Therapy dogs in schools provide a wide range of emotional, social, and educational benefits for students, teachers, and the overall learning environment. Their calming presence has been shown to positively influence mental health and academic performance.
Research shows there are many benefits to having a therapy dog in schools including:
- improvement of social attention, behavior, interpersonal interaction, and mood
- reduction of stress-related parameters such as cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure
- reduction of self-reported fear and anxiety
- improvement of mental and physical health, especially cardio-vascular health