Animal-Assisted

Choosing the Right Animal

Species, Personality, and Partnership in Multi-Species Practice

Jenny Phillips
Published 18 March 2026

When animals are included within education, therapeutic environments, or wellbeing practice, there is often an assumption that certain species are naturally more suitable than others. Dogs and horses, for example, are commonly recognised within animal-assisted approaches.

However, experience across multi-species practice suggests something different.

Animals that are frequently overlooked become some of the most meaningful partners.

(Photo by http://www.kaboompics.com on Pexels.com)

The success of human–animal partnership is rarely determined by the popularity of the species. Instead, it depends on the match between the individual person, the animal, the environment, and the purpose of the interaction.

In many cases, animals that are frequently overlooked become some of the most meaningful partners.

Every Species Brings Different Knowledge

Within a multi-species approach, animals are not interchangeable. Each species brings its own behaviours, rhythms, communication styles, and relational opportunities.

These differences allow practitioners to create environments where individuals can connect with animals in ways that feel comfortable, safe, and meaningful to them.

Understanding these differences expands opportunities for participation and inclusion.

Reptiles: The Scale Practitioners

For individuals who experience sensory processing differences, animals with fur are not always comfortable to touch. Reptiles can offer an alternative sensory experience.

The smooth or scaled texture of reptiles provides a different tactile input, allowing people who may find fur overwhelming to still experience connection with an animal partner. In this way, reptiles can become what might be described as “scale practitioners” within the wider animal faculty.

(Photo by Los Muertos Crew on Pexels.com)

Many reptiles also move slowly and deliberately. This slower pace can support engagement for individuals who require more time to process movement or who may find fast reactions physically challenging. The ability to observe clearly, share space calmly, and interact without pressure can create meaningful relational moments.

Small and Slow Animals: Accessible Engagement

Animals that move slowly can provide valuable opportunities for individuals who benefit from calm, predictable interaction.

Species such as tortoises, snails, or other gentle animals allow participants to observe behaviour carefully, build confidence gradually, and experience success without the need for rapid reflexes or complex coordination.

These animals demonstrate that connection does not require speed or performance. Sometimes the most powerful interactions occur through stillness and shared attention.

Animals and Memory: Connection for Older Adults

For many older adults, animals can reconnect them with important memories from earlier in life.

Species such as cats, dogs, chickens, ferrets, or tortoises often remind individuals of animals they cared for during childhood or adulthood. These memories can create opportunities for storytelling, reflection, and emotional connection.

Older adults frequently hold strong memories of past animal companions. When these memories are invited and respected, they can open meaningful conversations that may not otherwise occur in everyday settings.

Animals can therefore become bridges between past and present experiences, allowing people to share parts of their personal history that remain important to them.

Farm Animals: Responsibility, Learning, and Community

Farm animals offer unique opportunities for learning and skill development across many age groups.

Participants involved with farm animals may engage in activities such as:

feeding and daily care routines,
habitat preparation,

health observation,
teamwork and shared responsibility.

These experiences naturally support the development of organisational skills, cooperation, communication, and confidence.

(Photo by Dawn Newman)

Importantly, a farm environment does not need to be large or traditional to be meaningful. Small animal farms or community animal spaces can provide equally powerful opportunities for learning, especially when animals have been rescued or rehomed.

Understanding an animal’s story can deepen empathy and connection, encouraging participants to recognise shared experiences of resilience and recovery.

Trauma Recognition Across Species

Research and practical experience increasingly suggest that animals may respond sensitively to human emotional states, particularly in individuals who have experienced trauma.

Some species appear able to recognise signs of distress and respond with calm presence or quiet proximity. Observations in areas such as parrot neurology and trauma-related support work suggest that animals who have experienced trauma themselves may sometimes form strong connections with people navigating similar emotional experiences.

While more research continues to emerge, these interactions highlight the potential for deeply meaningful cross-species relationships grounded in empathy and shared understanding.

Personality Matters as Much as Species

While species characteristics are important, individual personality also plays a significant role in partnership.

Animals, like people, have unique temperaments. Some are naturally curious and social, while others prefer quieter observation or shorter interactions.

Recognising and respecting these individual differences protects welfare and ensures that participation remains voluntary and positive for the animal.

