Can a Dog Also Be Your Therapist?

When is it appropriate to snuggle with your therapist?

When they have four legs and a tail. 

Some people might achieve mental clarity through a yoga class or an afternoon run, but for others spending quality time with an animal can be just the antidote to a difficult day. Just ask Martha Stewart (MSO). The morning following her 2005 release from prison, the domestic diva took a long walk with her dog, Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow. (Yes, you read that correctly.) On April 12, after 13 years doing television appearances, print ads and providing companionship, “Paw Paw” left the kitchen for good. In an extensive blog memorial to the “spectacular dog,” Stewart said she was “heartbroken.” 

Of course not everyone can reap the rewards of pet ownership (they can be expensive and time-consuming), but sometimes they’re the segments of society who could use a furry friend the most. Enter pet therapy. As the $16 billion a year U.S. market for antidepressants like Zoloft (PFE)  and Prozac (LLY) continues to thrive, alternative or complimentary treatments like animal assisted therapy are also gaining momentum.

Not just any canine with a wet nose and a warm paw is qualified to be a “therapist.” Professionally trained therapy dogs are required to pass a structured eight week course that screens for temperament and obedience. Four weeks of the course focuses on adjusting to a new environment, “simulating situations that the handler and dog might find in a facility, like wheel chairs, IVs, beds and peculiar noises and screams and outbursts because they all actually happen,” says George Berger of the Good Dog Foundation (GDF), a dog therapy non-profit based in Brooklyn, N.Y. that has trained more than 200 teams of therapy dogs and owners.