expected. The noticeable improvements Evan made after visiting with the dogs, backed up by the facts I found, made it very clear that the therapy dogs could be attributed to both the mental and physical changes in Evan’s health. While at first I wanted to learn whether or not different breeds of dogs or the age of the therapy dog made a difference in the effects it had on a patient’s health, I found that those factors were largely inconsequential in the bigger picture. I didn’t observe that either factors made an impact and Evan didn’t report that he preferred any one breed or age of dog over the other. While I initially thought that the age of the dog would make a difference in how calm the dog acted, it didn’t seem to be the case. This is …show more content…
In addition to outside research, I thought it was really interesting to hear Evan’s perspective on the matter. He said that he didn’t really think about the dogs changing his mood or impacting things like his blood pressure results at the time, but once I mentioned the results of my research to him he thought it seemed logical. Throughout the whole process of investigating the impact that therapy dogs can have on a person’s health, I learned a lot more than I expected. While I thought that the dogs could likely change a person’s mood, I didn’t expect a therapy dog visit to additionally be able to impact a patient’s physical health. Observing Evan with the dogs made me realize that there are numerous positive benefit a therapy dog can have on a patient, regardless of the breed or the age of the dog. I also learned some things about myself throughout this process. I noticed that seeing the dogs interacting with Evan not only changed his mood but mine as well. I felt less stressed after their visits, possibly from interactions with the therapy dog, witnessing the dog’s effect on Evan, or a