Informative Essay On Pet Therapy

Those of us who own pets know they make us happy, but research is showing that pets can actually make us healthier. When an incident happened at Sandy Hook Elementary, in Newtown, Conn., Spartacus, a therapy dog, was one of the first there. He remained on campus for several months after the incident, offering support and companionship to the traumatized students, teachers, and others. he even helped lead Connecticut government officials to pass a new law that said all victims have access to therapy dogs within 24 hours of a crisis.(Fiegl) If more people know what dog therapy is, what they can help you with, or who that they can visit, more people will understand the importance of therapy dogs.

Pet therapy is defined as a guided interaction between a specially trained animal and an individual or group.(Villines) Also known as animal-assisted therapy, pet therapy interactions are used to help improve patients’ mental, social, emotional, and physical functions. Therapy can take place in a wide range of settings including hospitals, care homes, and treatment centers and can involve different activities such as walking, looking after, and grooming the therapy animal. Just like any other form of treatment, the

Some visit people living in nursing homes, providing companionship and a brief opportunity to pet an animal. Others work with children in crisis. For example, some child-abuse centers provide a chance for children to talk to therapy dogs, rather than people, about their abuse. Some prisons have established therapeutic pet-ownership programs, in which a prisoner cares for an abandoned or unwanted dog or puppy. (Villines) Some dogs are highly trained and work as seizure-alert dogs for people with epilepsy or as assistance dogs for people with sensory limitations.(Paws for People) Dogs also have been used to help war veterans experiencing posttraumatic stress and other