Falls Church, Va. - "Can I pet your dog?" asks Suzi Zarkin, leaning over a rangy yellow Labrador, who picks up his square head at the sound of her voice.
"Sure. His name is Miles," says Leslie Horton. A typical street-corner conversation, but this is no street. It's the oncology floor at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.
Zarkin, of the nearby city of Alexandria, Va., confers quietly with Horton, and then the trio sets off on a journey down the hall toward a window, Zarkin gripping the stiff handle of Miles' harness. "OK, Miles, we're almost there, almost there," Zarkin says. It's her third day in the hospital; she's battling cancer in her spine. "My right leg is pretty much paralyzed from the knee down. Miles was helping me keep steady. If I have a dog to walk, and my cane, too, I can go forever. I love the dogs that come up here. It just makes me feel better."
That means more than just an emotional boost. The unconditional support shown by a pet inspires physical benefits, too, says Horton, who directs the hospital's animal-assisted therapy program, one of the largest in the country. "We have patients who have trouble walking down one hallway, but when we put them next to a dog, they do two hallways or four." More exercise leads to more strength, shorter hospital stays and faster recoveries. And not just at Inova Fairfax. Recently, researchers at University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center reported that heart-failure patients had better heart function after a bedside visit from a dog. Pet owners are also more likely to survive a heart attack than nonpet owners, regardless of the severity of disease. And caring for animals reduces antisocial behavior in troubled teens and children. Discoveries such as these have inspired a boom in animal-assisted therapy, in which animals, under the supervision of a physical therapist, nurse or other professional, work to help patients achieve specific rehabilitation goals.
