Therapy Animals: Welfare and Ethical Use

Therapy animals provide measurable benefits to humans in hospitals, schools, and care homes. Ensuring the welfare of the animals themselves is essential for ethical animal-assisted intervention programs.

Key Facts

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) involving dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, and birds show measurable benefits for human wellbeing
Therapy dogs visiting hospitals show elevated cortisol after intensive work days — welfare monitoring is needed
Research shows that many therapy animals show calming signals and stress behaviors during visits that handlers may miss
Best practice includes brief visits with rest periods, handler ability to terminate sessions early, and retirement criteria
The International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO) publishes guidelines for ethical AAI
Some AAI involves animals who cannot consent or withdraw — ethical frameworks must account for this

Welfare Considerations

The welfare of therapy animals deserves the same rigorous attention as their therapeutic benefits to humans. Dogs undergoing intensive therapy work in hospitals show physiological stress indicators including elevated cortisol, and individual variation in suitability for therapy work is high. Welfare-ethical AAI requires: ongoing monitoring of animal stress signals during sessions, the ability and willingness to end sessions early based on animal welfare, maximum session lengths and mandatory rest periods, regular assessment of whether individual animals find work rewarding or stressful, and clear retirement criteria when animals no longer demonstrate enthusiasm for work. Animals who do not freely engage with and enjoy interaction should not be used in therapy programs regardless of their technical training level.

What You Can Do

Support therapy animal programs that include animal welfare monitoring alongside human benefit assessment
Learn to recognize stress signals in the species used for therapy to advocate for animal welfare during visits
Ask therapy animal programs about their welfare protocols before participating or donating
Advocate for IAHAIO guidelines to be adopted as standards by therapy animal certification organizations