Canis therapy: implementation needs and development problems in Ukraine

From scientific medical-pedagogical and veterinary-cynological literature sources, it is known that one of the methods of positive psychosocial and physio rehabilitation influence on people who need it is canine therapy, which through specially trained and certified dogs has a beneficial effect on the patient. Canine therapy is one of the types of auxiliary therapy for complex treatment, which includes using dogs to improve the patient's social, emotional, or cognitive functions. The purpose of the work is to expand understanding and highlight the competencies of influence of both the direction of activity and the term “canine therapy,” to monitor the needs of its implementation and development problems in Ukraine, to study the features of the regulatory and legal side of the organization of human-animal interaction (HAI) and to clarify the main concepts and format of the work of therapy dogs. It has been established that the requirements for the professionalism of human-animal interaction (HAI) are that to achieve the most effective constructive and therapeutic effect, it is necessary to know the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of not only the human psyche, psychology, and zoopsychology but also the availability of certified specialists (cynologist, therapist, psychologist, rehabilitation specialist, speech therapist, defectologist). Considering that the canine therapy area of activity is only developing, and unfortunately, there are no regulatory and legal recommendations regarding participants and requirements for its organization that would guarantee safety and compliance in the sanitary-hygienic and legal fields of implementation, specialists in the provision of canine therapy services should rely on the provisions of the “White Book” in their work, which is an official document and appeal of the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO). Its goal is to form a respectful and responsible attitude towards people and animals during work and interaction between them. The concepts of canis therapy, “One Health” and “One Wellbeing,” spelled out in the regulations, significantly impact LTV methods, which are united by a common goal to preserve and improve human health, well-being, and functioning.