Dogs: A nursing intervention?

[Angeljho]

So one of my co-workers who's a psychiatrist (very overly enthusiastic guy), is excited about the idea of implementing trained dogs as treatment to help patients with mood problems. Apparently, petting a dog releases hormones like oxytocin. Of course this is considered research, but he's very serious about conducting it.

What do you think of man's best friend as an eventual nursing intervention??

[Angeljho, MSN, NP]

I definitely learned a lot from this thread about pet therapy. And I'm glad to see its something that's really effective. Thanks everyone.