Though the objective of providing comfort & relief is shared by both Animal Assisted Therapy & Canine Crisis Response teams, the latter is an advanced application requiring handler & canine to have proven skills to cope with more intense environments.

Animal Assisted Therapy

• Visits usually regularly scheduled
• Known facility
• Usually have a planned routine in familiar, safe environment
• Usually visit as individual team
• Interactions usually anticipated, though strong emotions possible
• Know what to expect at facility, both clients & staff
• Help is usually available from staff if needed
• Usually no longer than 2 hour visit
• Back to comfy home
• Follow-up and documentation of visit

Canine Crisis Response

• Teams are already experienced & active in Animal Assisted Therapy
• Contact person available 24/7
• Response may be coordinated with multiple teams
• May be scheduled for regular visits, also on call for rapid response
• May need to have plan for getting to location
• Must be flexible to adapt to response timing & site conditions
• Teams prepared for spectrum of trauma-induced emotions of shock, grief, loss
• May be an unfamiliar environment with sensory challenges
• Need to adapt to responders in charge, observe chain of command
• Could be at site for extended period of time
• Individual team documentation submitted following response
• Team debriefing/review & peer support as needed

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