Having a pet around the home adds comfort, companionship and often laughter to family life. But for children undergoing therapies, recovering from an illness or managing a disability, pets have a special job, too.
In honor of National Pet Month in May, here’s a closer look at therapy pets—the gentle and professional unsung heroes trained to assist and emotionally support families in need.
What Are Therapy Pets?
Therapy pets are animals with very important jobs, helping humans in many of the same avenues other therapists do—in physical therapy, in occupational therapy or even just in providing comfort at a challenging time.
Therapy pets, which require extensive training for both animal and handler, and Emotional Support Animals (ESAs), which can be any animal, are not “service animals” under Title II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—that title is held by dogs alone. Many therapy pets happen to be dogs, however.
Therapy pets can often be cats, horses, miniature horses, rabbits, guinea pigs and rats.
What Therapy Pets Do
According to VCA Animal Hospitals, which has locations throughout the United States, there are three basic types of pet therapy, the most common of which is therapeutic visitation.
These animals visit healthcare facilities with their owners.
Animal-assisted therapy involves animals trained to assist physical and occupational therapists with their patients.
The third type is facility therapy. According to Canine Companions, a U.S.-based nonprofit that trains and provides assistance dogs, these therapy pets receive special training to be able to monitor and engage patients with a specific ailment and may be trained in picking up items, opening doors, providing calming pressure or other assistive tasks.
Facility dogs are most seen in occupation, speech and physical therapy, special education, child life and criminal justice settings.
How Do Therapy Pets Help?
Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, a peer-reviewed journal series for nurses, cites pet therapy as being able to help some patients by decreasing stress levels, blood pressure, pain, fatigue, anxiety, fear, isolation and loneliness. At the same time, pet therapy has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, energy levels, self-esteem, mood, motor skills, social skills and more.
It’s well-documented that animals can make people feel better, but what is the science behind it?
We spoke with Lisa Osier, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with VCA Animal Hospitals, to learn more about the connection humans and animals share and what makes a therapy pet good at its job.
Osier has been in the field of veterinary medicine for two decades. In that time, many of her clients have had therapy pets.
Since Osier was a child, she’s been fascinated by the bond between humans and their animals. Now, as a veterinarian and a pet owner herself, she’s been able to study that bond up close.
“The connection between humans and animals, I mean, I think it goes both ways. I think we all can kind of see, especially with dogs, how much they want to please their people and how much almost immediate love they have for the people that are taking care of them,” Osier says. “On the flip side…I see so many people that almost can’t live without their pet because they bring them such comfort and joy.”
Another ingredient to the success of these animals is their temperament.
“They need to be calm; they need to be minimally reactive,” Osier explains. “A reactive dog is one that startles to noise, other animals or large objects—you want the opposite of that.”
Think your pup has what it takes? The first step for many therapy dogs is to pass the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Test. Visit akc.org to find training opportunities near you.
Therapy Pets in Frederick
Francina Baldi, a longtime Frederick resident, has a dog with a very important job.
Giuseppe is a mini golden doodle who works with Go Team Therapy Dogs to visit local kids and provide the unconditional love and comfort only an animal can.
Go Team Therapy Dogs was founded on a mission of comfort, when founder Nancy Trepanier took her dogs to provide comfort and therapy to first responders in the wake of Colorado’s Waldo Canyon Fire. These dogs became her “go team.” Today, Go Team Therapy
Dogs has hundreds of volunteer therapy dog teams nationwide and overseas.
“We visit schools. We have a partnership with Frederick County Public Schools, and the majority [of] visits are just classes where the children have special needs, behavioral issues or they’re struggling readers,” Baldi explains.
According to Baldi, the dogs’ temperament is the key to being a good therapy pet.
“They all have their own way of providing comfort and therapy,” Baldi says. “Some of them come in and they just snuggle up next to people—some of them will just go up and lay down next to them. But they all have a certain magic about them that allows them to go in and greet people and just be gentle and comforting.”
There are about 40 dogs on the Frederick “Go Team,” and they range from a 5-pound Maltese to a 130-pound Rottweiler. Even with their vastly different sizes, energy levels and experiences, they all have one thing in common—these pups are here to help.
Learn more about the Go Team at goteamdogs.org.
