Dog Therapy Takes Off

FOR THE LAST few weekends, passengers at Terminal 2 of Mumbai airport have been greeted with the unusual sight of a few cute dogs trotting around with their han­dlers. They are like a magnet for people, who often walk up to cuddle and play with them. The handlers do not dissuade it. It is the very purpose for these dogs to be there. The airport terms it the Pawfekt programme, an initiative to add a touch of well-being to the travelling experience, sometimes to destress or just to feel the unquestioning love of a pet. Interestingly, Mumbai is not the only airport to have tried this. In May, Istanbul airport did something similar. Many airports in the US have been doing this for years.

A press release from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Inter­national Airport (CSMIA) management gave details of the dogs: “This cheerful pack includes a Golden Retriever, a Maltese, a rescued Husky, a Shih Tzu, a Lhasa apso, a Labrador and more—all specially chosen and trained to spread joy and soothe travellers.”

The targeted use of dogs for mental well-being is a growing trend, both in India and across the world. At its upper end in professional settings, these are known as ‘therapy dogs’. They work, for instance, with children having autism and other de­velopmental disabilities, psychiatric patients, and people fac­ing emotional and behavioural issues, and assist in counselling sessions, physiotherapy, and speech therapy. When used in regu­lar settings like corporate offices or, as in the case of the airport, to bring some cheer through interaction, they are termed ‘comfort dogs’. Their role then can be to assist in destressing or as simple as bringing smiles to people’s faces.

The dogs at Mumbai airport come from Niharika Sekhri’s cen­tre Pawfekt Life. She studied animal behaviour in the US before returning to India and getting into the field. “We have two dogs, which are certified therapists. They particularly work with chil­dren with special needs and patients who have anxiety. The rest of our dogs are just very, very wonderful with people. They have been working for a couple of years now. We have been doing corporate sessions with a lot of the companies in Mumbai,” Sekhri says

The use of dogs in therapy has a surprisingly long history. There are records from 1796 of an asylum in the UK called The York Retreat experimenting with it. An article this September in Psychology Today, titled ‘The Fascinating History of Animal-Assist­ed Therapy’, says, “Early documentation from The York Retreat suggested that the presence of small, domesticated animals in the public rooms and on the grounds of the facility reduced agitation and distress among the patients while drawing them closer to nature, which was thought to have healing properties. Sixty years after The York Retreat introduced animals as therapeutic agents, Florence Nightingale wrote that small pets in hospital wards and sick rooms were excellent companions to ill patients, noting the beneficial effects patients derived from the human-animal bond.”

A pioneer in the use of animal-assisted therapy in India is Minal Kavishwar, the founder of Animal Angels. Kavishwar, who is a clinical psychologist and a certified animal therapist, has been in the field for 21 years. “I am a psychologist. I incorporate animals into my practice. It [the use of animals in therapy] was not known at all in India when I started out. I was working with a school for children with special needs on training their dog. While figur­ing out the best way in which the dog can help these children, I started learning about animal therapy. I went on to get trained at the University of North Texas. The project that I did with that school was the first documented research in India.”

One reason such therapy works is because the presence of friendly dogs triggers the release of hormones, like sero­tonin and oxytocin, that lead to better states of mind. The abstract of a 2013 paper, titled ‘The Science Behind Animal Assisted Therapy’, in the anesthesiology journal Current Pain and Headache Reports, also says: “Several studies have reported significant pain relief after participating in therapy dog visits. Objective reports of reduced pain and pain-related symptoms are supported by studies measuring decreased catecholamines and increased endorphins in humans receiving friendly dog visits. Mirror neuron activity and disease-perception through olfacto­ry ability in dogs may also play important roles in helping dogs connect with humans during therapeutic encounters.”

Kavishwar says that there is a misconception that all dogs interacting in a social situation are therapy dogs. The term, she says, is specifically for one who assists a therapist in his or her professional work that is goal-oriented. “The dog or the animal in that session is actively involved in that work. Not just being petted by people. In the sessions that I conduct, the dog knows what its role is in it, and how to respond to people’s emotions and needs. Because dogs are intuitive and understand emotions much better than us. Other formats like meet-and-greet or casual interaction are also positive in nature and helpful for people, but it should not be misinterpreted as therapy.”

There is some scientific evidence for the benefits of such therapy. A paper published last year in the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research analysed a number of studies in which a total of 300 children with autism had received animal-assisted therapy as an add-on to their treatment. They found that the children had better “cognitive, communication, and social skills, increasing adaptive behaviors, and reducing irritability and hyperactivity compared to control groups that did not receive AAT.”

The dogs that Animal Angels train, besides working alongside professional therapists, are also used in schools and hospitals. Their website has an image of a dentist who has a therapy dog trained by them seated next to a patient while he is doing a procedure. It is to reduce the anxiety of those who might fear dental procedures. This is especially useful in pediatric dentistry where young children are scared to go to a dentist. “The dogs have to undergo rigorous train­ing, evaluation, and certification processes. The handler also has to go through them. The training has a lot of on-field components where the dogs learn how to understand and work with people with different needs—emotional, behavioural, and physical, and how to work alongside a therapist. It is a long process. The handler, the dog, and the therapist are all trained together on the field,” she says. The training can take anywhere from eight months to a year.

Sekhri says dogs have to be carefully selected because certain characteristics are essential. They have to be at least eight months old. She finds Golden Retrievers and Labradors the best for thera­py. The training includes introducing them to a lot of people. Their calmness is a good sign. “If it is a hyperactive puppy or a hyperac­tive dog, they cannot be therapy dogs. Dogs who get extremely excited cannot qualify. Or the dogs who dominate. You know, a lot of dogs dominate their owners or caretakers. So those dogs are also tough to train,” she says. Once they become therapy dogs, care needs to be taken so that they are not overworked. For the airport initiative, the dogs are only taken out in batches for two hours.

In the airport, Sekhri’s dogs are positioned usually post immi­gration, near the check-in counters, or at arrival. One of the things she was surprised about was when some people asked if there was a price to cuddling the dogs. That is when she realised that in some airports abroad, it is actually a chargeable activity. The response has been gratifying for her. It was not just children who were approaching to play with the dogs, but many senior citizens too. And not just travellers, but even those working in the airport, like airline staff and pilots, stopped to enjoy recreation time with them. “There were people who exchanged numbers and after landing at their destination, texted me that those five minutes were so amazing. It just felt so good. Dogs work as therapy. In today’s world where people are so stressed about anything and everything, they basically just bring happiness.”

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