“Please bring him back if you can, he makes such a positive difference.” a client says to me at the end of the hour, much to my surprise, after the unexpected addition of my dog to a therapy session. This happened already ten years ago; I didn’t have time to return home after a visit to the vet, and rather than leave the dog in the car alone, I asked my clients if, exceptionally, I could keep my little dog in the room. Little did I know then that this would be the start of a new way of working, in tandem, and that my little dog, Leo, and later his successor, Yumi, would be of such service to countless clients, as well as lightening up the waiting area and the general atmosphere of our workplace.
But why bring a dog into a therapy office, one might ask? How could it contribute to the smooth flow of a session or to the well-being of a client (and therapist)? Questions, in fact, I had asked myself when I did an internship at Shaughnessy Hospital in the early 90s, after I’d notice the presence of a small dog in the office of an older psychiatrist, but without further thinking about it until Leo first joined me in session. What Leo and Yumi were about to make me realize was that, indeed, the presence of an animal in a therapist’s office has many advantages.
For one thing, a dog brings a sense of calm to a session. He’s not at all preoccupied with what’s going on around him. For him, the office is a second home where his master seems to have many friends, and he looks forward to seeing them, especially as most of them seem to return on a regular basis! This has a relaxing effect, both for the client, who is delighted to see a welcoming animal again, and for the therapist, who begins the session on a positive note. What’s more, a dog can have a particularly acute sense of human distress. How many times have I seen one of my dogs approach a client at a particularly difficult time, sometimes jumping on the couch and cuddling up to him or her (and sometimes even slipping between two partners who were particularly tense!).
For some, the simple act of stroking an animal can prompt the brain to release mood-boosting hormones such as serotonin and oxytocin, helping to improve overall mood and feel a sense of relief, which can be particularly important when dealing with the impact of trauma, chronic stress or emotional turmoil in one’s life. And to end on a positive note, to my surprise, in the last ten years, not once has a client complained about the presence of an animal in the therapy room, proving that age-old adage that a dog is a person’s best friend is probably true for most of us.
