Use of therapy dogs to fight work stress and depression is trending as start-ups exploit this business opportunity.
Cities like Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai are opting
for dog therapy to fight from depression, stress and anxiety.
Companies like Swearondog.in, Bangalore and Animal Angels Foundation, Mumbai are working to help citizens and employees fight stress.
Educational institutions like Symbiosis University, have also adopted four dogs, two for Lavale campus and two for Viman nagar campus to help students come up with stress and make them feel at home.
Therapy dogs are not the same as service dogs as their training is different from the latter. They are trained to show love and affection towards people.
They interact with people to offer feelings of well-being or encourage rehabilitation through actual contact.
Pet therapy, also known as Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), involves animals with specific characteristics of calmness and patience becoming a part of a person;s treatment. Its method is designed to improve the physical, social, emotional functioning of the patient, as well as provide educational and motivational effectiveness for participants.
Study also shows AAT helps in autism and post-war trauma. Even though, dogs are considered more useful than any other animal, cats can be helpful too.
Mr. Ankur Jain, founder of Therpup Dog Cafe started in 2016, explained, “Scientifically it is proven fact that how having dogs help physically and mentally. But people have to be animal-friendly. We have one girl whose mother has been hospitalized for months and dog therapy helped her a lot.
Recently, we took two dogs to mentally challenged organisation and they were happy and enjoying a lot. Usually, golden retrievers leave more impact than other dogs. But we need good, calm and hyperactive dogs. There has been increase in demand since we started and usually start-ups ask for it. We at least get 20 to 30 calls every month. ”
