Pets help and heal all types of people and provide humans with love and comfort second to none. This is a book that highlights the many ways that animals heal and the gift of unconditional love they give!

Increasingly, medicine is recognizing the special relationship between pets and people as one of the most powerful weapons in fighting disease, treating chronic conditions, and coping with troubling times. In fact, many doctors are routinely "prescribing" pets for their patients. The Healing Power of Pets explores these phenomena in greater detail, combining revolutionary scientific discoveries with deeply moving, personal stories of the unique bond between pets and their owners. The stories are of people who have learned how to triumph over chronic pain, paralyzing phobias, sedentary lifestyles, and life-threatening conditions -- showing us that the best medicine might be that furry tail-wagging pet at your side.

Ten animals – nine non-human and one human – take you on ten journeys, where, in each case, an animal in need of rescue overcomes their issues and goes on to help people overcome theirs. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Arial} Dale Preece-Kelly, an Animal Assisted Therapy Practitioner, details his own very personal experiences – and how he was rescued by his animals – describing how the creatures he has rescued have become first class therapy animals. Featuring a unique range of species, some never previously used in a therapeutic environment, this book demonstrates how each species brings its own benefits to a therapy session. With a foreword from respected Animal Geographer Dr Daniel Allen, who has long supported Dale’s work, the book also gives advice on how to select and ‘train’ a therapy animal, what the benefits are of working with different animals, and how the benefits of each species differ. This book provides a unique and fascinating insight into the field of animal-assisted therapy.

Pets love us unconditionally. They're always happy to see us, they encourage us when we're feeling down, and their devotion is touching and reassuring. If this is true for the average pet owner, it is especially true for the disabled, handicapped, emotionally troubled, and seriously ill person.In this uplifting book we learn firsthand how the field of Animal Assisted Therapy is having remarkable success training animals to help and enhance the lives of children and adults with serious medical problems. Hospital rehabilitation programs, physical and occupational therapy sessions, nursing homes, mental healthcare facilities, and hospice programs are just some of the settings where dogs, cats, horses, and other animals have helped patients cope with often daunting medical challenges.With more than fifty photographs showing the visible improvements that trained therapy pets are making in the lives of sick and disabled people, the compelling stories relate many inspiring incidents of the healing animal-human partnership: six-year-old Brendan, disabled from birth, successfully completes his physical therapy with the help of Zorro, a big black hound once considered unadoptable; Philip, a hospice patient in his last days, finds some joy in the company of a therapy dog named Andy; and Tikva, a Keeshond therapy dog from Oregon, helps to comfort emotionally drained firefighters at New York City's Ground Zero.For animal lovers, healthcare providers, and anyone who appreciates how animals and humans interrelate, this is a wonderful, truly inspirational book.Jacqueline J. Crawford is a clinical psychologist at Lakeland Mental Health Center in Moorhead, MN, and the lead author of Please! Teach ALL of Me: Multisensory Instruction for Preschoolers.Karen A. Pomerinke is a professional dog trainer in the state of Washington and the moderator of the pet-advice website www.greatpets.com.Donald W. Smith is a photographer, website designer, and a retired mental health counselor.

Ten animals - nine non-human and one human - take you on ten journeys, where, in each case, an animal in need of rescue overcomes their issues and goes on to help people overcome theirs. Dale Preece-Kelly, an Animal Assisted Therapy Practitioner, details his own very personal experiences - and how he was rescued by his animals - describing how the creatures he has rescued have become first class therapy animals. Featuring a unique range of species, some never previously used in a therapeutic environment, this book demonstrates how each species brings its own benefits to a therapy session. With a foreword from respected Animal Geographer Dr Daniel Allen, who has long supported Dale's work, the book also answers many questions posed by those interested in working within the field of animal assisted therapy, including: How do you select a therapy animal? How do you 'train' a therapy animal? What are the benefits of working with different animals? How do the benefits of each species differ?

Dogs have always been our friends and changed our lives for the better. But they may save our lives as well. Seamlessly weaving scientific research with compelling narrative, Paws & Effect tells incredibly moving stories of beloved pets who have supported their people through periods of ill health and other crises—with miraculous results: *Little Ben, a Chihuahua who can sense impending epileptic seizures *Abdul, a Golden Retriever/Lab mix, who was the world’s first service dog and helped his owner by retrieving keys and phones, medicine from countertops, water from the refrigerator, and could even hand in credit cards at the grocery store *A Dalmation named Trudii, whose obsessive behavior prompted her owner to seek a medical examination that revealed melanoma