Why Therapy Dogs Are Transforming Senior Care in Assisted Living Facilities

Seniors living in assisted care facilities can face certain challenges as they age. They may not have many family members living nearby, which can make them feel isolated and lonely. Many face cognitive decline with issues such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease and can become confused or even get angry.  Some also have declining physical health, which can make everyday living more challenging.

Research has identified a holistic method of helping seniors living in assisted living facilities better cope with their day-to-day lives. This profound program is called animal-assisted therapy. Animal-assisted therapy often involves dogs, but can also include cats, birds, reptiles, and even miniature horses. These animals provide comfort to individuals in various settings, such as assisted living homes.

Being compassionate and caring, therapy dogs can provide many advantages to seniors living in these environments, helping to add a bit of joy and fun to their weekly lives. Pet therapy offers a wide range of benefits for seniors, and this article will explore some of them. But first, let's take a closer look at what a therapy dog is in contrast to other helpful canines, and then we'll dive into the many wonderful benefits of dog therapy for seniors.

What Are Therapy Dogs?

Research has shown that therapy dogs provide an immense number of benefits to seniors. But animal lovers already know the benefits that pets bring. Therapy dogs can provide the same care and compassion as pets but to a larger group of people. Their presence can enhance individuals’ emotional, physical, and mental well-being.

Unlike service or emotional support dogs, therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort, love, and support to the people they volunteer with. They typically work directly with an owner or handler and volunteer their time helping different facilities, including assisted living homes. Before exploring the many benefits that therapy dogs offer, let's differentiate them from service and emotional support dogs to clarify their unique role in providing support, comfort, and joy to seniors.

Therapy Dogs

A therapy dog is trained to provide comfort and unconditional love to the people they visit. They usually have a handler or an owner who works with them, volunteering in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living care facilities. Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are not trained to perform any specific tasks. Their only job is to provide comfort by increasing the mental, physical, and social well-being of the people they visit. Therapy dogs usually go through behavior training to ensure they can handle being around many people and being handled without feeling stressed or angry.

Service Dogs

Service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks for their owners. They are trained to assist people with disabilities and can perform a wide range of duties depending on their training. A service dog can accompany its owner everywhere. These animals undergo behavior and task training to ensure that they assist their owners with disabilities. Some service dogs even wear a vest that says, "Do Not Pet," as they are working animals, not pets.

Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)

Emotional support animals (ESAs) only provide comfort and love to their owners. They do not need any training, as their existence in their owner's life is enough to fulfill their role. An ESA does not have the same public access rights as service dogs, but can live with their owners in housing situations. People with mental health conditions are prescribed an ESA as part of their treatment protocol.

Physical Benefits of Therapy Dogs for Seniors

Therapy dogs offer many physical benefits for seniors. Let's examine some of the positive physical benefits of therapy dogs in senior care homes.

Increases Exercise

A therapy pet program in senior care homes is a great way to encourage physical exercise. The basic act of walking a dog is a simple exercise that helps to get the blood flowing and the lungs working. Pet therapy is a great way to encourage seniors to get out of their normal routine by walking and playing with the dog. By exercising with therapy dogs, seniors can keep their health and wellness in check and help themselves feel better.

Reduces blood pressure

One of the top benefits of pet therapy for seniors is its ability to help reduce blood pressure. Many studies report that pet therapy helps to reduce heart rate and blood pressure for older adults.

Being around animals helps seniors stay calm and playful, which is good for heart health. Walking with a dog will help lower blood pressure, but simply petting a dog for at least 15 minutes can reduce blood pressure and lower triglycerides and cholesterol levels.

Increased Mobility

Seniors who interact with dogs may also improve their walking and mobility. This study found that pet therapy helped to improve the balance and gait of the senior participants. Having a therapy dog around can really motivate the residents to get up and engage in more physical activity, which in turn is good for physical health. Engaging in physical activity, spending time outdoors to walk the dog, and petting a dog are all excellent ways to enhance the health of residents in assisted care facilities.

Emotional and Mental Health Benefits

There are many emotional and mental health benefits to having therapy dogs volunteer at senior care homes. Let's examine some of them.

Decrease Loneliness

Dogs offer unconditional love and comfort to everyone they interact with. For many seniors who do not have their loved ones by their side, therapy dogs offer an outlet of unconditional love that may be missing from their lives. The companionship of a therapy dog can help to reduce feelings of loneliness and even encourage socialization with others.

Increased Mood

Therapy dogs can help lift the spirits of everyone, including those who live in assisted care facilities. Simply petting an animal can release the chemical oxytocin, which can lead to reduced anxiety, lowered stress, or increased mood. Seniors may even get excited when they know that the therapy dog is coming to play, giving them something fun to look forward to each week.

Increased Cognitive Function

Dog therapy can help people who are dealing with cognitive issues such as dementia or Alzheimer's. Animal-assisted therapy has profound benefits for patients with dementia. One study found that pet therapy helped to reduce aggressiveness and anxiety in dementia patients. Another study found that dementia patients who worked with pet therapy had better memory recall.  Being around a dog could help them remember the pets they had during their younger years and bring back joyful memories.

Reduced Anxiety and Depression

Engaging with a therapy dog on a regular basis helps to reduce anxiety and feelings of sadness or depression. A recent study cited that animal-assisted therapy significantly reduces feelings of anxiety in older adults.

Not only can these lovable animals help people in assisted living facilities manage anxiety, but they also may reduce feelings of depression. Research has found this to be true. According to this study, pet therapy helped decrease depression in elderly patients.

For residents who may not have family nearby, a visit from a therapy dog is more than just a visit. It's a chance to experience these animals' love and compassion, which they might not get to experience often.

