Interacting with dogs has a calming effect for children, says study

An unexpected benefit of adopting Annie, my family’s 40-pound, floppy-eared mutt, was the calming effect she had on my children.

They often come home after a long, busy day at school and throw themselves on the floor beside Annie’s bed, lying silently as she licks their fingers and cheeks. Or they scratch her belly, taking a break before they go to dinner and homework and whatever else needs to happen before they go to bed.

Annie is a real trickster with infinite energy, but her presence in our house soothes my kids in a way I didn’t expect when we brought her here over a year ago.

A study published this month sheds light on the powerful connection between children and dogs.

Twice-weekly sessions with a dog and its trainer were found to significantly reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol in children. The measurement was made on saliva samples. The intervention appeared to be more effective than guided relaxation sessions.

“Our study shows for the first time that dog-assisted interventions can actually lead to less stress in children, with or without special educational needs, during a typical school term,” said Kerstin Meints, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Lincoln, England, and one of the study’s researchers.

His team’s randomized controlled trial, published in the journal PLOS ONE, included 149 8- and 9-year-old neurotypical and non-neurotypical children in Britain who were divided into three groups.

In one group, children spent 20 minutes twice a week, over the course of a month, with a trained dog and its trainer. They would pet the dog for a few minutes if the dog and the children were willing, ask a few questions and play.

In another group, children worked on relaxation exercises for the same amount of time without any dogs around, doing things like wiggling their fingers and toes before lying on yoga mats to listen to a guided meditation. A third group served as a control.

The researchers took saliva samples from all the children to measure their cortisol levels before and after the four-week test, and they also measured cortisol levels in the neurotypical children before and after each session.​

Overall, they found that children in the dog intervention group had lower cortisol levels than their peers in the relaxation and control groups.

“As a clinical trainer who works full-time with a lab dog, I’m not surprised to see such positive results from this study,” said Ali Spikestein, coordinator of the Paws and Play dog ​​program at Kravis Mount Sinai Children’s Hospital in New York, who did not participate in the new study.

Spikestein is well acquainted with the therapeutic potential of canines, working with her hospital’s three goldendoodles – Professor, Amos and Moby – who stay and snuggle with children who are in significant pain or have difficulties simply being in a hospital setting.

But she said it is “exciting and promising” to see a new study specifically look at the potential role dogs can play in calming healthy children in schools.

In fact, researchers and mental health professionals say there is a real need for more research into how animal-assisted interventions of all kinds can help children.

Dr. Meints also hopes to see more controlled trials, as well as longer-term studies, that can answer questions about how often children should participate in dog-assisted therapy sessions and how long they should last.

There are also big questions about whether children can touch the dog during sessions, or whether simply being in the dog’s presence is enough, she said, and whether group or individual therapy is better.

As tempting as it is for parents like me to extrapolate, there’s a big difference between canine therapy and the kinds of unpredictable interactions kids and pets have when they’re simply together at home.

(However, research has shown that owning a dog can be good for children’s psychological development.)

“There is a difference between a trained animal and a domestic animal,” said Dr. Arun Handa, a psychiatrist in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “That said, it’s not unreasonable that pets can offer some sort of comfort and support.”

No matter the environment, children should be taught to interact with dogs, and the American Academy of Pediatrics gives parents guidance on choosing and living with a pet. Children in the new study were reminded before sessions not to kiss, hug or squeeze their therapy dogs in any way, and were always closely monitored by adults.

The team looked for clues that the dogs were unhappy, such as licking their nose, pulling their body or head away, or yawning repeatedly, and ended any sessions where the dogs appeared tired or as if they no longer wanted to participate.

I can attest that in my own home this type of training is ongoing. Sometimes I have to remind my kids to make room for Annie; others, it is she who needs to be remembered. But for the most part, my kids and the dog seem to share an emotional understanding that I can’t help but feel is good for them.

“Animals offer unconditional love,” said Dr. Handa, “and come from a place of non-judgmental support.”

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves