Animal-Assisted Therapy
Animal-Assisted Therapy
"AAT" dogs are used to help a patient better manage his or her daily life through the use of animal-assisted therapy, (AAT) a form of treatment that incorporates a highly-skilled, highly-trained therapy dog to assist in patient recovery. The use of animal-assisted therapy can greatly improve an individual's quality of life. Senior living communities and rehabilitation centers that provide physiotherapy and physical rehab is where you will most often see our AAT dogs working.
Regain independence & mobility
The use of animal-assisted therapy in physical rehabilitation can help patients improve mobility, range of motion, balance, coordination and muscle strength. We've also had success with a patient working to regain cognitive skills. Our main goal is to improve a client's quality of life. Here are just a few ways Animal-Assisted therapy is used to meet functional goals:
- Play Fetch: Improves extremity coordination, coordination, timing and sequence
- Walk the Dog: Improves visual coordination and awareness
- Brush the Dog: Promotes range of motion, coordination and strength
Motivation
AAT dogs encourage patients to engage in physical activities - often while overlooking the pain associated with physical therapy. A certified therapy dog team engaging in animal-assisted therapy can also help increase the patient's desire to cooperate, reduce distractions and increase the patients attention span.
Physical assistance
Animal-assisted therapy dogs are capable of directed or automatic retrieves; able to push, pull and carry objects; able to act as a brace for sitting, standing or walking. Our animal-assisted therapy dogs learn 40 different commands to better assist in a client's daily activities. Some common tasks include:
- Retrieval: items placed at different heights
- Attraction: encourage walking, communication or social interaction
- Language development: to benefit individuals on the Autism spectrum
- Balance: walking or climbing stairs
