By Daniela Kostova and KellyAnn Brown
Looking at the human-animal relationship through the years, we see how our understanding about the use of animals and their needs have changed. People first used animals for food, clothing, medicine and built shelters using animal materials and later on humans domesticated the animals. When people began to travel more, they discovered many different species of animals and started to use them throughout science, medicine, psychology and philosophy. Through many technical and psychological advancements, we see how animals have become an important part of our lives. With the current advanced science we are able to look at the animals and specifically examine how they benefit our lives in physical and mental ways. Today we are able to explore the connection between companion animals and people to see how this human-animal bond has changed people’s lives. Now when we see how strong our connection with animals is and we see how far we have gone to improve our relationship with these creatures, we look at the possible benefits that companion animals could offer people with different disabilities.
A dog spends some time with a hospitalized child (Therapet).
While KellyAnn Brown’s new puppy was sleeping sprawled on her lap, she realized that she wanted to share the way that her puppy made her feel with other people. “That’s when I decided to go through the rigorous training and testing program in order to get my puppy, Hudson, Canine Good Citizen certified.” The Canine Good Citizen program is run through the American Kennel Club (AKC) and recognizes “responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs” (AKC, 2010). With this training completed, many facilities will gladly open their doors to teams of dogs and their owners. “After visiting patients in a few facilities for a few months,” KellyAnn related, “I decided that I wanted to tell more pet owners about the program. That’s when I started my own program, Paws for a Visit, to prepare owners and their dogs for the test to become Canine Good Citizen certified” (Brown, personal communication, 2010) We think that more pet owners need to know the benefits that their animals could offer, not only to them, but also patients at a variety of facilities.
One of the life changing experiences that KellyAnn witnessed was, “During the months that I visited patients at a nursing home and adult day care center with Hudson, I noticed huge changes in some of the patients there. For instance, one of the patients, Doris, was non verbal and just sat in a chair all day. The nurses told me to not even bother spending time with her. I thought this was horrible, so every time that Hudson and I went, we would spend about 10 minutes talking to her and I would place her hand on Hudson’s head. After about 6 weeks the nurses said that she was awake more often and trying to talk. After another 3 weeks or so, I would have her brush Hudson in order to gain some muscle tone. That is when she said her first word in over 2 years, according to the nurses. As Doris was brushing Hudson’s fur, she called him pretty. That is when I realized that what I was doing with Hudson was actually making a difference to people.”
Roberta Collins, one of the participants in Paws for a Visit, keeps up with the program because she, “knew deep down how much having a pet has meant to me, so I was positive that the experience of doing pet therapy would help me to be able to bring a little bit of happiness in another person’s life. Each time that I leave a facility, I walk away with a feeling of awe at just how much our short time helped another person to have a better day” (Collins, personal communication, March 31, 2010).
Many veterinarians and doctors participating in the animal-assisted therapy believe that using animals will improve people’s education and will open new doors to different research and will benefit the connection between animals and humans. Different veterinary and humane organizations wanted to create special programs that could use companion animals to meet different needs of people with disabilities. One veterinary organization, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) developed many programs that educate and help people through animal interaction. This organization has different criteria of choosing and training animals to insure the safety of the patients and doctors participating in each program. The programs use animals that are “1)[healthy, so as to reduce the bi-directional risk of transmission of zoonooses; 2) behaviorally appropriate for the program, and 3) protected from being harmed by participation in the program” (AVMA, March 2007). Some of the programs include animal assisted activities that provide education and motivation to improve “[q]uality of life” using well trained animals and professionals. Animal assisted therapy uses animals that will improve the health of people with different physical and mental disabilities. Resident animals live with facility full time and participate in different programs after proper screening and training. A specially trained person closely evaluates the animal’s participation, improvement, health and welfare (AVMA, March 2007).
Benefits to Dog Owners
Many researchers have shown that there is a strong emotional and physical relationship between humans and their pets. Different experiments using pet owners have proven that companion animals benefit human life, reflect human’s health, and improve everyday activity level. By petting the dog, the owner benefits, according to Dr. Rosenbaum and Alexandra Andrews, in their online article, Animal Assisted Therapy for Cancer Supportive Care, by decreasing “blood pressure, cholesterol levels…feelings of loneliness…and anxiety” (2009, para. 1). They also note that “[s]tudies have shown owning and walking a dog daily promotes better physical activity in children, adults, and seniors” (2009, para. 9). Also, by taking the dog out for walks, the owner will increase their socialization when strangers ask about their dog.
