Going Beyond Man's Best Friend

I would like to introduce you to the best therapist I ever had. He was bouncy, with silky reddish hair and sparkling brown eyes. He was playful but patient, cheerful, and never criticized. He encouraged me with a wet nosed nudge and showed approval with a wide grin or a wagging tail. Yes, my therapist was my dog, Cluseau.

As most of you probably know, dogs can be extremely therapeutic. In fact, dogs are now being used for therapy uses all over the world. This practice is called animal assisted therapy, and according to the Houston Chronicle , is now being used in a variety of nursing homes, shelters, hospitals, and care centers nationwide.

Through my research, I have found that a wide variety of animals are used- including cats, birds, and horses-but dogs are the most commonly used therapy animals. And so that is what I am focusing my speech on today. Today I am going to tell you a bit about what animal assisted therapy is, how the thereapy dogs help people, and give you examples of how the dogs have made a difference in peoples lives.

First, let me get you familiar with what animal assisted therapy is and what it entails.

According to the Pittsburgh-post Gazette , the use of animals in therapy was first recorded in 1792 in England. Today, thousands of animals can be found helping people through about 2,000 animal assisted therapy programs. Ann Rolen, president of Chenny Troupe, a non-profit organization that specializes in animal assisted therapy, says the purpose of animal assisted therapy is to make patients do something they havent' been able to do because of an accident or trauma. An article in the Chicago Tribune said that the use of animals not only promotes healing, but may aid in shortenting hospital stays, reducing the use of pain killers, and maybe lowering medical costs.

The dogs used for therapy are specially trained and selected. Not just any dog has the ability to be a therapy dog. Ann Rolen says the most important qualifications for therapy dogs is an even temperament. Beyond that, she says, the dogs are expected to have basic obedience training, be able to understand and obey simple commands, and must be well behaved. However, she says, there is no restiction on size or breed if the dogs meet the requirements. There are therapy dogs ranging form Terriers to Rottweilers.

Now that you know about what animal assisted therapy is, you may be asking how the dogs actually help. Well, the answer is: in many ways.

The Houston Chronicle cites that both observations and scientific studies have shown that dogs have a positive effect on our physical and mental health. It says that dogs can cheer up troubled people, and relieve loneliness. It also mentions that scientists have found that the simple act of petting a dog can reduce stress. The Puget Sound Business Journal indicates studies that show that elderly people in nursing homes who are regularly exposed to animals usually smaile more and become more alert than the patients who do not see the animals. It was also found that aggressive patients are more tolerant of people standing near them when an animal is present.

The dogs also help in more specific ways. The Journal Of The American Medical Association describes ways the dogs help with specific ailments. Those patients whose goal is to improve memory might command the dog to sit and stay, but then must remeber to release the command. Stroke patients who can't speak communicate with the dogs by issuing commands with hand signals. Brushing the dogs helps to improve movement in the fingers and hands. Even a game of catch with a rubber ball may help with balance and coordination.

So as you can see, the dogs help different patients in different ways. Knowing now how the therapy dogs help people, it is interesting to hear about examples where they truly made a difference in someone's life.

Although the therapy dogs can't take credit for total cures of any patient illness, their presence is measured in less tangible ways. Ann Rolen can recall many examples of success. There was a child with a head injury who was withdrawn and couldn't talk, but started communicating with a dog through hand signals, and then opened up emotionally. There was another child in a wheelchair who wouldn't move, but then did so when he wanted to imitate one of the dogs she saw crawling.

The Chicage Tribune tells the story of one little girl who had cerebral palsy. She walked only 50 feet with a terapist and at the end she was exausted and complaining of a lot of pain. A couple of hours later she walked 200 feet with the therapy dogs. She wasn't paying attention to the pain or therapy, she was just focusing on having fun with the dogs.

I think the most moving of all the stories is about an elderly woman and a therapy dog named Dude that I found in the Houston Chronicle . Dude went in to visit this particular elderly woman in a nusring home. The woman was sitting with her daughter and when Dude came up to the woman, the woman began to talk to Dude in fluent spanish. After about 20 minutes, the woman's daughter was seen with tears in her eyes. It turns out her mother had not spoken coherently in over seven years, but her mother had just told Dude a long and completely coherent story about dogs she had while growing up. These are just a few of the many success stories related to animal assisted therapy, but from them you can see how effective this therapy is.

I hope today I have given you a better understanding of animal assisted therapy by telling you exactly what it is, telling you how the therapy dogs help people, and telling you stories of success with the dogs. Animal assisted therapy is a practice that is becoming more widely accepted every year. Perhaps this is because animal companionship, unlike human companionship, is uncomplicated. Animals are non-judgemental, don't give orders, or criticize. Animals have a unique capacity to draw people out that most doctors or nurses might not have. And so, it seems that a wet tongue, a wagging tail, and the kind of unconditional love a dog offers may mend more human afflictions than all the medicine money can buy.