Animal-Assisted Ministry and Multispecies Sociality in a Christian Therapy Dog Organization

Animal-assisted ministry is a specialized application of the human-canine bond that transforms the expression of Christian identity for human participants. This practice expands the sociality of both humans and dogs in a multispecies society. Therapy dogs used in animal-assisted ministry are social subjects who become entangled with human social problems in various facets of human-dominated society that would otherwise be inaccessible to nonhumans. Their capacity to comfort people experiencing anxiety enhances the therapeutic character of their handlers, underscoring the fact that Christian ministry is inherently a form of therapy. These dogs are simultaneously endowed with symbolic connotations that increase Christian believers’ feeling of closeness to God when interacting with them. The recently growing popularity of animal-assisted ministry operations in the United States is a reflection of the elevated social status accorded to dogs via contemporary pet culture.