For many years doctors and researchers believed that the act of stroking a cat or dog can reduce stress and lower blood pressure .
Dr. Beth Macauley from the University of Tulsa believes that using animals can help to increase therapy success. The university has a group of speech therapists from 11 states that are learning more about animal assisted therapy.
Dr. Macauley said, "We know the act of petting a dog decreases blood pressure, increases oxygenation, and decreases stress and triglycerides in people."
So, having a dog present during a therapy session should help the patient to be more receptive.
She added, "I'll get more out of them, they'll work harder when the dog is present."
Dr. Macauley works with clients in the speech and language pathology program at the University of Tulsa. She has a dog called Alex, a 200 pound Old English Mastiff puppy who acts as her assistant . She says that Alex’s job is to keep the client focused.
However, dogs can also be used for other remedies . For example, Bozzie, a 7-year-old Samoyed, is helping young Evan with his reading by just listening. It was discovered that children, respond better to big calm dogs than small excited ones.