True partnership allows animals to express their own preferences within shared environments.

The Role of Virtual Animal Connection

Physical interaction with animals is not always possible or appropriate in every environment. In these situations, virtual experiences can still create meaningful opportunities for learning and connection.

Through video observation, storytelling, guided discussion, and interactive sessions, individuals can explore animal behaviour, communication, and care while remaining within environments that are safe and accessible to them.

Virtual connection also allows practitioners to introduce a wider variety of species and environments that might otherwise be unavailable.

This flexibility ensures that animal learning experiences remain inclusive and adaptable.

Virtual and Remote Animal Partnership

A key principle within inclusive multi-species practice is that no one should be excluded from opportunities to connect with animals when safe and meaningful alternatives are possible.

There are times when direct physical interaction is not appropriate. This may be due to health considerations, environmental limitations, safety requirements, financial barriers, or geographical distance. In these situations, virtual engagement can provide valuable opportunities for connection.

When thoughtfully designed, virtual interaction can still support meaningful relationships between humans and animals.

Regular online sessions with the same animal and practitioner can allow familiarity and friendship to develop over time. Participants may observe the animal’s behaviour, learn about their care routines, share experiences, and build ongoing connection through conversation and observation.

(Photo by Liliana Drew on Pexels.com)

For individuals who cannot meet animals in person due to medical or mobility reasons, these sessions can become an important social and emotional resource.

Communication can extend beyond live sessions. People may exchange:

emails and messages,
recorded videos,
photos and updates,
letters or creative work inspired by their animal partner.

These shared exchanges help sustain relationships and encourage curiosity and learning.

Expanding Access Through Technology

Technology also allows people to connect with animals and environments that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Many wildlife organisations, including zoos, aquariums, and conservation reserves, now provide live camera feeds that allow individuals to observe animals in real time. Smaller organisations and community projects can also create simple wildlife observation opportunities using garden cameras or nest box feeds.

Watching birds raise chicks, observing hedgehogs visiting feeding stations, or noticing the quiet movements of foxes and badgers at night can offer moments of connection with nature that are available at any time of day.

For individuals who struggle during evenings, nights, or holiday periods when traditional services may be unavailable, these forms of access can provide an additional sense of connection and comfort.

Global Animal Connections

Virtual engagement also allows participants to meet animals from different parts of the world.

For example, in some countries such as Thailand, elephants are involved in therapeutic programmes supporting children with autism spectrum conditions and Down syndrome. While these experiences are not available everywhere, virtual links allow people to learn about these animals, observe their behaviour, and share stories about their lives and environments.

With creativity and thoughtful facilitation, virtual engagement can open doors to a much wider range of animal partnerships.

When Distance Does Not Break Connection

The importance of connection became particularly visible during the global pandemic, when physical distancing made many usual interactions impossible.

During this time, animals and practitioners found creative ways to maintain relationships. Some animals visited outside windows so their human friends could still see them safely. Simple gestures such as waving, holding signs, or offering familiar routines helped maintain emotional connection.

In other cases, soft toy versions of animals were sent to participants so they could continue feeling a sense of companionship and familiarity even when their real animal partner could not be present.

These small acts demonstrated an important truth:

connection, care, and friendship are not limited by walls, windows, or screens.

Inclusive Practice in Multi-Species Work

Virtual connection is not intended to replace physical interaction where it is possible and appropriate. Instead, it expands the ways people can experience relationships with animals.

When practitioners remain creative and responsive, connection can continue through many different pathways.

The goal is simple:

no one should be excluded from opportunities to learn, connect, and experience the positive influence of animals.

Gentle Reflection

Sometimes friendship travels through paws and footsteps.
Sometimes it travels through windows and screens.
But the connection is real all the same.

Matching Animals, People, and Environments

Successful multi-species practice considers three important elements:

The individual person

their needs, interests, abilities, cultural background, and comfort levels.

The animal partner

their species characteristics, personality, welfare needs, and willingness to participate.

The environment

the space, safety considerations, resources, and goals of the interaction.

When these elements align, meaningful partnerships can emerge that benefit both humans and animals.

