Do You Know the Difference?

My colleague Lisa Collier Cool posted a nice piece on the HealthyMagination Blog in July about animal-assisted therapy (AAT) at a children’s hospital in Columbus, Ohio. It got me thinking.

Do you know the difference between a therapy dog, a service dog, and a dog who does animal-assisted therapy?

It’s really pretty interesting.

Therapy dogs visit hospitals, children’s centers, and nursing homes to visit and be loved upon and such.

puppy photo of chuck
This is Chuck a future service dog being raised by the whole crew at The Dogs are Really in Charge. Read about his most recent training here.

Service dogs actually work with their assigned person by assisting them with any number of tasks. (These are dogs like the ones raised by people such as Laurie at Smart Dog University and Laura at The Dogs are Really in Charge.)

But, animal-assisted therapy dogs (like the ones Lisa profiles) are essentially employed by the hospital, where they help various patients with specific rehabilitation tasks:

  • Learning to speak again
  • Regaining arm or leg coordination by throwing or kicking the ball with the dog
  • Sitting still during therapy

Sometimes, the dogs work during the therapy. Other times, they serve as “rewards” to the kids in the program.

I cannot imagine a greater motivator than one attached to a wagging tale.