Dog-Assisted Therapy in Neurorehabilitation of Children with Severe Neurological Impairment: An Explorative Study.

Background: Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) is increasingly applied in neurorehabilitation of patients with severe neurological impairments. To date, there are only anecdotal reports investigating its effects.

Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the potential of DAT in pediatric inpatient neurorehabilitation for severely neurologically impaired children and adolescents, to identify characteristics of patients receiving this therapy, characteristics of the therapy sessions, and to evaluate feasibility and extent of goal achievement.