Pets love us unconditionally. They're always happy to see us, they encourage us when we're feeling down, and their devotion is touching and reassuring. If this is true for the average pet owner, it is especially true for the disabled, handicapped, emotionally troubled, and seriously ill person. In this book we learn how the field of Animal Assisted Therapy is having remarkable success training animals to help and enhance the lives of children and adults with serious medical problems. Hospital rehabilitation programs, physical and occupational therapy sessions, nursing homes, and mental health care facilities are just some of the settings where dogs, cats, horses, and other animals have helped patients cope with medical challenges. Includes stories of the healing partnership, from disabled children to a hospice patient in his last days and emotionally drained firefighters at New York City's Ground Zero. - From publisher description.