Practical Takeaways for Practitioners

Different species support different needs and preferences.
Sensory considerations are important when choosing animal partners
Slow-moving animals can support accessible engagement.
Animals can help reconnect individuals with memories and identity.
Farm animals support learning, responsibility, and teamwork.
Virtual animal experiences can expand access and inclusion.
Animal welfare and personality should always guide participation.

Gentle Reflection

Sometimes the animal we least expect becomes the one who teaches us the most.

How Practitioners and Animals Shape Outcomes

Jenny Phillips
Published 13 March 2026

Professional practice across education, health, social care, and rehabilitation does not occur in isolation from the practitioner. Expectations are not neutral constructs. They are shaped by personal experience and influenced by professional learning, social interaction, and deeply held beliefs about human potential.

When practitioners believe development is possible, effort, creativity, and persistence increase.

Photo by Arthur Krijgsman on Pexels.com

Every practitioner enters their roles carrying lived experiences. These experiences, along with values and motivations, influence how they perceive ability. Engagement and progress are also affected. A wish to help or to promote inclusion often underpins professional identity. Fostering connection is also a key factor. Interactions with colleagues and organisational cultures further shape expectations. Wider societal narratives also shape the expectations of those receiving support.

Motivational perspectives include theories like Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory. These theories suggest that individuals act when they believe their effort will lead to meaningful outcomes. Within professional contexts, this principle applies not only to those receiving support but also to practitioners themselves. When practitioners believe development is possible, effort, creativity, and persistence increase. Conversely, where expectations are reduced—consciously or unconsciously—engagement, resourcing, and professional investment may also diminish. Research exploring expectancy effects demonstrates how both positive and negative expectations influence outcomes, shaping confidence, self-efficacy, and participation. Low expectations can quietly communicate limitation, while high yet realistic expectations can foster agency, pride, and growth.

Across sectors, expectations manifest differently but operate through similar mechanisms. In special educational needs (SEN) practice, healthcare, and social care environments, diagnostic labelling or social assumptions can reduce expectations of capability. These labels lead to lowered expectations. Such diagnostic overshadowing influences not only perception but also provision. It sometimes results in simplified opportunities. It can lead to reduced challenges or limited belief in developmental potential. Through professional experience within SEN contexts, it becomes evident that individuals possess abilities that may be expressed differently rather than absent altogether. When practitioners prioritise seeing the person beyond diagnosis and provide time, encouragement, and meaningful support, individuals frequently demonstrate growth, achievement, and increased self-worth. These experiences reinforce a reciprocal feedback loop in which success fosters confidence, which in turn encourages further engagement and development.

Animal-assisted and animal-informed practice introduces a distinctive shift within this dynamic. Animals do not hold preconceived expectations, social judgements, or diagnostic interpretations. Their responses are immediate, authentic, and grounded in present-moment interaction. Many species demonstrate acute sensitivity to human behaviour, tone, posture, and emotional state, responding to subtle physiological and behavioural cues. This creates relational environments in which individuals experience interaction free from evaluation or performance pressure. The animal becomes neither assessor nor authority, but participant within a shared experience.

Animals Don’t Judge

Photo by Jenny Phillips

Observed practice demonstrates how this relational neutrality can transform engagement. A cat independently approached a dis-regulated child. The cat walked alongside them. This enabled regulation through shared movement and mutual attention. It occurred without verbal demand or structured intervention. A ball python rested calmly within a child’s hands. This created space for emotional expression and communication. It allowed the child to become the knowledge holder among peers. This shift in power dynamics fostered confidence. Similarly, an alpaca’s calm response to an unexpected sensory interaction transformed a moment of uncertainty into laughter and curiosity, while an adult learner with a fear of dogs gradually developed confidence through interaction beginning at a perceived safe distance, ultimately resulting in joy, connection, and voluntary engagement. In each instance, the animal acted as a relational mediator, scaffolding experience without judgement or imposed expectation.