Research done by Sandra Barker, Ph.D. in 1999 proves the positive aspect of companion animals as written in “Therapeutic Aspects of the Human-Companion Animal Interaction.” Barker cited different information from other research to show her readers how one relationship between animal and a human changes their lives. Pet owners and people without a pet participated in this experiment and their physical and mental status was measured. Using different techniques the scientists found that “more than one-third of the dog owners in their study were actually closer to their dogs than to any human family member” (1999, para. 1). This shows us that the bond between a human and their pet is very strong. This animal gives something to its owner more than family members or friends can. According to Barker’s article in Psychiatric Times, other experiments that have been done with pets and their owners indicate that people having a companion animal have lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels (para. 2). In general, the researchers found that pet owners have better health, they are happier and more emotionally stable compared to people who have no pet (Barker, 1999, para. 3).
Benefits to Patients
When the dog owners bring their dog into a facility, whether it is a hospital, nursing home, or rehabilitation center, the patients will benefit in a wide range of ways. According to Deborah Linder in her article “Benefits of Animal-Assisted Therapy at a Veterinary School,” animal assisted therapy “has also been shown to alleviate stress, agitation and aggressive behaviors in dementia patients, particularly Alzheimer’s patients” (N.D., para. 5). This could be due to neurochemicals and other hormones being released during the pet visit. For instance, Deborah Linder wrote that “[o]ne particular study found that positive neurochemicals (including beta-endorphin, oxytocin, prolactin, and dopamine) significantly increased in both humans and dogs after a positive interaction…. It was also found that cortisol levels decreased in both humans and dogs” (N.D., para. 5). According the Linder, like the dog owner, the patients, especially the elderly, have “been shown to increase socialization and decrease loneliness in elders living in long-term care facilities” through the use of animal-assisted therapy (N.D., para. 5).
Benefits to Children
Barker wrote about other studies done with children and animals that show how pets improve children’s health. A child with a pet has a better sense of trust, good self-esteem, more affection, compassion and patience. A child’s aggression is lower when they grow up with an animal in the house (Barker, 1999, para. 4).
Daniela Kostova has experience working with children with verbal disabilities. “The children we worked with were coming from an abuse situation and they were not able to communicate with other people. We gave different books to the kids so they could read them to their new friends, the dogs. While we were playing different songs, the children began dancing with the dogs and had a lot of fun, more than they did with other children. After a couple of months of introducing different dogs to these children and letting them play with them, the kids were able to speak more and became less aggressive towards other children and elderly people. This experience made me look for different ways of helping children with different physical and mental disabilities using companion animals” (personal communication, 2010).
Conclusion
After spending a lot of time in adult day care centers, nursing homes and foster homes with many people with different disabilities who either had pets or were introduced to companion animals, we saw how much joy these animals brought to their lives. Besides the pure happiness, we, Kostova and Brown, also saw how the patient’s health improved and how they were more capable of communication after animal assisted therapy. Looking at these patients and then looking at our best friends, our dogs, we realize that a pet is not just an animal that stays in the house and looks pretty. It is a companion which benefits our lives in many different ways. We think that more pet owners and people who do not like animals need to know the benefits that these pets could offer, not only to them, but also to patients at a variety of institutions.
References
American Hippotherapy Association. (2007). Hippotherapy as a treatment strategy. Retrieved from www.americanhippotherapyassociation.org.
AKC, American Kennel Club. (2010). AKC’s Canine Good Citizen® (CGC) program. Retrieved from www.akc.org.
AVMA, American Veterinary Medical Association. (March 2007). Wellness guide for animal-assisted therapy, and resident animal program. Retrieved from www.avma.org.
Barker, S., PhD. (February 1999). Therapeutic aspects of the human-companion animal interaction. Psychiatric Times, 16(2). Retrieved from www.psychiatrictimes.com.
Linder, D. (n.d). Benefits of animal-assisted therapy at veterinary school. Retrieved from www.deltasociety.org.
Rosenbaum, E., MD & Andrews, A. (September 14th, 2009). Animal assisted therapy for cancer supportive care. Retrieved from www.cancerlynx.com.