Therapy dogs visit rest homes, hospitals, schools, youth centers and more providing comfort to everyone they visit. A therapy dog is calm, gentle, and loves receiving affection from everyone. They do not jump on, paw at, or bark at other people or other dogs.
Therapy dogs can visit establishments regularly or be on-call with a crisis relief unit. This is very stressful work for both the handler and their dog, but also very rewarding to provide the people in greatest need with the comfort and love only a dog can give.
They naturally seek and comfort people. They are calm and receiving of children, people of all color and ethnicities, seniors, men and women. They can tolerate sudden movements, nervous children, loud noises, and unexpected situations.
This program prepares you and your dog as a therapy team with basic obedience and practice for the therapy dog test items. We recommend you complete the National Alliance of Therapy Dogs Certification Test after you complete the training program. This certification proves your dog's working ability, provides liability insurance, and may even be required by your facility.
While many dogs are amazing, calm and loving in the home, very few dogs have the natural propensity to demonstrate the same behavior in loud, busy or otherwise stressful situations. We can help you evaluate your dog's behavior with a free behavior evaluation, available online here.
If we determine your dog is not an excellent candidate for Therapy work, you are absolutely welcome and encouraged to complete our obedience training program. We may be able to provide you with a prospective candidate from our breeding program, or a fully trained Therapy Dog. Cost is dependent on your selected dog the facility your dog will be working in. Purchasing a fully trained therapy dog guarantees the dog will complete therapy training and testing. We guarantee your investment when purchasing a fully trained dog.