Pet Therapy

Meet Kuma, the Bordoodle

Kuma is a cross between a Border Collie and a Poodle and has been bred to be companion and therapy dog.

What Does the Research Show

Research shows that Pet Therapy has the following benefits:

Decrease stress
Decrease difficult or unwanted emotions like anger, anxiety, and depression
Increase self-esteem
Increase social interactions, decrease loneliness
Lower blood pressure and heart rate levels, lower blood pressure increases following stress-inducing tasks and quicker post-stressful-task recovery times
Build feelings of empowerment
Increase positive social interaction skills
Boost therapy attendance
Allows for new opportunities to regulate effect
Allows for attachment healing
Helps tolerate distress (e.g., increased mindfulness, distraction from distressing thoughts or emotions, self-soothing by petting the animal)
Increase in self-awareness

While the effect of pets on eating disorder (ED) treatment has not been studied widely, research is emerging suggesting dog-assisted therapy is correlated with improvements in self-esteem, confidence, and control.