The third annual Pet Partners Pet of the Year event raised thousands to support therapy animal teams and brought hundreds of participants and supporters together to celebrate the amazing animals in our lives. During this six-week competition, which was held February 5 - March 18, 2024, pet candidates (with help…
Join us as we kick off our 3rd annual Pet Partners Pet of the Year fundraising event! This exciting six-week fundraising competition honors the furry, feathered, and scaled companions who make our lives better. Do you think your dog stands out from the pack? Your feline friend has amazing cat-itude?…
Dr. Leo Bustad was one of the founders of Pet Partners (then called Delta Society). His influence on the field of animal-assisted interventions was major, going beyond his role in founding our organization. In this guest post, Dr. Alan Beck shares some thoughts on Dr. Bustad’s influence and his memories…
This post is part of a continuing series on preparing your pet for therapy animal work. You’ve brought a new pet home who you think might be a great therapy animal (perhaps one you adopted from a shelter), and you’ve taken some time to prepare them for experiences they might…
Have you ever seen one of those “who rescued who?” bumper stickers and smiled, feeling an immediate sense of relatability with the idea that humans tend to benefit so deeply by sharing our lives with pets? General research on pet ownership and the human-animal bond supports this notion, suggesting that…
Therapy animal handlers enjoy volunteering their time to enhance the lives of others, but it’s important that therapy animals are also comfortable doing this work. Many people wonder whether or not therapy animals actually like their jobs. Two recent studies have addressed this question. A 2018 Applied Animal Behaviour Science study found…
The first-ever Pet Partners Pet of the Year, a new signature fundraising competition to support Pet Partners, was held February 1–March 15, 2022. And we are so excited at the success of this inaugural event! During the six-week competition, pet candidates (with help from the humans who love them) raised…
Dementia is the umbrella term for general loss of mental abilities that affects an individual’s capability to function and carry out activities of daily living. It most commonly affects older adults, but it is not a normal part of aging. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, characterized…
I woke up this morning thinking it was any other day. I ate my breakfast, played with my beloved tennis ball collection, and laid in my favorite sunny spot for a while before my human came over with my brush. Wait a second—I got a bath last night, and now…
