User:Sarahrod9/Therapy dog

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History

Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior at the time, proposed utilizing dogs with psychiatric patients at St Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC in the year 1919. There was no further documentation or research done. Florence Nightingale also contributed ideas to Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). She discovered that patients of different ages living in a psychiatric institution were relieved from anxiety when they were able to spend time with small animals.[13] Freud believed that dogs could sense certain levels of tension being felt by his patients. Freud also used his dog to improve communication with his patients. He felt as if his patients were more comfortable talking to his dog at first and this opened up doors for them to later feel more comfortable talking to him.[13]Boris Levinson, an American child psychiatrist, was one of the first to write about animal therapy, specifically with dogs. tool to facilitate work with a child client. Dr. Levinson found the dog’s presence to help his pediatric clients with positive focus, communication, and allowing the initiation of therapy and shared this information with the medical world n 1961. About 10 years later, psychiatrists Sam and Elizabeth Corson at Ohio State University Psychiatric Hospital used Levinson's findings to expand this form of therapy to adults. The use of therapy can also be attributed to Elaine Smith,[14][15] a registered nurse. While a chaplain and his dog visited, Smith noticed the comfort that this visit seemed to bring the patients. In 1976, Smith started a program for training dogs to visit institutions, and the demand for therapy dogs continued to grow.

Concerns

There are some concerns with using therapy dogs with children and adults in various public facilities. Some include hygiene, allergies, cross-cultural expectations, safety of participants, animal welfare, and lack of consistent training or certification process and liability.[52] AAI (animal-assisted interventions) and AAA (animal-assisted activities) are facilitated by human/dog teams with extensive therapy dog training and have obtained behavioral and health evaluations. They follow guidelines for cleanliness (bathing and brushing dogs before sessions, keeping vaccinations up to date, trimming nails, human hand washing before and after visits) to alleviate most hygiene concerns.[53] In all of these locations, patrons, students or patients are often required to take responsibility for their interactions with dogs in the form of a liability release or parental permission form. Advance considerations of the responsibilities of handlers and the institution or organization include insurance and background checks to address liability.[54] While insurance claims against trained dog teams are rare, it is advised[by whom?] to be prepared.[55] Since therapy dog interaction is an optional activity, those with allergies, those who develop anxiety when near dogs, or those with general opposition to the program need not participate.

While there is no nationwide standard for certification or registration of ESAs, many online agencies claim to “register” an animal as an ESA for a fee. The qualifications are not strict which may raise concern. There are have been countless incidents of people misusing confusing restrictions, given the sometimes overlapping terminology and recent emergence of service dogs and ESAs.To combat the issue of fraud, numerous states are enacting new regulations, the majority of which are centered on service animals. Some states have more specific laws that focus on exact situations while other's are more general. Lawmakers can never be too specific since the conditions and qualifications of having a therapy animal are so broad.