Dog interaction with persons receiving institutional geriatric care.

: A prospective study of 66 geriatric residents in 2 facilities was conducted to quantitate people-dog interactions. Residents were assigned randomly to sessions with dog activity and to sessions with other activity in a crossover design. This study involved a 12-week prestudy activity period and two 12-week activity periods, one before crossover and one after crossover. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, psychologic evaluation of case histories, and other health and social variables were measured on all residents for dog activity and other combinations of programmed activity sessions. Frequence of attendance in both facilities was higher at dog activity sessions than at other activity sessions (P less than 0.01). Resident systolic blood pressures were lower in one facility during dog activity (P less than 0.02). Combined pre- and postactivity systolic and diastolic blood pressures at the same facility were lower when residents had 12 weeks of dog activity before 12 weeks of other activity (P less than 0.04). There were no significant differences in residents' blood pressures between measurements before and after dog activity (treatment mode) or between measurements before and after other activity. Psychologic scores of residents in both facilities were not significantly different between periods of the study. Of the 9 types of interaction between the residents and the dog, grooming and touching were the 2 most commonly used by residents.