Chapter 6 - Living With Assistance Dogs and Other Animals: Their Therapeutic Roles and Psychosocial Health Effects

Abstract

Living with a companion animal is natural—animals just blend right into our human families. These animal companions that are always there for us fill important roles for our psychological and physical health. Building on such abilities of animals, especially dogs, assistance dogs are specially trained to support people with special needs. After nearly 90 years since the first guide dog training organization was established in the United States, assistance dogs continue to expand in number and type. Assistance dogs, often known as service dogs, do not fall within the definition of animal-assisted intervention (AAI) under the International Association of Human–Animal Interaction Organizations. However, as new types of assistance dogs have developed, it has become difficult to clearly differentiate some roles of assistance dogs from AAIs. This chapter introduces some therapeutic gains from assistance dogs as well as benefits provided by the assisting tasks of such dogs. It will be useful to further study what kinds of effects are provided from living with animals that have special roles to clarify the further possible benefits of AAIs.