Benefits of Pet-assisted activity
Animals can make excellent therapists. The benefits of comfort animals have been recognized for decades. In order to show the practicality of AAA, this session explains these benefits with analyzing its application in university. The presence of pet animals like dogs and cats can have anti-arousal physiological effects on college students. Furthermore, pet animals can act as a social support of students who have pets at home or have a strong affection to animals to deliver positive attitude and emotionally support them in a stressful time. Also, pet animals facilitate communications among students. Through pet-assisted activity, students can refresh their emotions and meet more peers.
Human animal interaction
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Pets are viewed as ice-breaking catalysts to group communications, since they not only establish a safe and friendly atmosphere for communication, but also provide topics of conversation. Studies show that “companion animals, specifically dogs, expose their human companions to encounters with strangers, facilitate interaction among previously unacquainted persons, and help establish trust among the newly acquainted persons” (Jackson 6). Animals often stimulate individuals to socialize with other people, since the animals are a prefect topic to start conversation. Researches also indicates that people perceive those who are together with an animal as trustful and friendly. A peaceful animal can inspire empathy and trust between individuals, establishing a good emotional basis of friendly communication. The activity is expected to “provide a less formal source of social support for students compared with university clubs or associations” but create opportunity for students to meet new friends who share same interests or personality (Binfet 449). As pets can play a role of social lubricant, students can chat with more people and have opportunity to make new friendships that otherwise would not have been made through pet-assisted activity. The casual social connectedness between students in pet-assisted activity is less stressful than those formal associations where students may feel anxious to maintain a relationship and express themselves. The activity allows students to socialize with each other motivated by their common interests that are expected to be the love of animals and then be expanded. Students not only are encouraged to interact with each other who can be strangers or friends, but also they enhance their sense of belonging to the college and receive a message that college counseling services also can be a source of social
First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans, by Katherine Rogers, articulates the history of the relationship between dogs and humans. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, investigates if and how dogs exhibit morality. In both texts, anecdotes and observations are used to portray instances of dogs displaying cooperation, empathy, altruism, and, by extension, morality. Consequently, it stands to reason that dogs have a capacity for sociality, but how can the sociality of dogs be described? A dog’s capacity for sociality is the ability to form long term relationships with members of the same or other species. Dogs, in particular, dogs who hunt as well as dogs who play, are able to form long term relationships with humans and other dogs through trust, love,
Several studies have examined the effects of dog ownership on people's physical and mental health. Dog ownership produces considerable health benefit and provides social support that encourages dog owners to walk (Cutt et al.2007 ). Pet owners appear to have lower systolic blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels(Anderson et al 1992). Pet owners with serious mental illness living in the community demonstrate higher social community integration(Zimalog and Krupa 2009). Socially excluded participants who performed in the presence of a dog report higher mental well-being compared with socially excluded participants who did not work in the presence of a dog (Nilüfer et al 2012). Although there is evidence suggesting that dog ownership can improve people's physical and mental health, there is little research documenting the psychological and behavioral effects of dog-assisted therapy, especially on elderly patients with dementia, who have dif...
Pet therapy could also make nursing care in general feel more like a type of home type care, versus a hospitalization if their pet or pet therapy animal is able to visit and interact with them during their stay. Due to pets depending on their owners for survival, this gives an owner a sense of worth and responsibility for another living being, especially for those adults who are widowed, divorced or single. This paper explores the benefits of animal assisted therapy, which is supported through the direct visualizations that were made on visits made at different assisted skilled facilities (SNF), assisted living facilities (ALF) and long-term care facilities. This study was done to compare show the positive effect of animal and human interaction on social behaviors and well-being among older adults in healthcare facilities. Animal visits were done once to twice a week, which consisted of pet and human interaction involving conversations, and residents were encouraged to touch, pet, or interact with the therapy animal. This survey proved increased
In 1961, Dr. Boris Levinson, a child psychologist, became the “accidental” pioneer for animal therapy. One day he left his dog, Jingles, alone with one of his young, uncommunicative patients. When Dr. Levinson came back, the child was smiling and talking to the dog (Altschiller 3). This just shows how quick and monumental the effect of an animal can be. He believed that therapy animals provided, “unconditional acceptance and love” and they offered “a secure and warm environment for children and other patients, increasing their ability to adapt better psychologically to other people”...
