This research study evaluated the effect of animal assisted therapy (AAT) on the therapeutic alliance with an adult residential substance abuse population in group therapy. The question of whether a trained therapy animal can enhance the therapeutic alliance was recently posed by Fine and Mio (2006). In their call for additional research, they suggested that "the gold standard for research of this type is to have a random assignment to an AAT format and a traditional therapy format and then to determine which format led to a better therapeutic outcome" (Fine & Mio, p. 517). This quantitative...