By Christie Solomon

Niceville, Fla. — Where the therapy dogs’ wagging tails go, Niceville students are learning empathy toward animals and each other, and patients are healing faster with smiles. Dog-Harmony, a 501(c)(3) affiliate of Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA), evaluates and manages therapy dog teams in Bay, Walton, and Okaloosa counties in Northwest Florida.

Dog-Harmony currently manages 12 volunteer therapy dog teams that serve public and nonprofit organizations in the Niceville area through animal-assisted interactions, including the R.E.A.D.ing Paws program. Partners include Bluewater Elementary School, James E. Plew Elementary School, Addie R. Lewis School (Valparaiso), Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center, Niceville Public Library, and HCA Florida Twin Cities Hospital.

Dog-Harmony is dedicated to reducing the shelter dog population through ongoing, community-focused, humane education and therapy dog programs that enrich the human-animal bond.

What is Humane Education?

“Humane education [is] designed to cultivate compassion for humans, animals, and/or the environment.” The Animal Legal Defense Fund states that the field “exists to foster creative and critical thinking skills within people, which enable them to make benevolent choices and enhance respect for the natural world and its inhabitants.” Access to humane education programming for children is critical as they begin developing empathy skills and humane attitudes.

The Role of Therapy Dogs in Humane Education

Therapy dog teams, consisting of an evaluated therapy dog and handler, support Dog-Harmony’s humane education and responsible dog care programs for children and families, helping them practice what they learn. At the end of November, 4,250 children in Okaloosa and Walton counties had attended Dog-Harmony’s humane education programs in 2025.

Studies have shown that humane education programs improve children’s empathy toward animals and, in turn, toward one another.

• A study of 257 students, aged 10 to 17, who participated in The Marine Humane Society’s after-school humane education programs between the Fall of 2014 and the Spring of 2018, revealed that the students’ evaluation scores improved for both treatment of animals and empathy (attitudes towards other people) after completing the eight-week program.
• A 2021 study of 110 third-grade students in Hong Kong found that class-based, animal-assisted humane education increased cognitive competence and empathy and reduced hyperactivity among participants. The researchers also identified three central qualitative themes from the study: “enhancement of self-control, promotion of humane attitude, and improvement of reading skills.”
• Published in 2023, the results of an academic-year-long study of 605 first-grade students in six schools across four cities in eastern China revealed that the animal and nature content of the country’s humane education program, “Caring for Life,” increased the students’ affective and cognitive empathy scores. Affective empathy, associated with altruistic and prosocial behaviors in children, is the ability to share others’ emotions, whereas cognitive empathy is the ability to understand them.

R.E.A.D.ing Paws Program

In addition to empathy, therapy dogs can also encourage a love of reading. Dog-Harmony is an affiliate of ITA’s R.E.A.D.ing Paws (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) program, an initiative designed to help children build confidence and improve their literacy skills with the help of trained therapy dogs and their handlers. Evaluated therapy dog teams interested in participating in this program are required to take the R.E.A.D.ing Paws workshop and undergo (human) background checks before being put into service.

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) states, “Children have reported liking the animal and enjoying reading to them, increasing their motivation to read… Pets are not judgmental, they do not laugh [or] criticize, and allow children to read at their own pace. Dogs can reduce the stress reactions of children performing a stressful task.”

In the Twin Cities area, Dog-Harmony currently manages 3 R.E.A.D.ing Paws therapy dog teams that visit Bluewater Bay Elementary School, Addie R. Lewis School, James E. Plew Elementary School, and Niceville Public Library.

Therapy Dogs in Health Settings

In addition to social and emotional learning and literacy benefits for children in schools, interactions with therapy dogs can actively reduce stress and anxiety in medical and at-risk youth advocacy settings. Therapy dogs can improve human mental and physiological health through acceptance, physical comfort, mental stimulation, socialization, and entertainment through animal-assisted interactions.

According to HABRI, animal-assisted interactions have been shown to positively “influence levels of blood pressure, heart rate, [and] hormones correlated with well-being, including cortisol, oxytocin, β-endorphin, prolactin, phenylacetic acid and dopamine.”

Ways to Get Involved

Dog-Harmony founder, Nancy Bown, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), knows that the continued growth of the therapy dog program relies on volunteers and the generosity of corporate sponsors and individual donors.

“We are always looking for new volunteers to make this program successful,” says Bown. “We need both new therapy dog teams and team support volunteers without dogs.”

Compassionate support volunteers help coordinate therapy dog visits in hospitals and support Dog-Harmony teams in the community. This support volunteer role provides an opportunity to shadow current therapy dog teams and offers insights into a potential future team role paired with an evaluated therapy dog.

To learn more about Dog-Harmony, request a therapy dog visit, or become a volunteer, please visit www.dog-harmony.org.

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About Dog-Harmony: Dog-Harmony is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2015 by certified professional dog trainer Nancy Bown, CPDT-KA. The organization is dedicated to enhancing the bond between dogs and humans through community education. In essence, it helps dogs rescue people. Dog-Harmony’s key programs include: therapy dog team support services; humane education for children and families; Keeping Dogs in Homes; and pet bereavement counseling. These programs are made possible through donations, grants, and the continued support of dedicated volunteers. For more information, visit www.dog-harmony.org.