Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) including therapy, education, and activities programs involve welfare obligations to the animals whose labor enables human benefit.
Animal-assisted intervention creates a welfare paradox: the animals who provide the most benefit to humans may experience the highest welfare cost. Therapy dogs working in hospital or care home settings are exposed to unfamiliar environments, strangers, and multiple daily interaction cycles. The welfare framework for AAI animals is developing but remains inconsistently applied. Programs that treat animal welfare as central to their mission — rather than incidental — produce better outcomes for both humans and animals.