Research reveals significant benefits to both humans and animals when the human animal bond is experienced.
Benefits of therapy animals and the human animal bond include but are not limited to: enhancing one’s mental and psychological health by reducing anxiety and help with depression, lowering blood pressure and stress, encouraging exercise, and facilitating memory and socialization.
Therapy animals often motivate children to engage in challenging, non-preferred activities. They also provide children with unique sensory experiences. Even something as simple as petting a dog provides children with tactile sensory input. A calm and gentle dog often helps regulate children’s sensory systems. A child’s interoception (sense of the internal state of the body) is activated by the indescribable experience of the human animal bond. Many children find that eye contact and socialization is easier with the companionship of an animal. Therapy animals help children improve their self-confidence with skills such as reading and writing. Therapy dogs can even help non-verbal children learn sign language. Therapy animals are so important and provide numerous benefits to those fortunate enough to receive their services and experience the human animal bond.
Therapy animals are trained, evaluated, and registered with an official therapy animal organization. Handlers are often required to complete coursework to learn about safety, animal behavior, and reading their therapy animal’s cues. Therapy dogs and their handlers are evaluated as a therapy team to ensure that both the dog and the human are compatible, safe, and well trained. After a therapy dog and his or her handler are evaluated with success and are registered with an official therapy animal association they are then eligible to be invited into facilities such as assisted living facilities, schools, and hospitals.
Sensible Sensory Spaces, LLC’s owner, Amy Molley, is passionate about volunteering with her therapy dogs and advocating for the human animal bond. She believes in the vast benefits of therapy animals. Amy is proud to have her therapy dogs registered with Pet Partners and strives to assist Pet Partners in creating a framework and setting the standards for appropriately incorporating therapy dogs to perform and enhance AAA (Animal Assisted Activities), AAI (Animal Assisted Interventions), and AAT (Animal Assisted Therapy) in the profession of Occupational Therapy.
