Welfare considerations: Salivary cortisol concentrations on frequency of therapy dog visits in an outpatient hospital setting: A pilot study
The animal-assisted therapy field is exponentially growing under the lack of science-based evidence of potential risks to the animals involved. Even though to become a therapy dog, the dog must pass an evaluation, most evaluations do not take into account disposition. Thus, a dog could become certified as a therapy dog but still become uncomfortable […]
Physiological and behavioral effects of animal-assisted interventions on therapy dogs in pediatric oncology settings
Over the past two decades, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), defined as the purposeful incorporation of specially trained animals in services to improve human health, have become increasingly popular in clinical settings. However, to date, there have been few rigorously-designed studies aimed at examining the impact of AAIs on therapy animals, despite a notable potential for stress. […]