Talk:Therapy dog

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 3 June 2019 and 12 July 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Lostinthemix18.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:16, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Possible New References to be Added
1. Cole, K.M., & Gawlinksi, A., & Steers, N., & Kotlerman, J. (2002). Animal-assisted therapy in patients hospitalized with heart failure. American Journal of Critical Care, 16(6). Retrieved from http://ajcc.aacnjournals.org/content/16/6/575.full

2. Morrison, M.L. (2007). Health benefits of animal-assisted interventions. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, 12(1),51-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1533210107302397

3. Solomon, O. (2010). What a dog can do: Children with autism and therapy dogs in social interaction. Journal of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, 38(1),143-166.

4. Richeson, N.E. (2003). Effects of animal-assisted therapy on agitated behaviors and social interactions of older adults with dementia. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 18(6),353-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/153331750301800610

5. Ward-Griffin, E., & Klaiber, P., & Collins, H.K., & Owns, R.L., & Coren, S., & Chen, F.S. (2018). Petting away pre-exam stress: The effect of therapy dog sessions on student well-being. Stress & Health. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2804

6. Hosey, M.M., & Jaskulsi, J., & Wegener, S.T., & Chlan, L.L., & Needham, D.M. (2018). Animal-assisted intervention in the ICU: A tool for humanization. Critcal Care. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-018-1946-8

7. Schuck, S.E.B., & Emmerson, N.A., & Abdullah, M.M., & Fine, A.H., & Stehli, A., & Lakes, K.D. (2018). A randomized controlled trial of traditional psychosocial and canine-assisted interventions for children with ADHD. Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 6(1). Retrieved from https://www.apa-hai.org/human-animal-interaction/haib/a-randomized-controlled-trial-of-traditional-psychosocial-and-canine-assisted-interventions-for-children-with-adhd/

8. Silva, N. B., & Osorio, F.L. (2018). Impact of an animal-assisted therapy programme on physiological and psychosocial variables of paediatric oncology patients. PLoS ONE, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194731

9. Fiocco, A.J., & Hunse, A.M. (2017). The buffer effect of therapy dog exposure on stress reactivity in undergraduate students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(7),707. doi:10.3390/ijerph14070707

10. Davis, R. (2018). A 4-legged approach to clinical education and research. The ASHA Leader, 23,32-33. doi:10.1044/leader.AE.23052018.32

LKnightED690 (talk) 05:43, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

Enjoyed the Nat'l Geographic Article
Good addition, Elf. Josie and I just recently got therapy dog certified. We've visited hospitals one evening a week the last three weeks. The "magic" the dogs work on patients is immediately evident.Wcrowe 03:14, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)


 * Good for you! I got 2 of my dogs tested and one passed and the other was "great BUT you need to work on him jumping on people first." Duh. He didn't jump much and wasn't rough about it, but of course that's too much for therapy dogs. At the time, he was 7 and my older guy was about to turn 9 and I just let it slide and didn't go back for training...  Now I have a wild & crazy young dog who's not at all suitable for therapy, and my older guy is almost 13 (jeez, hard to believe it was that long ago!) and I'll have to wait for another life or a different dog to try again, if I can tear myself away from agility long enough.  Elf | Talk 05:04, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Probable Incorrect Information
A recent change to the article states that an ADA certified therapy dog can legally accompany an owner anywhere. I believe this information is erroneous for two reasons: First, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the law, not a certifying organization. To my knowledge, there is no such thing as an "ADA-certified" dog. Secondly, my research indicates that therapy dogs cannot fit the category of service animals, despite what they may be called by certain people or groups. Here is an excerpt of a transcript of a webcast sponsored by the Disability Law Resource Project at the Independent Living Research Utilization staff at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine. The person speaking is Sally Conway of the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
 * I think part of the problem is that we have so many different labels and descriptions for animals that may in fact be service animals and somebody else using that same term for a different animal that may not be a service animal. Generally speaking, if we're talking about therapy, comfort, emotional support animals -- and I think those typically are used interchangeably.  Those are not going to be service animals under the ADA because they haven't been trained to -- remember that three-part -- that definition, they haven't been trained to do work or perform a task for the benefit of an individual with a disability.  Typically, comfort, emotional support animals by their very presence certainly performs a valuable service, but it's an innate ability. It's their mere presence.  It doesn't reach the level of having been trained to do work or perform tasks.  So if I am -- if I am using those terms sort of -- I hope that I'm using them correctly.  They would not be covered.  And, again, we would look at not necessarily what the animal is called because different people call different animals different things, we look at what service it performs on behalf of that individual with a disability.  I mean, and I know that there are issues of companion animals and I'm not really sure what a companion animal is.  Again, the bottom line is what does that animal do for that individual with a disability?  If the presence of the animal -- the mere presence performs -- you know, it meets the need of that individual with a disability, I think it's absolutely critical and it's wonderful, but as we talk about the definition as of today, that is not a service animal under the ADA.

