Doggie Assistants Popping Up in Doctors’ Offices

Tuesday, 21 December 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Having a hard time getting a doctor’s appointment? You may just as well go to the dog park. The Wall Street Journal says more and more mental health professionals are using dogs to help treat their patients. The canine counselors can do things—calm nerves, boost serotonin levels, dole out hugs—that their human counterparts cannot. Experts say animal assistants are akin to therapy dogs, which have long been used in rehabilitative settings.

And according to an interesting side bar in the Journal, Sigmund Freud was the first to use a doggie assistant