The soft touch of an animal allows people to feel the simplicity to be at ease, comfortable,and to release all their emotions. Based on research being in the presence of calm animals can actually reduce the level of stress that a person is experiencing. I anticipate that being in the presence of a peaceful and composed animal can reduce stress more than anyone or anything.“By initiating and maintaining the relaxation response pets can take people’s focus off of their pain and elevate their moods,” says Dr. Jeff Burgess, an attending physician at the University of Washington Pain Center. “Secondly, through touch or physical contact they can block transmission of their pain from the central nervous system shutting the pain processing centers …show more content…
They use classroom instruction and hands-on training in areas such as breeding, obedience, grooming, training, and specialized disability training. Reports of the training stated that the programs successfully brought about positive changes in the prisoners' and staffs' psychological well-being. There were even reports of rehabilitation success after the release of the prisoners. Programs using animals in prison demonstrate a constructive method that should be considered when working with a younger, disturbed population. Valeria Gallinotti, founder of the Dogs Inside association, has brought her Labrador, Doberman, and a mongrel to play with inmates in Italy's model jail, where a host of such initiatives keep repeat offender rates at a record low.Convicted murderers and sex offenders scoop up the canines for kisses, burying their hands in their fur and playing endless games of fetch with tennis balls in the prison yard, chasing them oblivious to the rain."My dream was to organize pet therapy sessions in prison because it's the one place where there is a total lack of affection, where dogs can create calm, good moods, emotional bonds and physical contact," Gallinotti,told AFP.She volunteers once a week to teach the prisoners how to train the animals with treats handed out for sitting, shaking paws, and lying down as well as how pet therapy works so that some can go on to set up their own initiatives once
Most people are familiar with service dogs and have seen them in action. Animal-assisted therapy is similar service animals in that an animal-human healing partnership is being created. However, the difference is that therapy pets are typically used to treat a mental disability whereas people with physical disabilities use service dogs to help them in many ways. Therapy animals are used in a wide variety of places, such as, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, therapy sessions, mental healthcare facilities, and even in people’s homes. These amazing animals are used on a wide variety of different disorders, but they are utilized mostly by people suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For people with these mental health disorders, everything in live can be difficult and challenging, however with the help of animal-assisted therapy, their mood, motivation, and life can dramatically improve. Anyone who hears about these brave, loving animals soon falls in love with them. From a medical standpoint, there have been many successful studies and the support for animal-assisted therapy still continues to grow in doctors and therapists across the nation.
Service dogs are another form of Animal Assisted Therapy. For example, a person that is deaf can own a hearing dog. “In these circumstances, a hearing dog can offer ameliorative benefits aside from alerting the caregiver to the phone ringing. A dog, being a full-time companion, ends up being a conversational partner that responds behaviorally to the statements and moods of other people nearby” (Fine 67). The dog becomes more than just a pet, but acts as a family member that takes full-time care of you.
A litter of puppies gets dropped off down a dirt road, they soon will go to an animal shelter, and eventually, prison. More than 15 million animals face possible death in shelters and are being rescued by a surprising group of people: prisoners (Rhoades). Animals in shelters die every day because of limited amount of space, injuries, and behavior problems that cause them not to be adopted. They shouldn’t have to suffer from lack of attention since they have done nothing wrong. Instead, the animals could be sent to prisons for training by inmates, which would increase the animal’s chances of being adopted. These programs would also help the prisoners by improving their behavior and the community by providing them with service dogs as well as saving tax payers money. The purpose of this paper is to show that animal programs in prisons would benefit many people, help the prisoners’ not return to a life of crime, and provide service dogs to those who truly need them but cannot afford them.
The use of dogs to assist in the treatment of physically and sexually abused children is an effective tool in the treatment and healing process. Animal assisted therapy, which includes the dog in the actual therapeutic process, allows a child to view the dog as a model and reassurance. The dog is a nonjudgmental entity, which augments the level of self-esteem the child is internalizing and stimulates their communication of feelings.
