8 Ways Dogs Can Help People with Health Conditions

Service and therapy dogs can help humans.

They say dogs are humans' best friends, and all dogs enrich their humans' lives by being around. Some dogs go a step further and help humans navigate through certain health conditions.

Sick Patients Can Be Calmed by Therapy Dogs

Therapy dogs can help hospitalized patients by decreasing their blood pressure and relieving their stress. A study being conducted now is looking at the effects of therapy dogs on pediatric cancer patients and finding that their stress levels, blood pressure, and heart rates are lowered by canine visits. In fact, therapy dogs have a positive effect on sick kids' parents' stress levels, too (Amy McCullough, 2015).

Service Dogs Improve Quality of Life for People with Many Conditions

Dogs can be trained to provide service for humans with a myriad of conditions. Without their dogs' help, these humans' lives would most likely be significantly more challenging. In some cases, service dogs give people independence. In others, they provide emotional support. Still other trained dogs monitor people for medical complications.

Some of the human conditions for which dogs can be trained to give aid include:

Our dogs are truly our best friends and, in the case of service and therapy dogs, they can be our lifelines or our ticket to independence. Talk with your doctor if you think a service dog would be of benefit to you.


Works Cited

  1. Amy McCullough, P. M. (2015, Oct. 25). The Effects of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs) for Pediatric Oncology Patients, Their Parents, and Therapy Dogs at Five Hospital Sites. Retrieved from AAP Experience.

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