[(JD)]

I was wondering if this had already been considered...but would like it considered...

to have a PET THERAPY forum...maybe under self care or even distractions?

I think we all realize at least a little how owning a pet helps us heal, and be healthy...but having a place to actually share it "officially" might strengthen that support, and allow others that might not have considered it or not have the background information to support their "argument" for one.

Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other : Shots - Health News : NPR

Dr. Karen Becker: How Pets Can Help With Psychotherapy

Pets for Depression and Health

[lizardlady]

JD, I believe many of us use the pet subforum for this.

[DocJohn]

Agreed... That's what you can share in "Our Pets" forum today. Or in "Other Treatments" if you prefer.

[(JD)]

Yes. In the social chit chat.



Guess I wasn't clear enough. Thanks anyway.

JD
I bet there would be a lot of people very interested in discussing and exploring pets and animals from a therapeutic point of view.

Animals can do so much for us physiologically, emotionally and socially. Sometimes they will even be able to tell us things about ourselves and our bodies that we may not know.

Pets can be therapeutic with out being official assistance or therapy animals.

It would be neat if we had maybe a social group for this. If you talk it up JD and express the PoV with individuals who you know have pets or service animals I'm sure they would check it out. I would quit a bit. Discussing the process of making an animal a declared assistance animal or getting a trained assistance animal for various reasons would be interesting. As would sharing various sources of information and general questions and ideas.

I know it is called a social group, but you would be able to express the intention of the group and gear discussions in that direction (I mean as far as I understand?).

Something to think about?


Josie

[(JD)]

Yes thanks. I had considered another social group, but I don't want the responsibility. I have 2 social groups now, one I can dispense with but the other is a private one and if I left the site, it cannot be transferred and all data would be lost... and I have to stay to add new members etc. That's plenty for me to do with social groups...

I just didn't find the Pet forum because under Social Chat area I think of light hearted topics. Sometimes, like with what I'm going through with Caleb, that's the last place I would want comments made.

[DocJohn]

The categorization of the forums isn't meant to define the topics of the forums themselves, nor is it meant to somehow be a meta-rule about what can and can't be talked about. It's simply a general rule of thumb, and it felt best to put "Pets" under "Social" at one time.

Of course you can talk about more serious topics in a social area; we talk about serious topics all the time socially in real-life... FWIW, I see plenty of 'serious' pet discussions in the "Pets" forum today.

[waggiedog]

Hi. Just thought I'd like to add that I've been using different kinds of 'pet therapy' for most of my life (55 years!) but hadn't realised it until fairly recently when I booked in for 'Equine Assisted Therapy' at the Holistic Horse and Pony centre where I work as a volunteer. This is a riding school (horseback riding) in the conventional sense except that the animals and staff use 'holistic' methods of management, medication, approach and cure. I kept many different kinds of animals, including horses, since I was 4 years old. Any kind of pet can be your therapy, a mouse, a rabbit, a goldfish, a wild bird in your garden or a horse. In the main my doggie Waggie IS my absolute therapy 24/7, I live for her and I live BECAUSE of her. Many times during this year I'd have totally given up, but for her I continued and here I am. I am booked in for another three day Equine Assisted therapy term. It's pretty amazing what you can discover about your inner self on these courses. Nice to see your input here guys! HUGS ALL ROUND.

Equine therapies are pretty fantastic. I worked at a therapeutic riding barn for a time and it was a great experience- equine and hippo therapies can both be beneficial in their own right, though riding and equine therapies can, in different ways benefit an individual socially, emotionally, psychologically and many different ways physiologically.

Just working with the animals- grooming and being around them- was a wonderful experience for me. Assisting sessions and caring for them helped me with anxiety, social confidence and coordination to a degree. It also helped with focus in some ways.

If anyone has access to such therapies or programs and considers they might be comfortable or possibly learn to be comfortable around horses I highly recommend exploring it.

[Marik]

One of my friends was hardly depressed , she brought a puppy for herself and she felt much more better,that 6 months she changed to a healthy fresh girl who managed everything,was responsible for it,have the passion to go out, run with it, but after 6months she lost her dog and now she is almost crazy, if she sees a dog around she starts crying sometimes shouting or calling her dog out loud...! we don't know what to do to calm her down or make her feel better!