect a disabled person’s accessibility to basic public services in modern society is a violation of human rights. I think that the lack of accommodations for service animals and their handlers is an overlooked issue in society, which is why I believe that my research is a relevant issue in modern

In this section, we will explain how the discussion on what it was like before the veterans had a service dog and also if the VA is going to be doing any studies, to see if service dogs are really effective at helping the veterans get back to a more normal life. David Steele who got his Master of Science in Human Development, did a study on veterans and their relationship, to see what their PTSD symptoms were like before they had a service dog in their life. According to Steele “two superordinate themes emerged from the couples’ descriptions of their relationship prior to getting a service dog”: “Perceived loss of self” and “Living with the enemy” (39). In another article by Myra Taylor, Mary Edwards, and Julie Pooley, who also asked veterans what they felt like prior to having a service dog, “they were in a constant state of hypervigilance”, which means “always anxious and on guard in crowded situations; feeling uncomfortable and

Although many people do not require service dogs during their lifetime, some people’s health issues demand these services. Service animals are available for many different diseases and reasons such as PTSD, heart attacks, and strokes. Currently under the Americans With Disabilities Act, all business owners and public buildings must allow for service animals to enter buildings with their handlers.

For people with disabilities, performing daily tasks prove to be a challenge. People with severe disabilities are given medication and regular therapy to help them improve their daily lives. For some, however, this is not enough. Service dogs, animals specifically trained to aid their disabled owners in their everyday lives, may be a solution to these people. Service dogs are a common type of professional working dog and have several branches/classifications. Each classification is trained to perform specific tasks and are given different privileges/rights when it comes to public access. A service animal, such as an assistance dog, performs specific tasks or provides aid in another form to their disabled owner while other professional working

The Central Student Government might argue that it is not feasible to have therapy dogs available at all times every single day, which is true, but having them around about once a week would suffice. The Central Student Government might also believe that the University of Michigan does not have the resources or money to make this happen, but many therapy dog owners volunteer their time, rather than get paid for it, so money is not an issue. For example, the organization that the University of Michigan already uses, named “Therapaws of Michigan”, is a non-profit organization and all of their therapy dog owners are volunteers. It does not cost anything for them to come help us out. Also, space should not be an issue either because first of all, there are always places outside, such as the Diag, to hold these events, and second of all, our campus is so big that finding a room out of the

Assistance Dogs are protected by the federal law the Americans with Disabilities Act. Guarantees all people with disabilities have legal rights to use their assistant animals in all area, that are open to the general public. The "no pet policy" does not apply to service dogs. Business cannot change extra fees towards the disable individual with the accompany service pet. Always ask before coming in contact with the service dog. Any form of distraction can cause problems. Trained to assist people with physical and mental impairments. 1000 fee for a fake service dog vest, up to jail time and confiscation of dog. Trained to be alert and on guard. Two to three years apprentice training program. Approximately 120 hours over 6 months of training

Dogs deserve and need the same treatment too. Mike Clark examine a portion of the main ten things you should do for a dog due to the fact they cannot do it for themselves. You need to state no to lethal nourishment, set social tenets, help dress them for the climate, and so on. These are a portion of similar things a human need to enable them to bloom into the future individual they have a tendency to turn into. Clark states, ¨There are plenty of ways to take care of dogs, but there are certain things that they can’t do themselves that absolutely need our human attention.¨ In other words, no dog should be disregarded from the absence of the proprietor's cost.