Martin, François

Therapy dogs have been increasingly incorporated into a variety of medical treatment programs to improve patients’ treatment outcomes and wellbeing. However, research investigating the stress level of therapy dogs in this setting is limited. This is the first randomized–controlled and prospective study that investigated the wellbeing of therapy dogs in an inpatient stroke rehabilitation program. In this study, 14 therapy dog–handler pairs were embedded in an inpatient stroke rehabilitation program to provide animal-assisted treatment (AAT). These therapy dog–handler pairs actively participated in stroke rehabilitation by walking with the patient, playing fetch with the patient, and being petted/brushed by the patient, amongst various other AAT activities. To measure canine stress responses during the rehabilitation sessions, salivary cortisol and oxytocin concentrations, heart rate and heart rate variability, tympanic membrane temperature, and a behavioral evaluation were recorded before and after interactions with the patient. The results demonstrated that therapy dogs had significantly decreased heart rate and increased heart rate variability after the AAT session. Right tympanic temperature significantly increased after the session, but there was no significant difference in terms of salivary cortisol or oxytocin levels, nor in stress-related behavioral evaluations after the AAT session. Taken together, the results suggest that incorporating AAT into an inpatient stroke rehabilitation program did not induce stress in the therapy dogs, and that the therapy dogs may have been more relaxed after the session.

Therapy dogs are increasingly being incorporated into numerous clinical settings. However, there are only a handful of studies that have focused on the impact of animal-assisted activity or therapy sessions on the wellbeing of the therapy dogs. Furthermore, these studies show mixed results. The goal of this study was to provide an in-depth picture of the effects of these interactions on the dogs involved by considering multiple physiological measures known to be associated with emotional state (continuous heart rate, heart rate variability, pre- and post-session tympanic membrane temperatures, and salivary cortisol and oxytocin concentrations). Nineteen Mayo Clinic Caring Canine therapy dogs completed five 20-minute animal-assisted activity (AAA) visits each in an outpatient clinical setting (Mayo Clinic Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Clinic). From a physiological perspective, the dogs showed a neutral to positive response to the AAA sessions. Heart rate (HR) was significantly lower at the end of the session compared with the beginning of the session (F = 17.26, df1 = 1, df2 = 29.7, p = 0.0003). The right tympanic membrane temperature was lower post-session (F = 8.87, df1 = 1, df2 = 107, p = 0.003). All other emotional indicators remained stable between pre- and post-session. These results suggest that the dogs involved were not negatively affected by their participation in the AAA. Moreover, there was some evidence suggesting the dogs may have been in a more relaxed state at the end of the session (lower HR and lower right tympanic membrane temperature) compared to the beginning of the session.