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Therapy Dogs And Their Benefits In People

  • 05/11/2019
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Many people agree that having a pet can greatly improve people's physical, mental and emotional health.

Without going so far, the article tells about all the benefits they can bring dogs to their owners, based on scientific studies conducted by the Animal and Health Foundation, ranging from sick less, have a fuller and happier life. Get even more tips to take care of your dogs from Smartdoglover.com

Therapy Dogs

Well, all these benefits increase even more, with therapy dogs. Animals previously trained and integrated into a multidisciplinary team formed by health and education professionals, which help to improve the interpersonal and social contact of the patients, as well as to favor their physical and mental activity. That is, therapy dogs mainly help to work on 4 specific aspects or areas. They are: 

Four Main Areas:

1. Physics

 Exercises in which the patient is required to move, get up, walk or even run alongside the dog, and especially to interact with him, in order to recover lost mobility.

2. Cognitive

Here we work mainly with the patient's memory. Exercises are usually done that help you remember the breed, size, color and other characteristics of your pet.

3. Emotional

In this area, the dog's function is very important. It is intended that the person opens and outcrop their feelings, and the pet serves as a vehicle to help you remember and talk about issues or situations that have been important in your life.

4. Relational

Last but not least, there is the relational area. It works directly with motivation, which makes the patient can relate to his environment and especially with other people so he can go outside feeling comfortable and safe. For this, the support and company of the dog are essential.

Characteristics of therapy dogs

But at this point, the obligatory question is: can any dog ​​be a therapy dog? No, of course not. Therapy dogs are dogs that are born in some way or another for this and have very particular characteristics. They have to be animals with :

●      very calm, with a serene and balanced character.

●      manageable and predictable

●      reliable, to give you the certainty that at no time will they lose

●      nerves or will have a bad reaction.

●      healthy and strong

●      that people enjoy and with social contact

●      that have basic obedience

that is to say that they know the primordial commands to be able to control themselves as they are: "feel", "grave", "still" ??together?? and come??.

Positive skills and training

In addition to complying with all the above characteristics, therapy dogs have to have certain special skills in order to be properly trained. It is not an abnormal thing, but having enough skill to understand and correctly perform the exercises that are required to achieve the objectives.

The basis of training therapy dogs is to do it in positive. This means rewarding the animal when it correctly does what we ask, and ignoring or redirecting negative or unwanted behaviors.

The prize is to reward the dog with what he most desires, such as food or a toy. In this way, therapy ends up being a game for him. Something fun and entertaining that will not cost you to repeat as many times as necessary.

Selection process

As in any job, choosing the best candidates to be therapy dogs is not an easy task. Therefore, before selecting a dog and incorporating it into an institution, the Foundation ensures that it has sufficient conditions to perform its functions in the best possible way.

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