Therapy Dogs
I was considering working towards getting him involved in therapy. He has an excellent disposition and is very, very mellow. Does anyone know how to start? |
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Yep 
Several members besides myself are having fun with our dogs doing therapy work. I have been active since a chapter started in our area in 1984 - and the girls (human daughters) were just toddlers and often came to practices with me. Now they are going to be 26....long time and many dogs....I have been an evaluator as well for a long time. Judging by my outdated ID picture, it must be about 20 years  .....
The 1st basic need is a dog w/ the appropriate temperament. They need to love people, yet be calm and perceptive to needs. A good therapy dog adjusts to the needs of the visit - some want a dog visiting who is more outgoing and energetic, others need the low key, really calm empathetic style. And having multiple dogs to choose from depending on the visit situation helps too 
Next is taking classes. For TDI, if you have a dog with the right temperament and have exposure to medical equipment( or similar items that roll, make noise) and do a good job in your training classes, then that will work. TDI does not require special "therapy dog" classes to test - in some areas that isn't an option d/t availability - you are lucky to find good classes. There is more to it though - there needs to be tolerance to grunting, odd movements, hair pulling, ears getting grabbed, etc. Of course, it does depend on the human's prep too - you work as a team. If you are nervous, the dog will be, and so on. At my classes (regular obedience) I ask what people's goals are. If therapy dogs are one of the goals, we do start doing more of the tolerance stuff w/ the dog and do situational tests of sort to work with the handler and dog. The TDI website is : www.tdi-dog.org . Test info is there, as well as contact info. There are a few other therapy groups in the US too - best is to check what your options are in your area and contact them. Having a local chapter isn't required, but if there is one it is usually more fun, especially for group visits and getting started. |
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