While all of these observations seemed really promising, I wondered if any of the observations actually had a factual basis to them. The benefits of dog therapy really intrigued me because while I had anticipated positive changes in Evan’s mood after being with the dogs, I didn’t really consider that it could also impact his physical health. However, I wondered if it was just a fluke we were observing a more optimistic attitude, lower blood pressure, and increased appetite after the visits or if the dogs were actually playing a part in those changes. I decided to do some investigating and found a surprisingly large amount of research available on the benefits of therapy dogs. The Mayo Clinic has a therapy dog program and has found that the