Legal Regulation for Providing Welfare Measures for Therapy Dogs Involved in Canine Therapy in Latvia

The article analyses therapy dog welfare aspects based on theoretical literature review, researches and regulatory enactments, providing a unique interpretation of these aspects arising from the consideration that therapy dogs have dual roles, being both therapy animals and household pets. The present research aims to analyse implemented welfare measures for therapy dogs, based on scientific literature and regulatory acts. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore how therapy dog owners provide welfare requirements to their therapy dogs. The following categories of welfare were identified to describe therapy dogs involved in a canine therapy: meeting basic needs, veterinary care, training, work process and possibility to express species-specific behaviour. The research results indicate that therapy dog handlers fulfil the minimum requirements of welfare and in some cases exceed these requirements; however, it is up to a handler to choose whether the minimum or an exceeded amount of welfare requirements will be performed. Lack of regulation in some cases necessitates improvement in setting minimum demands, for instance, in such cases as a therapy dog workload per day/week.