Meet Payton and you can tell right off he has some natural instinct to connect with people, with you. Instant understanding is what you’ll feel. Beyond feeling, recent research indicates Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have beneficial effects on health and wellbeing for children.

According to Kerstin Meints, a professor in developmental psychology at the University of Lincoln in England, recent clinical trials found that twice-weekly sessions with a dog and its handler significantly lowered children’s levels of cortisol — the body’s stress hormone.

Dr. Meints, who led a long-term research study focused on AAI, said, “our study shows, for the first time, that dog-assisted interventions can indeed lead to lower stress in children, with and without special educational needs, over a typical school term.”

Payton isn’t much aware of the research, but he does understand children. Reach out to learn how he can help.