So the problem arises because some people use the term "therapy dog" to describe a comfort or companion animal. Such animals are not true therapy dogs. Therefore, I think the recent additional text referring to ADA-certified therapy dogs should be deleted.The Dogfather 18:14, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * I'm guessing that you're right about that, but I have no info one way or t'other. Perhaps the original poster has more clarifying info? If not forthcoming shortly, the info shd probably be removed based on this info.  Elf | Talk 22:03, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * Actually, the ADA simply states "Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA." This being the case any doctor treating someone for PTSD can write a prescription stating that the persons pet is a certified PTSD service dog. I've seen it done.voiceofreason 18:06, 9 September 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mcgyver2k (talk • contribs)


 * I think the ADA needs to offer clearer definitions. It appears that some therapy dogs are service dogs, and some are not. This situation only confuses the public.  In the situation Mcgyver2k describes, a physician writing a script stating that a pet is a certified PTSD dog, it is a disaster waiting to happen.  This is because many personal pets have no business being in public places. I'll let the edit stand for now, but you should provide a better citation for the article than "I've seen it done."The Dogfather (talk) 15:30, 10 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I agree that the ADA should clear this up. What they have done is open the barn door for anyone and everyone to simply get their doctor to write a prescription stating that the persons pet is somehow magically transformed into a service animal. Abuse of the system will be even more rampant now. Not sure if you were tracking the Vietnam Veteran with PTSD who threw a fit the other day on U.S. Airlines and got kicked off the plane but it sounds like he is a classic example of this. As for providing a 'better' citation, I provided one to the actual definitive source (ADA website) so not quite sure what you are looking for. As for you "letting the edit stand" I was unaware that you owned either Wikipedia or this page. I guess I should bow wow down to you (pun intended).208.79.15.49 (talk) 19:13, 10 September 2013 (UTC)


 * We're all editors here, and all have the ability to remove sections that are unreferenced. Lots of eyes on the articles produces quality -- at least that's the theory at Wikipedia.  If you follow the history back you will see that I created this article nine years ago, so yes I do feel a certain responsibility towards its content and quality, and I watch it closely.  The citation you provided simply quoted the ADA rules, which say nothing about certified therapy dogs being classified as service dogs.  You really should have a citation that confirms that.The Dogfather (talk) 13:56, 13 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I understand your intent but I think your execution could have possibly been a bit less confrontational. You are correct that you could simply edit my comment out but I could simply put it back and we could do that daily. Probably would do much more harm than good though and I hope you'd agree on that. My whole point was that one person stated that a dog that simply provides emotional support doesn't qualify it as a "service animal" is incorrect according to the ADA definition. Therefore, legally and technically, that person is wrong. Do I agree with that statement "that it's not really a service animal"? Yes I do but I am not the "authority", the ADA is. I see a huge loophole that can be, and is being, exploited by people that will have the end result of bringing discredit to the service animal community. Due to the ambiguous wording of the ADA rule anyone can simply claim to have a disability without even stating what the disability is and claim that their dog is a "service animal" and that's the end of it. No need to prove you have any disability or that the animal is officially trained as "certification" is not even required. In that scope, people with PTSD (or that simply want to take their animal places others can't) can and are exploiting the loophole. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mcgyver2k (talk • contribs) 07:01, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

