Pet Therapy

Last class we had two lovely ladies and their dogs, Gus and Cooper, come in an talk to us about animal therapy! It didn't take too many words to describe the effect that animals have on people....it was pretty evident the moment you walked into the room and saw the reaction the students had to the animals. Everyone seemed to be in a better mood, despite the fact that this is a night class from 4:00-7:00pm, because there were DOGS there. If the two women had come alone, granted they had wonderful personalities and did a great job presenting, it just would not have been the same. Some of the benefits of animal therapy that were described to us, and also sometimes visible in the students are: Giving a calming presence, a reduction in anxiety, morale boosters, increased self-esteem, reduced feelings of lonliness, and entertainment, amongst many others.


Gus, the Golden Retriever that came to visit us :)



Since our presenters really did need to do much explaining on the benefits of animal therapy, they talked about their experiences as being part of a therapy team (the team includes the animal and it's trainer). There are special requirements that their dogs had to pass in order to be classified as a therapy dog. Some of the things that they need to be able to handle include:

1. Be friendly with people upon their FIRST encounter. The dogs do not have time to get to know the people/patients/clients prior to their therapy session therefore the dog must be comfortable with people at their inicial meeting.

2. Be able to handle "high stress" situations. You never know what kind of situation you are going to encounter. Whether it's loud noises or little kids grabbing on to the dog's collar, the dog must be able to remain calm.

3. Be able to interact with other dogs.

4. Sit on command and stay in place



All in all, I thought that this was a wonderful presentation! For more information on the Coulee Region Human Society's program "Ambassadors of Love" click here I have two dogs of my own at my parents' house (4 hours away from school) so it was nice to be able to hang out with two dogs, even though they weren't my own :) I think that pet therapy is something that I would be interested in being involved with when I have the time and money to have a dog of my own! That's all for now, until next time!

Katie