There are a wide variety of meanings for the term Pet Therapy. There are different kinds of animals used in different types of settings and there are many purposes for the different types of pet therapy. In this course I will cover one type of pet therapy, called Animal Assisted Activities (AAA), and will discuss dogs mostly. However, many different animals can be used if screened appropriately, and you will see in the “Teacher Tales” that there are a number of illustrations that reveal this.

• Upon completion the student will understand the concept of unconditional love between a pet therapy animal and a person.
• The student will know the different purposes of therapy pets.
• Upon completion the student will understand the many benefits of pet therapy.
• The student will read a wide variety of Teacher Tales to illustrate the benefits.
• The student will be given information on several national pet therapy organizations that they can draw from to get their own pet therapy program started.

Workshop Content: