At Your Service
By Tony Leggio
As a pet owner for most of my adult life , I cannot explain the feeling of sheer joy of coming home after a hard day at work and having my two loving fur babies , Magnolia and Hyacinth , come racing around my feet excitedly barking , their tails wagging a mile a minute . Nothing compares to that greeting . Their puppy kisses ( or more like non-stop face licking ) makes for the best stress relief . Even experts seem to agree with me on this matter . According to many recent reports , interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol ( a stress-related hormone ) and lower blood pressure . Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness , increase feelings of social support , and boost your mood .
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The Visiting Pet Program , the only animalassisted activity / therapy program in the Greater New Orleans area , accomplishes just that and so much more . The program was originally created in 1987 through a grant from the Mayor ’ s office to the Louisiana SPCA . The program , known then as the Louisiana SPCA Pet Therapy Program , comprised one staff member from the Louisiana SPCA and a handful of volunteers . The original group used shelter animals to make up their visiting teams .
When the grant was not renewed at the end of the year , the volunteers decided to continue with the program using their own pets . Former program coordinator Joyce Kleinfeldt chose to continue the good work that had started , but her path was not easy particularly after the
Life Unleashed