Pet Therapy at Cedar House

At Cedar a few years ago, we started to allow staff to bring in their dogs for the day so the patients could walk them and stroke them. The benefits of this have been outstanding. What did we observe? When the dogs were on ward, the patients were calm and appear happy. They motivate patients to exercise and have such a calming effect upon everyone they meet. A patient said “when the
dogs are on ward it makes everyone feel calm and we look forward to seeing them.” A staff member said “This is such good therapy for our patients! It motivates them to get up and go for a walk; they learn social skills and how to look after an animal.”