With the term  pet therapy , or AAT ( Animal-Assisted Therapy ), we mean a gentle therapeutic system focused on the interaction between humans and animals.

There are different animals, as well as different therapeutic purposes and  areas of application of pet therapy: hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, retirement homes and schools, all structures interested in new recreational methods to be included in their programs to increase the level. quality of life within its own structures. 

The success of pet therapy

In  Italy , in fact, the interest in pet therapy activities has grown and the demand on the territory has increased.

The  recognition of pet therapy  took place with the Prime Minister’s Decree of February 28, 2003, which acknowledges the agreement between the Ministry of Health, the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces, regarding the welfare of pets and pet therapy.

The attention paid to pet therapy at a legislative level allows the discipline to have a scientific and procedural dignity in Italy as well. The attempt to regulate the AAT programs at a national level frees these contributions from the ‘do-it-yourself’ forms. 

Pet therapy projects involving animals and humans are growing visibly. Among these, important results come from the interaction between pet therapy and autism .

Art therapy is also a valuable aid for autism

Pet therapy and autism

Autism is  a disease that affects the brain areas of language and communication and affects between 5 and 50 people out of 10 thousand, mainly children. The autistic child is usually crushed by his illness and by the attention of the therapist. In response, he withdraws even more in himself and does not communicate easily with the outside world.

Pet therapy is characterized as a complementary and integral therapeutic tool to the indispensable neurocognitive and behavioral therapies indicated for autism. But what does pet therapy for autism consist of?

Pet therapy experts emphasize, first of all , the importance of non-verbal interaction . It is the contact with an animated being who does not speak that teaches the autistic child to use a relational space different from the usual one, a space that is mediated by the presence, for example, of a dog. A dog is not experienced as a threat, as a person can be. The patient’s isolation in this is overcome. It is the ‘skin to skin’ contact between animal and patient that establishes in the autistic the need to relate to the therapist. Not only dogs, but also horses and dolphins …

Second point: stimulation . The world of isolation in which the patient lives is enriched with stimuli, sensory and relational. It is a new world that he can communicate with. And often this enthusiasm for the dog is also transmitted to people, family members and therapists.

Third point: the relationship . And then the dog is not afraid to relate. He is spontaneous, sincere, has no prejudices or elaborate reflections. To the caresses he responds with sincere affection, without having a double purpose, without evaluating the gesture.