Baby Mama
STANDARD
Q
What are your thoughts on Therapy Animals? Do you think they work? A friend of mine
suggested we get a therapy dog for our son, who has high amounts of anxiety and
trouble sleeping.
Yes, I think therapy animals work! However, I
think you mean an emotional support dog. An
emotional support dog is an animal (usually
a dog or cat, though this can include other
common domestic species) that provides a
therapeutic benefit to its owner by providing
companionship. I have heard only wonderful
things about them. My daughter has several
friends who live in her college dorm and have
emotional support animals. There are dogs,
cats, and even bunnies!
Aside from the smell, I can’t see how having
a warm living creature at your side wouldn’t be
emotionally beneficial. Holding or stroking an
animal can be relaxing, repetitive, and soothing.
It helps regulate breathing and normalizes your
heart rate, which is imperative for someone
with anxiety. It can also help
alleviate loneliness and depression. Wellbehaved pets provide companionship and
unconditional affection from which everyone
can benefit.
If you have the means and ability to properly
care for and love an animal, then I can’t see
many down-sides to getting one. Having a
pet as a companion has been shown to be a
wonderful mood elevator.
A therapy dog needs to meet a certain set
of standards in order to be certified. There are
therapy animals and then there are emotional
support animals. Therapy animals require
things that other companion animals do not.
Make sure you check the requirements and
laws in your local area. For example, some are
not certified to be used as a service animal
outside the home.
To be clear, emotional support animals are
not trained to perform tasks for people who
have emotional disabilities. The animals are
not usually authorized to be in public places.
But some places will allow them in otherwise
“no pets” situations. Do your homework first!
You don’t want to have to take away a pet once
you give it to a child.