This is the first book focusing on the animal's perspective and best practices to ensure the welfare of both therapy animals and their human counterparts in animal-assisted interventions. Written by leading scientists, it summarizes the scientific evidence available concerning the impacts on animals in these settings, including companion species, horses, marine mammals and other animals used in therapy.

There has been a dramatic increase in the range of animal-assisted interventions used in medical and allied health environments in recent years, and the field is now entering an era with a greater interest in defining the underlying mechanisms of the human-animal bond as well as the therapeutic benefits of these interactions. Animal-assisted interventions, as with other uses of animals by humans, impose a unique set of stresses on the animals, which the community has only recently begun to acknowledge. For the field to continue to flourish, more evidence is needed to shed light on the implications for the animals and what guidelines need to be put into practice to ensure welfare.

With the ultimate goal of improving the impact that we have on the animals under our care, the book provides a roadmap for researchers and clinicians as they attempt to safely and humanely incorporate various species of animals into therapeutic settings. The authors also offer instructions and suggestions for areas that need to be studied more robustly over the next decade to continue to ensure the safe and proper use of animals in therapy sessions.

This is an informative, thought-provoking and instructive resource for practitioners and researchers in the field of medicine and clinical psychology using animal-assisted interventions, as well as for veterinarians and welfare scientists.

Chapter 1: The animals´ perspective and its impact on welfare during animal-assisted interventions

Chapter 2: Conceptualizing the Human-animal Bond and Animal-assisted Interventions
Chapter 3: Ethics of Animal Assisted Interventions
Chapter 4: Behavior and Training for Optimal Welfare in Therapy Settings
Chapter 5: Stress in therapy animals
Chapter 6: Strategies to Assessing and Enhancing Animal Welfare in Animal-Assisted Interventions
Chapter 7: Wellness and Medical Needs of Therapy Animals
Chapter 8: Working with companion animals, and especially dogs, in therapeutic and other AAI settings
Chapter 9: Welfare Considerations for Horses in Therapy and Education Services
Chapter 10: A Trajectory Approach to Supporting Therapy Animal Welfare in Retirement and Beyond
Chapter 11: The welfarist and the psychologist: Finding common ground in our interactions with therapy animals.