In 1980, Professor E. Friedmann conducted a scientific experiment that proved that people who owned pets lived longer than people who do not own pets. This study became the main idea for AAT, in which animals can help people physically, socially and psychologically. Animal Assisted Therapy is the use of animals to positively impact and improve a patient’s thinking, emotional and social well being. AAT is used for any age group from infancy to elderly and can be as simple as owning an everyday pet. Many people do not realize that owning a pet is the easiest way of AAT. A pet can have the same impacts as a trained AAT animal. They both help to improve a person’s well being in the same way. AAT is important because it uses the natural instinct
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AAT is broken into two sections: Assistance Animals and Therapy Animals. An assistance animal is an animal used to perform specific task for someone with disabilities. Some common examples of assistance animals are guide animals for the blind, hearing animals for the deaf, and service animals for those with little mobility. Assistance animals have many social benefits for patients. One study shows that disabled individuals in wheelchairs accompanied by service dogs during shopping trips received a median of eight friendly approaches from strangers, versus only one approach on trips without a dog. The most common animal used for assistance animals are dogs, but are not the only animal used in this type of AAT. Monkeys can also be used for people with little mobility or deaf patients. Unlike Assistance Animals, Therapy animals, or comfort animals, do not perform a specific task. Therapy animals and their owner visit a wide variety of people and places such as patients in a hospital, elderly in nursing homes, hospices and retirement homes, adult and children with physical disabilities, prison inmates, and even disaster victims. These types of animals are typically used for providing social, physiological and psychological comfort for someone in need. During a physiological study, Pet interaction, whether active or passive, tends to lower anxiety levels in subjects and thus decrease …show more content…
For example, therapy dogs must take a test that includes obeying basic commands, showing friendliness toward people and other animals, tolerating the occasional tail tug or too-enthusiastic squeeze, resisting food temptations and displaying comfort with medical equipment. For a person to become certified in AAT, they must be in the certified program and go through internship to gain the degree. A person does not have to be certified to volunteer. There are programs that that send volunteer teams to hospitals, nursing homes, senior centers and other facilities to provide AAT to those who need it. The programs accept any animals or people who want to volunteer with organizations locally or nationally. For example, Therapy Dogs International is an organization that evaluates tests, and trains dogs for visiting institutions with AAT. Another example is Pet Partners, which is a national organization that conducts research into the effects of AAT on individuals. In Equine (Horse) Therapy there are 3 main organizations Eponaquest, the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association and the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship
AAT is broken into two sections: Assistance Animals and Therapy Animals. An assistance animal is an animal used to perform specific task for someone with disabilities. Some common examples of assistance animals are guide animals for the blind, hearing animals for the deaf, and service animals for those with little mobility. Assistance animals have many social benefits for patients. One study shows that disabled individuals in wheelchairs accompanied by service dogs during shopping trips received a median of eight friendly approaches from strangers, versus only one approach on trips without a dog. The most common animal used for assistance animals are dogs, but are not the only animal used in this type of AAT. Monkeys can also be used for people with little mobility or deaf patients. Unlike Assistance Animals, Therapy animals, or comfort animals, do not perform a specific task. Therapy animals and their owner visit a wide variety of people and places such as patients in a hospital, elderly in nursing homes, hospices and retirement homes, adult and children with physical disabilities, prison inmates, and even disaster victims. These types of animals are typically used for providing social, physiological and psychological comfort for someone in need. During a physiological study, Pet interaction, whether active or passive, tends to lower anxiety levels in subjects and thus decrease …show more content…
For example, therapy dogs must take a test that includes obeying basic commands, showing friendliness toward people and other animals, tolerating the occasional tail tug or too-enthusiastic squeeze, resisting food temptations and displaying comfort with medical equipment. For a person to become certified in AAT, they must be in the certified program and go through internship to gain the degree. A person does not have to be certified to volunteer. There are programs that that send volunteer teams to hospitals, nursing homes, senior centers and other facilities to provide AAT to those who need it. The programs accept any animals or people who want to volunteer with organizations locally or nationally. For example, Therapy Dogs International is an organization that evaluates tests, and trains dogs for visiting institutions with AAT. Another example is Pet Partners, which is a national organization that conducts research into the effects of AAT on individuals. In Equine (Horse) Therapy there are 3 main organizations Eponaquest, the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association and the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship