There are many positives of having an animal assisted therapy. This is evident from the fact that pet therapy reduces the requirements of medications by almost 50 percent in adults who are recovering from total joint replacement surgery. Pet therapy has shown to have a positive effect on the emotional, physical as well as psychosocial well being of a patient. There are many non-profit organizations as well that provide assistance to people with physical and developmental disabilities.

Animal therapy is a unique way of combining love for animals with care for people who have special needs. Service dogs are taught as many as 40 commands so that they assist their partner with physical tasks and also provide much needed social support to them. The dogs learn to enhance the freedom of the people who are suffering from ailments which can be anything from spinal cord injuries to multiple sclerosis. Facility dogs are too trained wonderfully to work with a professional in education or healthcare facilities. They are taught commands to rehabilitate, motivate and soothe clients who have special needs.

A facilitator guides an adult or a child with disability and trains skilled companion dogs to work in tandem. Such a dog is generally in the company of someone disabled with muscular dystrophy, Down’s syndrome or cerebral palsy and fills the gap which disabled people who find it hard to relate with people with disability. Then there are hearing dogs as well that are trained to respond to doorbells or smoke alarms and alert their partners.