Social Benefits in Assisted Living Facilities

Interacting with therapy dogs is great for seniors to decrease their feelings of loneliness, but there are even more social benefits. Therapy dogs help senior residents get together and socialize. When the therapy dog visits, more people may come out of their rooms and into the common areas and spend less time alone. Animals can encourage more interactions with other residents, helping to facilitate new friendships through a shared bond with the dog.

There are fun group activities that can encourage residents to come out of their rooms and gather around the dog. Group petting sessions and dog-assisted group therapy programs are both great options for facilitating socialization and warding off loneliness in assisted living homes. People need to socialize as humans are social creatures. Pet therapy is a great way to break the ice and get residents mingling with each other and having a great time.

Case Studies: Real-Life Impacts of Therapy Dogs

Let's look at some of the real-life examples of how therapy dogs help enrich the lives of the seniors they volunteer with in their assisted living environments. 

Steve Winner at Silverado Senior Living discusses the benefits of pet therapy that he sees in the Silverado network of assisted living communities. He mentions that they ask the seniors to help take care of the pets in the program. Then he says, “The responsibility of caring for other living beings builds self-esteem." Steve Winner goes on to add, "Sometimes new residents can be withdrawn and not very communicative, and it's the first interaction with an animal that draws them out," and that these seniors are, "pulled out of their shell by the pets."

-Steve Winner of Silverado Senior Living

Now, we will look at a story of how pet therapy helped patients open up and become more social with others. 

A beautiful piece about pet therapy in the LA Times discussed an interview with Robin Cohen, a pet encounter therapy manager from Helen Woodward Animal Center. She said that patients with nonverbal trauma opened up to the animals while petting them and then even started to speak about their experiences for the very first time after that animal-assisted therapy session.  She also mentioned that "Some of the people we visit have often been isolated from others and maybe have a hard time connecting with people, but with the animals, it's such a pure connection and a beautiful connection that they offer."

-Robin Cohen of Helen Woodward Animal Center 

Animal-assisted therapy benefits not only the seniors but also the staff and nurses. 

A feature in Working Nurse explains the benefits of pet therapy programs for nurses and staff. Jeannie Meyer, a palliative care clinical nurse specialist at UCLA Health, discusses how animal-assisted therapy has helped the nurses and staff. She states, "There have been some days when the dogs hardly make it to the patient's rooms because the nurses and the staff will stop them and want to pet them and hug them. Some of the nurses have cried with them. It gives me goosebumps when I think about it."

- Jeannie Meyer of UCLA Health

Implementing Therapy Dog Programs in Assisted Living

If you want to implement therapy dog programs for your facility, it's important first to determine the needs of the residents and take into consideration any health concerns or possible allergies. Then you'll want to take the following steps to get started:

• Find organizations that partner with trained handlers and therapy dogs that may have some experience working with older adults.
• Train staff on properly handling therapy animals and their interactions with residents.
• Inform residents and family about the program and make sure everyone's on board.
• Choose a dog with up-to-date vaccines and health records, a friendly demeanor, and possibly even previous experience with older populations.
• Choose a common area for group pet therapy activities and implement a visitation schedule.

Remember, with any new program, you will face challenges or possible fears, but with proper education and training, a pet therapy program could be wonderful for your assisted living facility. Plus, with feedback from staff, residents, and even family members, you can always work to create a dog therapy program that benefits everyone, including the lovable dog who gets to visit!‍

FAQs About Therapy Dogs in Senior Care

‍Below are some of the common questions that come up about therapy dogs in senior care facilities.

‍What are the benefits of therapy dogs for seniors?

‍Therapy dogs offer seniors many benefits, including improving their mental, physical, and emotional states. They also give seniors a chance to become more social and overcome any tendencies to isolate.

‍What does it cost to have a dog therapy program at an assisted living facility?

‍Many dog therapy programs are free for assisted living facilities. Alliance of Therapy Dogs and Canine Companions offers their volunteer services for free. Others may charge a fee, especially if they offer therapy sessions. The costs will depend on how you want the animal therapy program to look in your assisted living facility. 

‍What should be done if residents in a senior home have allergies to dogs during therapy sessions?

‍If any of the residents or staff in your facility have dog allergies, you can still offer dog therapy. You can choose to have the pet therapy volunteers come to a well-ventilated room, use hypoallergenic breeds, and ensure the owner grooms the dog and keeps them clean to reduce pet dander.

Suppose residents do not wish to participate due to fear or potential allergies. In that case, they can always choose not to bring the animal to their room or living space. You can also set up pet-free zones in your residence to ensure that the animals are only in certain areas, which can later be thoroughly cleaned to reduce allergies.

‍What are some mental health benefits of dog therapy for seniors?

‍Dog therapy can help improve seniors’ mental health in many ways. Some possible mental health benefits include:

• Decreased loneliness
• Reduced stress
• Reduced anxiety and depression
• Increased social interactions with others 
• Increased feelings of being loved and wanted
• Increased sense of responsibility if allowed to take part in feeding and caring for the animal

Conclusion

‍Therapy dogs can significantly add to the mental, emotional, physical, and interpersonal needs of seniors in assisted living environments. By providing residents with a sense of responsibility, encouraging exercise, reducing anxiety and depression, and having something to look forward to each week, these therapy dogs can make such a difference in the lives of seniors.Not only do therapy dog programs contribute to the overall wellbeing of residents, but the staff and nurses can also benefit from the unconditional love of a therapy dog. The benefits of animal-assisted therapy are starting to gain traction everywhere. Hopefully, you can add a helpful dog therapy program to your senior care facility in the future.