We all know that interacting with a trained therapy dog in person can be very beneficial for reducing stress, but what about a virtual therapy dog? A new study has found that watching a video of a therapy dog can also be beneficial.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus and Brock University conducted their study in two parts. In the first, 963 college or university students with a mean age of 21 watched one of four pre-recorded videos of a therapy dog interacting with its handler. The participants were asked to rate their stress level before and after viewing the video on a scale from one to five, with one being “not stressed at all” and five being “very stressed.” Phase two saw the same process repeated with 122 adults with a mean age of 41.
Both groups reported decreased stress levels after watching the video. Average stress scores for the student group went down from 3.33 to 2.53, while scores for the adult group went from 3.07 to 2.43. Additionally, while both saw benefits, women overall reported higher levels of stress reduction than men. So the next time you’re feeling stressed out, go find a happy video of a dog — it will probably do you good.
