Canine-assisted interventions (CAI) are becoming more popular in hospital settings, representing a crucial intersection between animals, veterinary medicine, and society... This paper presents a rationale for CAI in hospitals and describes the evidence, issues, and challenges to establishing and maintaining safe and effective programs for humans and animals.

This paper utilizes a longstanding theoretical framework- the biopsychosocial model- to contextualize the existing research on a broad spectrum of settings and populations in which dogs have been included as an adjunct or complementary therapy to improve some aspect of human health and well-being.

When Canadian clinical psychologist Aubrey Fine took his first pet, a gerbil named Sasha, to a programme for children with learning needs in the 1970s, a boy who was usually hyperactive went up to him and asked if he could hold Sasha. "Sure, but only if you can sit down on the ground and cross your legs," Dr Fine, who was then in his 20s, replied. "When I put Sasha in your palm, I want you to not move because I don't want you to scare my little friend."

While they can’t visit the hospital as they normally would, the adorable pooches are conducting virtual visits with patients and staff who request a visit to brighten their day. One of the favorite love-related activities is Operation Cookie where Dogs on Call teams — think humans — purchase individually wrapped cookies and attach one of the Dogs on Call playing cards to the package. In case you’re wondering, each therapy dog has a card with their picture and name that is usually given to patients and staff when the dogs visit. 

The field of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) is plagued with mixed results... The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at this variability in research outcomes and to provide plausible explanations and potential remedies.