A dog and a "happy person" visit nursing home residents.

Recent recognition of the importance of the human-animal bond has led to the proliferation of programs designed to improve the lives of nursing home residents through the use of animals. Because human-human interaction in the nursing home setting is often of an obligatory nature, we wondered if a visit from a nonjudgmental, outgoing, enthusiastic young adult ("a happy person") could elicit the same positive influence as a visit from a nonjudgmental dog. The purpose of this study was to determine if elderly residents of a midwestern nursing home had a preference for the type of visitor (dog vs.