Research has been done in the area of human-animal companionship and security, and stress management. Due to the relative newness of this field and the difficulties in studying it, most research has been concentrated on the elderly, specifically, institutionalized elderly. Pets have been introduced into these settings in order to minimize the negative consequences of institutionalization. Most research has been conducted on the extreme ends of the continuum, either very brief visitation or therapy of resident pets studies (Wrinkler 216).
Animal cruelty occurs all over the world. The human race has a major effect on the natural world, especially animals. Animal cruelty is an example of how man has taken advantage of his power. Those exhibiting cruelty towards animals have been proven to have a tendency to harbor violent psychological problems. Animal cruelty occurs all over the world. Fortunately, many countries have enacted laws and penalties to stop this harsh behavior.
Animal-assisted therapy is often confused with service dog; it is two completely different type of usage of animals, which usually are dogs. It is commonly misunderstood because animal-assisted therapy and service dog are working animals with individuals with disability although according to (Hart-Cohen, 2009) service dogs is when an individual with disability is in need of help in order to function in daily life such as answering the door, crossing the street and the list goes on. While animal-assisted therapy animals are trained to offer comfort companionship, and affection to those in need in different situations such as courtrooms, nursing homes, schools, hospitals, and other places (Hart-Cohen, 2009). The point of animal-assisted therapy is to be available in specific situations to offer comfort to individuals. In order to become an assisted animal, the animal must undergo training, to receive a certified to prove that the animal is qualified to be able to control his or her behavior and is able to work with an...
Should we protect the rights of guilty humans or innocent animals? A commonly debated topic in America today is whether we should use death row inmates or animals as test subjects for products that could potentially cause harm to the subject. There are many good points why both are wrong, but if one life can benefit the entire population, then surely we can all agree that taking that life is worth the risk. Using death row inmates as test subjects could be a bigger help to the human race instead of using animals. Death row inmates should be used as test subjects instead of animals because they forfeited their rights, and using humans gives a better idea of how the product will affect other humans.
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 7.6 million companion pets enter animal shelters across the United States each year, nearly evenly disrupted between dogs and cats . These animals are abandoned for reasons including families no longer being able to care for them (sickness/death of an owner), to families not wanting them (the novelty wearing of the animal wearing off), to the animals being born into puppy mills to finally animals that are loved being lost from their owners. These animals do not understand what is happening to them and rely on the kindness of humans to provide for them in shelters until their forever home can be found.
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions...
Animal Cruelty has many forms, many reasons and most importantly many victims. It is a growing problem in today’s society. Many people may wonder why people abuse animals. The thought is simple, however the answer is a little more complex, there are three main types of animal cruelty. The three reasons are as follows: unintentional, intentional, and cruel intentions. I will discuss each one in more detail.
Dogs are wonderful creatures. They are loyal, dependable companions if given the opportunity. In recent years I have come to the opinion that we could learn something from these animals. We should also take a look at the manner in which they are being treated. Abandonment, irresponsible breeding, and neglect are only some of the ways that humans are failing the canine species.
Should the torture of an innocent animal go unpunished? No, it should not; the real question is to what extent should the perpetrator be punished? The most basic definition of animal abuse is the intentional act of inflicting physical pain, suffering, or death on an animal; this includes monstrous neglect (the act of withholding food and water) that causes an animal to suffer, die, or be put in imminent danger of death. Currently, animal cruelty offenders are not punished to the extent that some believe they should be. Animal cruelty should receive mandatory jail time because the abuse towards an innocent animal is deemed inhumane and oftentimes is a precursor for violence against humans.
Animals are so often forgotten when it comes to the many different levels of basic rights. No, they can’t talk, or get a job, nor can they contribute to society the way humans can. Yet they hold a special place in their owners’ hearts, they can without a doubt feel, show their different emotions, and they can most definitely love. In recent years there has been a massive increase in animal rights awareness, leading to a better understanding and knowledge in the subject of the humane treatment of animals. Where do humans draw the line between the concern of equality, and simple survival?
“Man is the highest rated animal, at least among all the animals who returned the questionnaire (Brault, 2009).” For years humans have been using animals for experimentation, food, clothing, sport and entertainment, manual labor, and let us not forget man’s best friend. The unethical treatment of animals can best be resolved by deontology contrasted with ethical egoism.