Removed Wiki Blather
I removed the request for citations. It's been there a while, and I think the article has enough relevant citations. I also removed the "Worldwide View" warning. I hate it when such notices get placed in an article without any apparent cause, suggestions, or discussion. The article now specifies the United States. Are therapy dogs considered service dogs in other countries? Not to my knowledge. It's asinine to invent controversy where none exists. The Dogfather (talk) 13:54, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Further Edits
I removed much of the detail about Smoky. There is now an article dedicated to Smoky, so no need to repeat all of that information. It should be enough to mention Smoky and link to that article. There were a number of redundant edits which had sneaked in. For example, the article starts out saying that therapy dogs provide comfort, but someone felt it necessary to add that a second time only a couple of sentences later. The Dogfather (talk) 13:54, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Rewrite of Benefits moved for discussion/salvage
I removed the rewrite below. The sources look rather questionable and biased given that WP:MEDRS should apply. I'm hoping the sources used might actually be based upon more reliable sources that we could use. --Ronz (talk) 19:18, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Benefits
Research has shown many benefits with people of all ages interacting with therapy dogs. The results from the studies have only been positive. Before research was even conducted, dogs were used as a “therapeutic adjunct tool” by Sigmund Freud and Boris Levinson accidently. When Freud had his Chow during sessions, he noticed that his dog “provid[ed] his patients with feelings of security and acceptance, and facilitated their analyses.” Levison’s dog, Jingles, helped him build a rapport with a child. “Levinson’s efforts stimulated research into the mental and physical health effects…in therapeutic interactions…”. “Therapy dogs have healing powers that improve physical and emotional health of those whom they visit" . Physical improvements include slower breathing rate, reduction of pain, and lower heart rate . When people are visited by the dogs, their stress and anxiety decreases, their moods are happier, no longer angry or frustrated . Therapy dogs are beneficial for “stress management assistance during disasters,” for example 9/11.  Research has shown that the mental and physical improvements are caused by biochemical and neurochemicals effects, for example the hormone oxytocin. Oxtocin increases when people pet dogs, therefore, heart rate, stress, and blood pressure, are lowered (Dogs Decoded: Nova 2010). B-endorphin, prolactin, and dopamine, also increase (Linder).  In some primary schools in Switzerland, a dog is allowed and used in the classroom. A therapist takes the children who are very shy or hyperactive. The dog makes them feel that “they are the best” and do not see them as “outsiders.” Studies have shown with a dog in the classroom, students’ stress and anxiety reduces and they can enjoy learning better. Researchers say that children should be able to stroke or pet the dog before or during tests.

In addition, the dogs “increase socialization and decrease loneliness elders in living in long-term care facilities.”Also they help “agitation and aggressive behaviors” for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. Therapy dogs are also helping “to stimulate the congnitive, emotional, and social growth of children who are on the autistic spectrum…. [A]n intervention with a dog can interrupt the repetitive, non-interactive behaviors that these children demonstrate”.

Therapy dogs also encourage children to read. The children do not feel judgmental, make them feel better about themselves, and can read easier because they are relaxed and comfortable.

Potential reference

 * Studying for Exams Just Got More Relaxing—Animal-Assisted Activities at the University of Connecticut Library College & Undergraduate Libraries (October 2011), 18 (4), pg. 359-367. Jo Ann Reynolds; Laurel Rabschutz --Ronz (talk) 18:52, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Removal of others work
If you don't agree with someones submission the proper thing to do would be to either edit it (not delete the entire section) or post a message in the "talk" section about it. This would especially be true if most of what they post is verifiable fact and properly cited. The whole point of Wikipedia is that it belongs to everyone and nobody "owns" the information or personally controls what gets "allowed". Follow the Wiki rules.voiceofreason 05:23, 15 February 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mcgyver2k (talk • contribs)


 * I have just waded into this but I feel I would agree with the deletion - but perhaps for a different reason. The introduced section is about Service dogs and belongs on that article.__DrChrissy (talk) 18:09, 16 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I"ll let DrChrissy explain further, but per WP:BRD, you can boldly edit wikipedia, and someone else can come along and edit your work. Your addition was not neutrally phrased and needs some work.  It might be reasonable to have a section, for example, that clarifies the difference between a therapy dog and a "service dog."  But WP:NPOV trumps all.  You can discuss a controversy to explain each side, but The tone of this "ZOMG FRAUDULENT USE OF THERA{Y DAWGS" material would not be appropriate for either article, it's a rant.   Montanabw (talk) 18:49, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

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Characteristics of therapy dogs
A good topic to add to this article would be what the characteristics of a good therapy dog, how the dog is trained in general and also talk about the different disorders and disabilities therapy dogs can help with. talk about how therapy dogs can be bought to have as a pet in your house to help whoever needs help. (Awolf6 (talk) 17:00, 26 November 2018 (UTC)).
 * We'd need clearly independent sources for that to avoid promotion. WP:MEDRS applies if we try to state what they can help with and how. --Ronz (talk) 17:35, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

combining topics
I feel as if the "breed" section is very minor and should not have it's on section. I think it could easily be put in with either description or classification.Emilie.mcbrayer (talk) 16:43, 26 March 2019 (UTC)
 * I agree. I went ahead and merged the "breed" section into the description. I removed some minor material in the process (feel free to re-add that fluff if you feel it's important, but it seemed like non-encyclopedic content to me). ParticipantObserver (talk) 19:31, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

Adding difference between therapy and service dogs
I am editing this page for a class and I think it would be important to add a section for the difference between therapy and service dogs. I am not sure about it though but I also don't know where the best place to put it would be... thoughts? Emilie.mcbrayer (talk) 15:45, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Grief therapy dog into Therapy dog
These seem like overlapping topics, and the therapy dog article is short enough that Grief therapy dog could easily be incorporated without making the article too long. Ost (talk) 22:53, 28 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree. ParticipantObserver (talk) 09:07, 29 July 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 06:45, 13 November 2022 (UTC)

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