Revisiting the canine co-therapist: qualitative survey of therapists’ perspectives

<p dir="ltr">Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal Assisted Counselling (AAC) have existed in psychotherapy for many decades. These forms of counselling are, however, considered niche, and non-human animals are not emblematic of therapeutic encounters. This study examines a significant gap in the literature, namely the place of ordinary canine companions in therapy. An online qualitative survey with an opportunistic sample of 40 therapists explored the potentials (and challenges) of canine companions in therapy. Participants used mostly person-centred and integrative modalities. Participants predominantly identified as female, white, heterosexual and not living with a disability, and were primarily located in England, United Kingdom. Data were analysed using a social constructionist reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) approach. The RTA generated the three themes of “Working like a Dog: The canine co-therapist”; “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie? Therapeutic pitfalls and potentialities”; and “Every Dog has its Day: Wider canine presence and ‘life lessons’”. The analysis highlights the unique qualities of more-than-human characteristics in counselling, especially foregrounding the value of the canine co-therapist enabling safe touch in therapy. The research has the potential to disrupt human-centric notions of therapy through creating conceptual (and practical) space for canine companions to be normalised beyond AAT/AAC fields, and considered more agentic.</p>