Therapy Dogs: Integrating Therapy with Human-Animal Interaction by Zachary H. Nathan

You’ve probably seen their furry faces at a school or your local library or perhaps at a hospital or assisted living facility. Therapy dogs have become a common site at each of these locations, but what is a therapy dog? How do dogs become therapy dogs, and what do they actually do?

A registered therapy dog is a dog that, along with his or her human handler, has passed all of the certification requirements by one of the therapy dog organizations and is financially insured through that organization to be well-behaved and do no harm during site visits. Potential therapy dogs are dogs that have both significant obedience training and a calm, friendly disposition who are always happy to receive the attention of a stranger. 

For people wishing to get their dogs involved with therapy work, it is helpful to begin socializing them as puppies and exposing them to a wide range of different environments and a diversity of people. It is helpful to find places that dogs can go to try out new experiences such as going to a pet store, a park, or the public areas of an airport. These places can allow dogs to get used to different people as well as the strange smells and sounds at these locations.  This training requires the dog’s handler ensure these experiences are pleasant for the dog and never overwhelming. It important for therapy dogs to enjoy their work with others. Trying to force a dog who is not interested in venturing outside their home and meeting new people will result in an unpleasant experience for both the dog and handler, and ultimately will not be successful. 

There are several therapy dog organizations that have their own requirements for registration and certification. These organizations require dogs and their handlers to pass some minimum standards, which include a test in which a dog-handler team demonstrates the ability to do basic obedience tasks beyond the standards of AKC’s Canine Good Citizenship test while experiencing situations and stimuli which simulate a hospital setting. Dogs must remain calm when there is a loud sound and not be bothered by assistive equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches. Some organizations provide certification for the dog-handler team after completing this kind of test, while others have additional requirements such as a number of supervised site visits. Once the requirements have been completed, the organization will provide an insurance policy for the dog-handler team. Typically this insurance will be applicable in any setting which allows the team to volunteer.  Each site may have its own requirements beyond certification. 

The ways therapy dogs can help others is grouped into two broad categories: animal assisted activities and animal assisted therapy.  Animal assisted activities refer to any activity where the therapy animal’s presence is used informally to enhance wellbeing and reduce stress. Therapy dogs and other animals such as rabbits commonly participate in these unstructured activities by doing social visits for patients and care-providers at hospitals and residential facilities or for students and faculty at university campuses during final exams week. Animal assisted therapy refers to the use of animals as a formal intervention for a specific therapeutic or educational goal. For example, schools may implement a special education reading program where children read to dogs with the purpose of improving the students’ reading fluency and confidence. For students who find reading to be an especially challenging task, reading to an ever-loving and nonjudgmental dog can turn a wearisome chore into a positive and rewarding experience.  Often these distinctions between animal assisted activities and animal assisted therapy get blurred. For example, an informal reading program at a library might have kids reading to dogs in a largely unstructured way.  On the other hand, what seems like an unstructured therapy dog social visit at a school can become an opportunity for intervention by a school’s inclusion specialist working with children with autism or social anxiety.

The current clinical literature suggests there is moderate evidence for the benefit of animal assisted therapy to reduce the symptoms associated with a wide range of conditions, including depression, anxiety, and social isolation. Human-animal interaction has also been shown to reduce the psychological distress associated with invasive and distressing medical procedures and treatments.  Unfortunately, methodological issues remain a problem with the existing studies, which have been unable to isolate the factors involved or determine the causal mechanisms for the improvements seen with animal assisted therapy.  Moreover, we are lacking longitudinal studies to see how long the improvements observed may be expected to last.

Over the past decade I have had three dogs I have worked with to become registered therapy dogs. Most of my experience has been at schools, libraries, and mental/behavioral health facilities. My dog Samady, a now elderly Samoyed, is always excited to “go to work.” In recent years, she has been helping adolescents and adults with eating disorders, trauma, depression, anxiety, and related issues at intensive outpatient facilities and outpatient offices. Samady began her therapy dog volunteer work eight years ago doing reading programs at middle schools and high schools. Samady then worked with inclusion specialists to help elementary and middle school students struggling with social and emotional challenges.  Samady has a remarkable ability to develop special bonds with children on the autism spectrum.  Her presence often seems to have a magical effect allowing the children to be more focused in their social interactions and affording their inclusion specialists an opportunity to listen and communicate with their students in a way that is otherwise often not possible.  After a visit with Samady, I often have learned that a child who seemed calm and articulate, had not spoken a word at school for days or had just experienced an episode of sensory overload.

I’ve seen the benefits of human-animal interaction many times with the therapy dogs I’ve volunteered with, but one occasion remains especially vivid for me.  One day, Samady and I arrived at a middle school to find a barefoot boy crying as he wandered in the grass and bushes in front of the school. He was trying to get away after experiencing an autistic sensory overload situation. His teacher, aide, and inclusion specialist were all outside trying to figure out how to bring him back in.  They asked me to see if Samady could help. I took Samady for a walk around the yard. As soon as the boy saw his friend Samady, he turned and followed her. Together, we walked back to the school’s entry. There, petting Samady, his tears stopped and his rapid breathing slowed. It was not long before he was able to talk with his aide and inclusion specialist about the experience that had left him so distraught. Samady, also happy to see her friend, howled a song for him which seemed to further calm him and allowed him be receptive to discussing how he might handle a similar situation differently in the future.​

Now Samady is available to help individuals and families at Holistic and Integrative Therapy. If you are a client and would like animal assisted therapy added to your care, please discuss this option with your therapist Lindsay Adler, LMFT.