Animal Assisted Therapy - Animal Choices

When I had searched animal assisted therapy on Google images the most frequent animal that was shown was the dog followed by cats in a hospital setting. Pulley et al (2010) found from their research that the "most common animal species used in AAT is the dog, but reports also cited other vertebrate species, such as cats, birds, and fish" (p.201). From this it has lead me to believe that dogs must have a stronger bond with people and also offer us with more than what other animals cannot. From researching animal assisted therapy I had also discovered that there are forms of AAT. One other form is Equine assisted therapy which involves the use of horses. Riding for disabled would represent this type of therapy.