Therapy dogs are likely to play a significant role in developing lifelong social skills in children.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia conducted a new study focusing on how children interact with therapy dogs during social skills training programs. Twenty-two children participated in sessions designed to help them learn and build social skills. Initially, each child introduced themselves to others with the assistance of a therapy dog. Then, each child attended a class with other students, where all the children interacted with one another alongside the therapy dogs to practice the skills they had recently acquired with local college students.
According to Nicole Harris, who conducted the study while a graduate student in the Faculty of Education, "Dog lovers often assume that dog-assisted interventions will be effective because others will undoubtedly love the dogs, as they are gentle and playful beings. While we often see improvements in children in dog therapy programs, we did not have data to support that they also enjoy their time."
The skills course that the children followed lasted for about six weeks. The participating youth worked weekly with the children to develop and assess various skills, through which they learned to communicate with others and provide directions to someone else.
In this context, Dr. John Tyler Benefit, Director of Academic Sufficiency Building at K9s BARK Foundation, stated, "We saw evidence of growing social skills, that therapy dogs are able to reach children and facilitate their growth in remarkable ways when they were paired with a therapy dog. The dogs helped create a non-threatening environment while the children learned these new skills, and we witnessed children training and honing their social skills with the dogs and with each other really wonderfully."
Therapy dogs assist young children in focusing and staying positive. As the children practiced their new social skills and learned, researchers recorded data and took notes on their progress. Harris noted, "Our findings suggest that dog-assisted social and emotional learning initiatives can provide extremely unique advantages. Our team observed that through interaction with therapy dogs, the children's mood improved and their engagement in the educational course increased." A notable 78% of researchers agreed that children's engagement levels were unexpectedly high. When the course concluded, eight children shared their opinions and thoughts about their experiences, expressing similar feelings. Additionally, half of the children affirmed that the dogs improved their emotional state. For instance, one child mentioned that a therapy dog helped him become more responsible and manage his silly behavior, making him more rational.
