What Does a Therapy Dog do?
Therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort and affection to people other than their handlers or owners. That could mean visiting a variety of places where people need love and affection, such as hospitals, schools, hospices, nursing homes, disaster areas, and more. They are encouraged to interact with a variety of people and should have a friendly and warm disposition.
The exact nature of their role differs from dog to dog and from institution to institution. Some include:
Improving patients’ mental health through socialization and engagement
Giving learning disabled children the confidence to read out loud
Aiding physical rehabilitation by walking people through processes, with the aim of helping them to recover certain physical skills
The history of therapy pets can be traced back to Ancient Greece. In more recent times, Florence Nightingale put forward the concept of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). In Notes on Nursing, published in 1860, the “Lady with the Lamp” suggested, “a small pet is often an excellent companion for the sick” and Dr. Sigmund Freud followed this line of thought by using his dog to calm patients with anxiety.
Elaine Smith, a registered nurse who spent some time working in England, also noticed dogs helping with anxiety, and upon returning to New Jersey established the first formal training program for dogs to visit institutions.
What’s the difference between a therapy dog, a service dog, and an emotional support animal?
Pets are increasingly used to support humans through difficulties, leading to different working titles and types of assistance support. As you now know a bit about therapy dogs, we’re going to tell you about two different canine careers.
A service dog is individually trained to perform specific tasks for a person with a disability — as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal law that prohibits discrimination and entrenches rights for people with disabilities.
In this way a service dog differs from a therapy dog: While therapy dogs are encouraged to work and interact with a wide variety of people, service dogs are trained to help one specific individual with a disability.
Perhaps the most well-known type of service dog is the guide dog for the visually impaired. In recent years, more and more service dogs have also been trained to detect whether the blood sugar levels of the human in their care are too low or too high, in an effort to help people with diabetes.
These are only two of many types of service dogs that help people with physical disabilities, but it is worth noting that some service dogs also help people with mental disabilities, such as anxiety disorder. For example, a service dog can be trained to bring medication and water to a person during an ongoing anxiety attack.
Unlike therapy dogs, service dogs are granted full public access rights, which means that while assisting their human companions, they can enter areas animals are usually banned from entering.
Emotional support dogs are assistance animals that help their owner’s mental health and are solely tasked with providing support and comfort to that one person.
While they may be known colloquially as comfort dogs, a prescription from a doctor or mental health professional is needed in order to register an ESA. They don’t have to undergo the same rigorous training as service dogs, but their role in providing their owner with company and reassurance is extremely important.
Like service dogs, ESAs are protected under the Federal Fair Housing Act, which means owners are allowed to live with them in rental properties that don’t usually allow pets.
Service Dogs are trained to perform tasks and to do work that eases their handlers’ disabilities. Working as part of a team with their disabled partners, service dogs help them attain safety and independence. It is very important to note that these dogs are not for petting as it could prevent them from performing their job correctly. Most service dogs have a “no petting” policy established by their owners.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects the rights of people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service dogs in public places such as restaurants, grocery stores, and hotels. Additional laws such as the Department of Transportation’s Air Carrier Access Act, the Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Act, and the Federal Rehabilitation Act protect the rights of people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in a wide variety of circumstances under which the ADA may not be applicable.
Therapy dogs also receive training but have a completely different type of job from service dogs. Their responsibilities are to provide psychological or physiological therapy to individuals other than their handlers. These dogs have stable temperaments and friendly, easy-going personalities. Typically, they visit hospitals, schools, hospices, nursing homes, and more. Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are encouraged to interact with a variety of people while they are on-duty including petting the therapy dog.
Therapy dogs may be trained by just about anyone, but must meet set standards to be dog certification and registration and actively participate in the program. They are usually handled by their owners, but in some cases of Animal Assisted Therapy, the therapy dog may be handled by a trained professional.
Despite thorough training, registration and the therapeutic benefits therapy dogs provide, they do not have the same jobs or legal designation as service dogs. While some institutions offer therapy dogs access on a case-by-case for the benefit of patients, guests, customers, or clientele, the handlers or owners of therapy dogs do not have the same rights to be accompanied by these dogs in places where pets are not permitted.
Do They Need a Therapy Dog Vest?
Just like service animals or emotional support animals, it is not required that they wear a vest; however, it’s heavily encouraged. A therapy dog vest may be worn by a dog that has been trained to visit people in group settings or facilities.