Pet Therapy and Assistance

August 14th, 2009 by admin

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Many people believe that pets are important to a healthy life and even claim that their animals have human-like abilities, such as sensing the feelings of their owners and reacting accordingly. In the past few years, studies have been conducted to understand whether there is therapeutic value in contact between humans and animals.

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In some studies, pet owners reported reduced fear, improved self-esteem and significantly fewer minor health problems and emotional concerns than people who had no pets. But it has also been shown that it is not necessary to actually own the pet in order to receive some benefits from an animal-human “relationship”. The mere presence of a friendly animal can be beneficial as well. “Visiting pets” or “therapy pets”, are just two of the names given to describe programmes in which animals help people just by visiting them. This may be an interesting possibility for people with MS who would have significant difficulties taking on the responsibility of their own pet due to problems with balance, mobility and co-ordination, fatigue and other MS symptoms.

To learn more about pet therapy visit:

http://www.deltasociety.org

http://www.petsastherapy.org

But what else can a dog do for you ?

Did you know that (in th UK at least and in may other countries) nearly all form forms of transport have facilities in place to carry assistance dogs with their owners. They have a duty under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) to provide services to enable assistance dog’s owners to travel.

Trained dogs can assist and support their disabled owners with their specific disability. Most types of dog can be trained.

Utilising the special bond that exists between a pet dog and owner, Dogs can be channelled to help and give true assistance. Each dog is taught task work tailored to the owner’s needs, enabling that person to lead a more full and independent life.

These are some of the tasks that a dog can be trained to do:

# Calling an ambulance
# Opening and closing doors
# Picking up objects
# Assisting with dressing and undressing.
# Accompanying their owner whilst shopping, etc.
# Acting as a physical support
# Raising the alarm
# Operating control buttons
# Switching lights on and off
# Carrying items
# Loading and unloading the washing machine
# Fetching the telephone and other items

A Support Dog can be trained to do many other tasks which their owner may find difficult or impossible.