Almost all the families that own dogs treat them like a part of the family. In the story How the Dog Became Part of the Family, it stated "According to a 2015 survey by the Harris Poll, ninety six percent of owners consider their dogs to be a part of the family." Since the dogs get special treatment from their owners they will do things for them, like encroachment foxes, clean out rats from somewhere, hunt ducks, and also even pull sleds on snowy days. Dogs can be malign gard dogs for people that treat them like kinfolks. The dogs and humans can have a very special bond. "When a dog and a human gaze in each others eye a chemical is released that causes the dog and human to feel adjacent." For example, in the story How the Dog Became Part of the Family, it states that, "The Harris Poll found that 38 percent of U.S. dog owners cook special meals for their dogs," Another thing is walking a dog a lot can improve people's health and can cause less accentuation. Less accentuation causes a better day and it is helpful to kids with autism. When dos get walked it makes you and the dog feel
Gereal P. Mallon (1994) states there are numerous reports in literature that exemplify the value of human contact with animals. Studies have indicated animals such as dogs play an important role in not only socializing, but a significantly greater role in humanizing children. Dogs in particular due to their interactive and affectionate nature have become increasingly effective in adjunct therapy settings of children and youth. Piaget (1929) revealed in his research a stage in child development that it is inherently natural for a child to attribute human characteristics to an animal. Cartoons, fairytales, and mythology designed for children often depict animals as important roles of human interaction. Children are even found to project their inner feelings onto an animal, which they perceive as loving. These animals too do not talk back or argue which provides the continuous degree of nonjudgmental interaction essential to a child’s recovery process.
Pet visitation programs for institutionalized elderly have found that patients often show great interest momentarily, but these effects are short-lived. The social response and involvement of the residents are only evident...
considered to have emotional disturbances and were not in the general classroom all day. These children where in an individual school for children with bad behaviors. The research noted that many of the children were getting the benefit of the classroom, but when crisis arose they would revert back to their bad behaviors. An example of this was a boy who was doing well in the classroom with his behaviors, but when his parents were arrested on felony charges, his behavior became unstable. When the research had started, the school social workers in the schools had therapy dogs and where trained in Animal Based Therapy. When the children’s behaviors acted up, they were sent to the social workers office where the dogs would be. Just by petting the dogs and sitting with them while they were talking to the therapist, the children showed vast improvement in their behavior after the crisis and where more likely to discuss their problems openly. The dogs gave the children support and guidance, which allowed then to open up. (Geist, 2011).
In the field of therapy, there are numerous of therapy available out there for different type of individuals and situations as well. There is one type of therapy that usually contains people and animal, it is animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic approach that brings animals and individuals with physical and/or emotional needs together to perform the therapy. Animal-assisted therapy tend to be focused on individuals either children or elderly for them to be able to connect with the animal thus feeling comfortable talking with the therapist. Pet therapy works for all ages, whether sick or not (Lanchnit, 2011). Although, this paper, most of the focus is on animal-assisted therapy towards children using dogs.
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions...
“A dog is a man’s best friend” goes much deeper than the phrase might initially imply. Recently many medical journals have begun to identify with the many and varied benefits of pet ownership. Men have always relied upon animals for work, transportation, and survival. As times have changed, man has begun to appreciate a different bond with animals. Gone are the days of animals running free outside around the homestead, for now animals are allowed inside and are considered by many to be an integral part of our daily lives! Medical studies have found that animals have a much greater intelligence level than originally thought. Through proper training and experience, animals are not only household pets, but also are becoming an accepted form of medical treatment.
The collaboration between humans and animals has existed since the beginning of humanity. The cavemen threw out excess scraps that they did not desire and the wolves devoured them. Overtime, the relationship between man and wolf blossomed and this caused the wolves to be more docile and subservient towards humans. This allowed humans to domesticate the wolves and establish a partnership that will last for millenniums to come. Whether it is domesticating wolves in the forest or adopting a pet at the local pet shelter, the partnership never cease to exist. Pets give people –especially children— numerous benefits; however, do we know what these benefits are? People have to understand these assets and use them to their full potential. There are countless benefits to owning a pet that outweighs the negative effects for children in America. By giving children optimal physical health, therapeutic benefits, and teaching children life skills, pets can make a positive impact in a child’s life.
Over 71 million American households (62%) have a pet, and most people think of their pets as members of the family. Some research studies have found that people who have a pet have healthier hearts, stay home sick less often, make fewer visits to the doctor, get more exercise, and are less depressed. Pets may also have a significant impact on allergies, asthma, social support, and social interactions with other people (Casciotti) .
Evidence shows that people have begun to realize that they can create bonds with their pets that seem to be more like what they can create with humans. Many people know that their animals share emotion with them; and depend on them as much as humans depend on their animals. The biggest proving factor of animals having emotion is the fact they used M.R.I machines; to show that animals and humans have the same part of the brain that causes emotions. Proving that animals have emotion is important because they deserve credit for showing us how they feel and what makes them feel this way. Just because an animal can’t technically talk to a human doesn’t mean they can’t communicate how they feel at the time they show an emotion. People who own pets really look at their pets as they would a human because of the emotions they are able to share together.
Having a dog as a pet help the owner stay connected with the social life. The owner needs to bring their pet go out for exercise, take the pet to visit the pet groomer and also having the veterinary checkups for their pet. All of these need the owner to communicate with others and involved themselves in the social activities. [1] Besides that, people can get more friends with those who having the same habit which is taking their pet go out for some exercise and activities.