One of the principles that makes the Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program the gold standard is YAYABA™, which stands for You Are Your Animal’s Best Advocate. YAYABA is your most important responsibility as a handler, because your animal’s welfare should always be your top priority. Practicing YAYABA includes allowing your…
This post is part of a continuing series on preparing your pet for therapy animal work. Pet Partners knows that training your animal to be a part of a registered therapy animal team can feel like a very big endeavor. To make sure that preparing your animal for the world…
This post is part of a continuing series on preparing your pet for therapy animal work. Animals who become part of our Therapy Animal Program need some essential skills in order to do this work safely and successfully. While the skills will vary depending on the animal's species, all prospective…
We know that our canine companions can lighten the mood, make us laugh, and generally improve our quality of life. But is it true that they can actually decrease pain? The growing body of research on AAI supports the use of animal-assisted activities and animal-assisted therapies for pain relief. Whether…
One Health Day is observed each year on November 3. The effects of COVID-19 have made especially clear how important the concept of One Health is to protecting the health of everyone. We want to revisit our blog post about One Health Day, because the concepts of One Health remain…
Pet Partners therapy animal teams visit in a huge variety of facilities and environments. While people most often think of hospital visits and reading programs as settings for therapy animals, there’s really no limit to the places where therapy animal teams can have an impact. We want to share more…
With the sudden impact of COVID-19 on the therapy animal community, Pet Partners found ourselves in a challenging situation: the love of animals was needed more than ever, but the ability to bring therapy animals to people was largely cut off. We immediately began considering the countless ways in which…
The Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program was originally designed to bring the benefits of therapy animals to people through in-person interactions, and this model has allowed our teams serve their communities for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on in-person gatherings presented a major challenge to this model of…
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…
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health disorder that develops after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Post-traumatic stress disorder can affect both children and adults. Events that can lead to PTSD include the following: Being involved in a vehicle crash, terrorist attack, or natural disaster. Being abused,…
Military veterans are a notable segment of the clients our therapy animal teams serve across the U.S. The impact animal-assisted interventions (AAI) can have for veterans is so significant that in November 2019, Pet Partners signed an agreement with Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to set standards for AAI at VHA…
Join us in the tastiest fundraiser of the year! Treats & Sweets Day is an annual fundraising event that celebrates the sweetest day of the year, National Therapy Animal Day. How Does Treats & Sweets Day Work? Treats & Sweets Day is a chance to bake and sell…
Our volunteers are the heart of the Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program. They’re the ones who bring the benefits of the human-animal bond to their communities with therapy animal visits. They’re the ones who instruct potential handlers about therapy animal work, and do outreach in their communities to help people…
Holding the title of therapy animal handler is an honor unlike any other. As a handler, you are able to build a profound bond with your therapy animal, as well as spread the joy of that bond to others in your community. The depth of this bond is what makes…
It's almost April 30, which is National Therapy Animal Day! This special event was created by Pet Partners to recognize and celebrate the amazing work of therapy animals and their handlers. National Therapy Animal Day has several goals: Recognize and honor therapy animals for the amazing work they do. Raise…
This post is part of a continuing series on preparing your pet for therapy animal work. If you’re interested in becoming a therapy animal team with your pet, you’ll want to take time to get your animal ready for doing this work. The most important aspect of a successful therapy…
Since 2017, Pet Partners has offered a scholarship funded by Dr. Aubrey Fine, named the Magic Award in memory of his therapy dog Magic, to registered volunteers for use in personal/professional development in the field of AAI. In 2022, the scholarship was expanded to include members of our sister organization,…
