Animal-assisted therapy provides documented benefits for humans, but the welfare of therapy animals themselves requires careful attention and protection.
Therapy animals provide genuine benefits to human recipients, but their welfare needs are frequently subordinated to program goals. Dogs who display clear stress signals - yawning, lip licking, turning away, body tension - during therapy sessions are often kept working because the human benefit is visible while animal discomfort is subtle. Animals have no ability to consent to therapy work, making robust welfare protection an ethical imperative. High-quality therapy animal programs include thorough temperament assessment to ensure only genuinely comfortable animals participate, training handlers to recognize and respond to animal stress signals, limiting session lengths and volumes, and providing adequate rest, recovery time, and enrichment between sessions. Animals must be able to withdraw from interactions without consequence.