via www.smh.com.au
Caring canines provide a new breed of therapy
The use of four-legged counsellors to treat young and old is spreading.
THESE medical professionals come with a coat — blue, not white — and with a bedside manner guaranteed to win you over. They dispense confidence, comfort and lessons in life, and their expertise is broad, putting their training into practice with everyone from troubled kids to the old and frail. And they’re often as effective as any wonder drug.
They’re therapy dogs, and increasingly these four-legged counsellors are being given a front-line role in the treatment of patients whose situations demand something beyond the standard fare of chemical intervention or old-fashioned human-to-human counselling.
Comments