More doctors 'hire' K-9 therapy assistants

While therapy dogs have long been used to cheer up patients holed up at hospitals and nursing homes, a small number of private practitioners have begun realizing the benefits of having 'canine therapy assistants' work with them right in the office, the Wall Street Journal reports. And although the movement is being led by psychologists and other therapists, medical doctors also are increasingly putting their pups to work. In New York plastic surgeon Janis Di Pietro's office, for example, Lacey, part golden retriever, part spaniel, entertains patients in the waiting room, taking their minds off of the procedures they are about to undergo. FiercePracticeManagement