Inside India’s pet therapy movement: How animal-assisted therapy benefits pets and patients alike

I have often noticed that people behave differently around a dog. 

A patient who may be quiet in a consultation room will sometimes reach out when a dog walks in. They stroke its head, ask its name, smile. The conversation may begin with the dog and, somewhere along the way, turn to what the person is actually feeling.

The dog has not said anything particularly profound. It has not diagnosed a condition or offered advice. It has simply been there.

That, in many ways, is the appeal of pet-assisted therapy.

The practice is still developing in India, but structured interactions with animals are increasingly finding their way into hospitals, rehabilitation centres and other care settings. For people dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma or loneliness, an animal can sometimes make an unfamiliar or difficult environment feel a little easier to navigate.

There is science behind some of what we observe. Research on animal-assisted interventions has found reductions in cortisol, alongside improvements in mood and social engagement during sessions. And the emotional connection people have with their pets is not limited to formal therapy. A Mars Petcare and Calm study found that 79% of Indian pet owners say their pet has a positive impact on their mental wellbeing. 57% say they prefer spending time with their pet when they are stressed, ahead of partners, family, children or friends.

These are people's experiences of living with pets, not evidence that owning a pet or spending time with one is a treatment for a mental health condition. But they tell us something about the role animals can play in our emotional lives.

Sometimes, you don't want to talk.

A pet doesn't insist that you explain yourself. It doesn't interrupt or ask you to make sense of what you are feeling. For some people, simply sitting beside an animal can be comforting.

But there is another side to that comfort that, as a veterinarian, I think we need to talk about more.

What does the interaction feel like for the animal?

The therapy goes both ways.

It is easy to look at a dog sitting quietly beside a patient and assume that everything is fine. But animals don't always express discomfort in ways we immediately recognise. A dog may lick its lips, yawn repeatedly, turn its head away, become unusually still or try to create some distance. None of these behaviours, on their own, tell us everything. But together, and in context, they can be signs that the animal is uncomfortable or needs a break.

This is why not every friendly or well-behaved dog is suitable for therapy work.

A therapy animal needs the right temperament. It needs to be physically healthy and comfortable around unfamiliar people, environments and forms of interaction. Just as importantly, someone needs to be paying attention to whether that remains true over time.

The handler is critical here. A good handler isn't simply someone who can control a dog. They need to understand what the animal is communicating and, importantly, be willing to end a session even when the person on the other side would like it to continue.

That can sometimes be the hardest decision to make.

We tend to celebrate animals for being patient and affectionate. But patience has limits. A dog that stays where it has been asked to stay is not necessarily a dog that wants the interaction to continue.

Rest, therefore, is not a nice-to-have. Therapy animals need time between sessions to decompress and return to their normal routines. They need opportunities to sniff, explore, play and simply be dogs. Sessions should be appropriate in length and frequency for the individual animal.

Otherwise, the very quality that makes an animal valuable in therapy, its willingness to engage with people, can become a reason to ask too much of it.

India has an opportunity to get this right while the practice is still taking shape. We should not wait until pet-assisted therapy is more widespread to start talking about welfare standards.

That means better training for handlers, careful assessment of therapy animals, regular veterinary and behavioural checks, clear limits on sessions and proper monitoring of the animal's wellbeing. It also means bringing mental health professionals and veterinarians into the same conversation.

None of this takes away from the potential of pet-assisted therapy. In fact, it makes that potential more meaningful.

We often ask whether the patient benefited from a session. We should also ask whether the animal was comfortable. Did it willingly participate? Were signs of stress noticed? Was it given enough time to rest?

Those questions should not come at the end of the conversation. They should be part of it from the beginning.

Animals can bring an extraordinary kind of comfort into difficult moments. If we are going to invite them into spaces where people are at their most vulnerable, we have to be equally attentive to their vulnerability.

Because therapy was never meant to be one-sided.

The author is a senior veterinarian at MARS Petcare, India. 

 

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.