Such outcomes highlight the importance of flexibility within professional practice. While structured assessment and planning remain essential, meaningful moments often emerge unexpectedly. Effective practitioners develop the capacity to recognise and safely utilise these moments, balancing professional intention with responsiveness to real-time needs. Flexibility is therefore not improvisation but a skilled professional competency grounded in knowledge, experience, and ethical awareness. Experiences within educational and healthcare environments demonstrate that when practitioners remain open to emergent opportunities, deeper relational engagement and holistic understanding frequently occur. For example, therapeutic interaction between a hospitalised child and a visiting dog facilitated emotional expression that had previously remained inaccessible through traditional practitioner-led approaches, enabling communication, comfort, and authentic connection.

Ethical professional practice requires expectations to remain both aspirational and realistic. Under-expectation risks limiting opportunity and reinforcing dependency, while over-expectation may generate pressure, anxiety, or perceived failure. Ethical expectations consider the needs of the person, the welfare of the animal, environmental context, and organisational responsibility simultaneously. Professional standards across teaching, nursing, and care professions implicitly embed expectations through accountability, safeguarding, inclusion, and reflective requirements. When enacted effectively, these standards support equitable, safe, and meaningful provision while encouraging practitioners to remain aware of personal bias and its potential influence on decision-making.

Reflection serves as the mechanism through which expectations evolve. Cyclical processes of assessment, implementation, reassessment, and reflection—mirrored across professional disciplines—allow practitioners to critically examine outcomes, recognise assumptions, and adapt future practice. Reflective models encourage honesty, curiosity, and professional growth, enabling practitioners to identify both strengths and areas for development. Through reflection, expectations shift from fixed beliefs to informed professional judgments shaped by experience, evidence, and relational understanding.

Ultimately, expectations function as powerful determinants within professional environments. When grounded in ethical awareness, reflective practice, and person- and animal-centered thinking, expectations become catalysts for growth rather than constraints. Animals, through their authenticity and responsiveness, often reveal possibilities obscured by human assumptions. They remind practitioners that development emerges most strongly within environments characterised by trust, respect, and meaningful connection.

The human animal touch connection

Jenny Phillips
Published 10 March 2026

People are very sensory orientated beings; they use and rely on their senses for everything they do.

Senses allow us to engage with and understand our world, allowing us to safely navigate and be part of daily life while also allowing us to experience pleasure.

While we might understand the concept of senses from our primary school learning, what do we really understand about our senses and the positive impact that animals can have on them in relation to our health and education?

Let us start at the beginning.

It has been identified that just fifteen minutes with an animal produces physiological changes within people. Photo by Kh-ali-l i on Pexels.com

Basically, a sense is a biological system that a living organism uses for sensation. This is the process where information is gathered about the environment and world around us through the detection and recognition of stimuli.

What exactly are senses?

During the sensation process the sense organs collect and collate the various stimuli for a process called transduction, which is the process of transforming the information into a form which the brain understands. Both sensation and perception are core fundamental elements to virtually all aspects of human and animal cognition, thought and behaviour.

Let us break down these sense processes further to develop a greater understanding.

The senses are generally identified by being either internal (interoception) or external (exteroception). The internal senses detect the stimuli from the body’s internal organs and tissue.
External senses detect stimuli from the eyes, skin, ears, mouth, nose, and vestibular system. The senses are a complex system and are not always independent of each other. Touch can further be categorised by deep pressure, light pressure, itch, vibration, hair movement, temperature, and pain while taste can be subdivided into sub modalities of bitter, spicy, salty, sweet, sour and umami. These additional categories are recognised based on their different chemical bindings to the sensory neurons. The brain’s processes then integrate the different senses into one cohesive perceptual experience. This means that information received from one sense can potentially influence how the information from another sense is perceived.

How does Reptar see the world? Is it so different from our own view?
Photo by Dawn Newman

Identifying the sensory organs

These are the organs which sense and give off stimuli. The human body has different sensory organs e.g. nose, mouth, eyes, ear, and skin, all which correspond to a respective bodily system:

Olfactory system = sense of smell
Gustatory system = sense of taste
Auditory system = sense of hearing
Visual system = sense of vision
Somatosensory system = sense of touch

What are sensory receptors?

Sensory receptors are cells and structures which detect sensation. Stimuli activate the specialised cells within the peripheral nervous system During the transduction process, the physical stimulus is converted into potential actions by the receptors and these are then transmitted towards the central nervous system for further processing.

How many senses do we have? 5,6,7 or more?

