The pet therapy
The use of some animal species to improve the quality of the convalescence of a sick person or more simply to enrich the daily life of a disabled person or an elderly person arises from the observation of the effects deriving from the interaction between sick people and the presence of an animal . In many cases, in fact, the proximity of a dog or another animal has a positive effect that is added to that of some drugs or other conventional therapies.
This is what pet therapy offers. Coining the term pet therapy was the child psychiatrist Boris Levinson who, in 1953, during a session with an autistic child, noted that the presence of his dog improves the child's desire to interact with the therapist, but also wants to play with him. 'animal. Levinson demonstrates that the affection of an animal produces an increase in self-esteem and has a positive effect on the patient's need for love .
Today, pet therapy is practiced thanks to the use of various animal species . The ranking of the animals used in pet therapy sees at the top the dog, man's best friend, and then we will have cats, hamsters and rabbits, horses, birds (in particular parrots), aquarium fish and dolphins. To close the list, a series of farm animals such as donkeys, goats and cows. But why the pet therapy dog?
Pet therapy and dogs
By definition, the dog is man's best friend : it is the animal that most interacts with the human being and that better than any other establishes an intense and lasting bond with man. The dog breeds used in pet therapy are different, including mestizos. After all, it's a question of the heart . In fact, there is no criterion of race discrimination, but there are indices of attention towards the subject's nature, which must not be underestimated. At the base of the therapeutic use of the dog there is its instinctual ability not to implement any psychological defensive mechanism (such as denial or falsification). The dog does not interpret and does not falsify.
Dogs are able to read the subject's body language, such as facial expression and physical attitudes, and to perceive different human emotional states through hormonal secretions. Anxiety, suffering, depression, worry, nostalgia and sadness. In these states, the dog responds with physical contact, play, cuddles, warmth and closeness. Dogs love to play, making it easier for the patient to rediscover vivacity and related beneficial sensations, as well as the dimension of sociability. How does pet therapy and dogs come into contact?
The requirements of the dog / therapist
A dog included in a pet therapy program must possess the requisites of suitability, which include veterinary, character and behavioral parameters .
The first of these aspects can be traced back to the well-being of the animal itself and to the prevention of zoonoses, ie those diseases that the dog could transmit to the patient. Every dog, before being able to be used in a pet therapy program, must undergo a number of veterinary examinations, which are periodically repeated.
The dog's temperament or temperament consists in the animal's ability to react quickly to external stimuli: based on these abilities, lively, attentive, normal and "dull" dogs are usually identified. Pet therapy does not include apathetic dogs that do not react to stimuli and interaction with humans, as it does not include too exuberant dogs on the lists of "animal helpers", the cause of another class of problems with the sick, especially with the Senior citizens. The dog's character must always be put in relation with that of the human being with whom he goes to tie.
The last parameter, that of behavior, is seen in relation to the dog handler. The pet therapy dogs have a master / instructor who controls and governs the animal through instructions. The reactions of a dog will therefore be predictable by the handler. The dog accepts the handler as a guide and reference point for interaction with the patient, making himself available and obedient. This aspect is important for the safety of both users and the dog itself .
