hose walking in to the Mumbai International Airport during weekends will be in for a cute surprise – a fur ball of happiness awaiting passengers. Gurgaon-based firm Fur Ball Story provides pet therapy sessions to stressed travelers, helping them unwind.
Arushi Dixit, one of the co-founders of the company, says, “At Mumbai Airport, we provide stress-relieving activities for the passengers.”
For a society that is still struggling to come to terms with the idea of openly speaking about mental illnesses, Pet Therapy is a virgin concept, one that is hard to accept and understand. How can a dog make any difference?
Rohini Fernandes and Radhika Nair have been quite successful in answering that question. The duo, who started Animal Angels Foundation 13 years ago, states that it was not easy to change people’s perception about pet therapy
“We are clinical psychologists and started working with one school and one mental health centre. That was a time when people haven’t even heard of the concept of pet therapy and they were extremely sceptical about it. Right now, we have about 20 trained therapy dogs in Mumbai and we work with 10 schools and two mental health centres,” says Radhika.
Explaining their sessions work, she says, “This is basically like any other therapy. We have a pre-therapy evaluation where we sit with the client and their current therapist and chalk out some goals towards which we would work. We also have a post-therapy evaluation. There is no strict time frame or age group for the therapy. For an individual, we look at probably 3-4 months. Age is not a criteria for this therapy. Our youngest client is 1.5 years and the oldest is 97. We have worked with a whole range of issues covering both mental and physical aspects.”
Fur Ball Story is another group that has helped people warm up to the idea of Pet Therapy. Arushi says, “Fur Ball Story is the brainchild of Animesh Katiyar. When he was studying in Symbiosis, Noida, the campus took an initiative to bring on board two dogs as stress-busters. And thus, came the idea. The company started functioning in December 2016.”
She adds, “We provide pet therapy services for autistic kids, kids with special needs and people with mental illnesses. We also provide stress-relieving activities for corporates. It is more like an animal-human interaction or an animal-assisted intervention.”
Rohini Fernandes and Radhika Nair with their therapy dog.
The company has a total of nine dogs. “We have golden retrievers, labrador, shih tzu and two indie breeds. Out of these, two are trained as therapy dogs, one is a companion dog and the rest six are in-training therapy dogs.”
Talking about how much people have opened up to the idea of pet therapy, Arushi says, “As of now, people do not have any preference when it come to the breeds. During corporate sessions, to help those who are scared of dogs, we keep our therapy dogs in our lap and just sit there so that people get a chance to get acquainted with these dogs. We tell them to come and meet the dogs whenever they are ready and to try petting it as a first step. They are scared of them because of the thought that no matter what they do, the dog will bite them. This is because here, in India, from a very small age, kids are taught to pelt stones at a dog if it is around. We are trying to oust this attitude from Indian mentality.”
hose walking in to the Mumbai International Airport during weekends will be in for a cute surprise – a fur ball of happiness awaiting passengers. Gurgaon-based firm Fur Ball Story provides pet therapy sessions to stressed travelers, helping them unwind.
Arushi Dixit, one of the co-founders of the company, says, “At Mumbai Airport, we provide stress-relieving activities for the passengers.”
For a society that is still struggling to come to terms with the idea of openly speaking about mental illnesses, Pet Therapy is a virgin concept, one that is hard to accept and understand. How can a dog make any difference?
Rohini Fernandes and Radhika Nair have been quite successful in answering that question. The duo, who started Animal Angels Foundation 13 years ago, states that it was not easy to change people’s perception about pet therapy
“We are clinical psychologists and started working with one school and one mental health centre. That was a time when people haven’t even heard of the concept of pet therapy and they were extremely sceptical about it. Right now, we have about 20 trained therapy dogs in Mumbai and we work with 10 schools and two mental health centres,” says Radhika.
Explaining their sessions work, she says, “This is basically like any other therapy. We have a pre-therapy evaluation where we sit with the client and their current therapist and chalk out some goals towards which we would work. We also have a post-therapy evaluation. There is no strict time frame or age group for the therapy. For an individual, we look at probably 3-4 months. Age is not a criteria for this therapy. Our youngest client is 1.5 years and the oldest is 97. We have worked with a whole range of issues covering both mental and physical aspects.”
Fur Ball Story is another group that has helped people warm up to the idea of Pet Therapy. Arushi says, “Fur Ball Story is the brainchild of Animesh Katiyar. When he was studying in Symbiosis, Noida, the campus took an initiative to bring on board two dogs as stress-busters. And thus, came the idea. The company started functioning in December 2016.”
She adds, “We provide pet therapy services for autistic kids, kids with special needs and people with mental illnesses. We also provide stress-relieving activities for corporates. It is more like an animal-human interaction or an animal-assisted intervention.”
The company has a total of nine dogs. “We have golden retrievers, labrador, shih tzu and two indie breeds. Out of these, two are trained as therapy dogs, one is a companion dog and the rest six are in-training therapy dogs.”
Talking about how much people have opened up to the idea of pet therapy, Arushi says, “As of now, people do not have any preference when it come to the breeds. During corporate sessions, to help those who are scared of dogs, we keep our therapy dogs in our lap and just sit there so that people get a chance to get acquainted with these dogs. We tell them to come and meet the dogs whenever they are ready and to try petting it as a first step. They are scared of them because of the thought that no matter what they do, the dog will bite them. This is because here, in India, from a very small age, kids are taught to pelt stones at a dog if it is around. We are trying to oust this attitude from Indian mentality.”
Pawsitive note
For service dogs, there are a lot of divisions and the selection involves certainparameters and guidelines. Canine Behavior Trainer Karthikeyan G. explains the various service dog categories and handler qualities
Categories of service dogs
- Therapy dogs (dogs which please humans or make them feel joyful)
- Dogs that could be used to help/assist people in their day-to-day activities
- Dogs which can detect cancer and diabetes
- Guide dogs (dogs which help to guide or provide assistance to visually-challenged or disabled persons)
- Gun dogs
- Rescue dogs
- Sniffer and tracker
- Protection dogs
Each category requires different drives and qualities for both dogs and handlers.
Qualities of dogs of therapy dogs
- Gentle and calm in nature
- Fearless
- n Loves to connect and work with humans
- Holds objects in mouth tenderly without biting or crushing them
- Very patient
- Works without time limit
- Agile
- Will not react to the presence of another dog
- Not obsessed over anything
- Simple, total submissive dog
- Qualities of handler
- Calm and patient
- Love to be with dog and travel with them a lot
- No negative reaction while associating with dogs
- Good trainer
Advantage of therapy dogs : Three important things are achieved when we associate with therapy dogs.
- Creating a purpose or work for a dog.
- People who associate with therapy dogs get benefited
- Builds confidence
- Reduces stress
- Positive vibes
- They live in the present
- Like a good music or food, presence of a dog releases dopamine (pleasure hormone)
Keep in mind
Pet Therapy might not be ideal for a person who is allergic to dog fur. People with a phobia of dogs or who might have a tendency to harm a dog should be identified prior to allotting a session.