Aristotle (384-322 BC) is identified and credited with first identifying and numbering the senses within his work De Anima. The five common senses have been known for thousands of years and are known to all of us (hearing, sight, sound, touch, and taste). These five however are just the foundation level of our senses. Neurologists generally, agree on the fact that we have at least nine senses.

However, since there is some overlap between senses, different methods of neurological classification can identify some twenty-one senses. This number does not incorporate some physiological experiences like thirst or hunger, though neuroscientists have agreed that our senses include:

Thermoception – sense of heat (some debate has been had regarding the sense of cold, as some say that this could be a separate sense)
Equilibrioception – perception of balance
Nociception – perception of pain
Proprioception – perception of body awareness

Twenty-one senses sound a lot when we are only familiar with five to seven. But hold that thought…Michael J Cohen, an Eco-psychologist, holds the belief that we in fact have fifty-three senses at our disposal! His definition of a sense goes further than the physiological phenomenon and the nerve sensor definition and his work breaks down the senses into four categories.

Radiation senses: sense of colour, sense of moods related to and associated with colour and our sense of temperature.
Chemical senses: hormonal sense such as hunger for water, food, or air.
Feeling senses: sensitivity to gravity, air pressure, wind and motion.
Mental senses: pain both internally and externally, mental, or spiritual distress, sense of self which includes companionship, friendship and power.

Cohen states that people are all sensory beings and that our human senses form a large part of who we are. He identifies that our senses are provided to us not for indulging ourselves but were mechanisms originally created to aid our survival and to allow us to thrive in the natural world.

Are all the senses processed by the brain?

All sensory systems send signals to the brain, the brain then interprets the signals and identifies an appropriate response. To enable the brain to do this it often combines information from multiple sensory systems, this process is known as sensory integration.

The human body evolved for the natural world that it lived in and engaged with 24/7. Over time as humans have developed and life has become more industrialised, we have detached ourselves from nature and natural ways of life and, according to the work of Cohen, this has resulted in us using our senses less, which has resulted in them becoming atrophied or sensitised and making us more susceptible to some common ailments. If this is true, then reengaging with nature and the natural world has the potential not only to reconnect us to our origins and roots but also to assist in engaging all our senses and potentially facilitate our resilience to some ailments.

Animals are a good avenue to connect with nature and the natural world and they afford many varied opportunities to stimulate the different human senses and to allow us to receive the benefits from these engagements.

Animals, senses, and their impact on brain chemistry

The release of neurochemicals

Research has identified that when people engage with and interact with animals, through the impact of animals on their senses, they are able to release good neurochemicals. They can double their blood levels of oxytocin and boost their levels of beta endorphins. Beta endorphins increase dopamine levels in the brain, slowing the release of the neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid (which is a natural dopamine inhibitor). Lowering this neurotransmitter allows the brain to release more dopamine, and the combined effect can result in the reduction of pain through the blocking of the pain impulse in the brain.

Dopamine is also identified as working to increase motivation, heighten energy and improve focus.

Boosting Oxytocin – it has been identified that just fifteen minutes with an animal produces physiological changes within people – the oxytocin levels increase. Oxytocin has been named the “love” or “hug” hormone, and it is a neurotransmitter linked to bonding, love, and affection and is thought to create our sense of comfort and peace.

Oxytocin production can slow a person’s heart rate and breathing, while reducing a person’s blood pressure and the amount of the stress hormone, cortisol. Oxytocin has also been linked with feelings of trust and safety.

Because animal interactions have been shown to produce oxytocin, we can safely hypothesise that animal interactions have the ability to reduce feelings of stress and help us to feel calm, under the right circumstances.

Normalising the brain’s chemistry

It has also been identified that stroking and touching animals can result in an increase of serotonin levels, the neurotransmitter that that many prescribed antidepressants act to increase. Reduced serotonin and dopamine levels are commonly found in different brain-related illnesses like depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and it is also shown to present in those who are experiencing loneliness.

Because animal interactions have been shown to produce serotonin, we can safely hypothesise that animal interactions have the ability to reduce feelings of depression and might help us to feel less lonely or anxious, under the right circumstances.

How can you use the senses in your work with animal colleagues?