# Becoming A Service Dog



## Maltese Adora-Belle (Jan 23, 2005)

Does anyone know how one goes about getting your dog enrolled in training to be a service dog? Where I get my hair done there are several elderly people there brought from retirement centers and senior living. When I bring Belle she is so friendly with everyone and they just all light up and adore her. I thought that it would be neat to bring her to some of the shut ins, etc. to bring them a little company and hopefully put a little light in their eyes and smile on their face. If you have any knowledge, please enlighten me. Thanks!


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## flossysmom (Aug 4, 2006)

My mother-in-law works at a nursing home. She has asked me to call the supervisor to set up a date to take Flossy and Roy to visit. I have not done that bc of my work schedule, maybe on day when I am off. Anyway, I would just call the nusing home and ask for the super. You could aslo look in the yellow pages for agencys on aging. I think that would be a good place to start. Perhaps through one phone call you find other places that maybe you could visit as well. I know that wasn't much help, but it is a starting point. Maybe someone else has some ideas too.


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## Maltese Adora-Belle (Jan 23, 2005)

Thanks for some ideas. If Belle can bring a smile and some light into some of our elderly forgotten people I think Belle would enjoy it as much as the people. I would be blessed by bringing some sunshine into their lives. Belle loves everyone.


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## lorraine (Jun 24, 2006)

> Does anyone know how one goes about getting your dog enrolled in training to be a service dog?[/B]


Hi
I think you are talking about a Therapy Dog which is different from a service dog. Here's a link about the two types and training required. It's usually best for you and your dog to receive formal training and certification because there could be local authority laws and rules in the premises you may want or be invited to visit. To say nothing of insurance considerations.








http://www.cofc.edu/~huntc/service.html

Most of my dogs have moved on to become therapy dogs when they retired from the very active stuff like obedience and agility. It's one of the major reasons I got a Maltese this time because I think their temperaments are ideally suited to this type of "work". It's a wonderful thing to be allowed to do and the reactions of the people in residential and care homes, hospitals and hospices are truly heart-warming. 

Be very prepared, though, for the all too often, inevitable and heart-breaking times when your dog's (and your) new found friends are no longer to be found in their beds or their favourite armchair by the window eagerly waiting for your visit.


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## sassy's mommy (Aug 29, 2005)

I think you are speaking of Therapy Certification. Sassy is certified through Delta Society Your pet has to pass certain tests, you (as the handler) have to pass a course, and then you pay money for your certification. There are other organizations, I think SusanTeddy is certified through another organization.


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## gattirenata (Jul 28, 2006)

Mac is going to a puppy school now called DOG GONE SMART.
there they have all sorts of things, and they have the therapy dog classes.

http://www.doggonesmart.com/Frames/frame.htm

maybe you can find a trainer close to you who also offer the course...


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

I have been using my dogs now in my work in nursing homes for almost six years. I do not have any official certification on any of them, and I have never been asked for it. I am just required to be able to show they have been vaccinated. I have had mine in over a dozen nursing homes within this time frame, and they are all well accepted. I do either hold them or carry them in a pouch on my chest. I have, on a couple of occasions taken dogs in full coat and let them walk on a lead. I find these are not good to let the residents pet because they think nothing of rubbing them in the wrong direction or ruffling their hair to cause matts. Pocket loves to go with me. He is almost six months old, and is the perfect little gentleman while visiting. I know which patients I can let hold without supervision. Since I try to do breedings twice a year, I can swap out an older pup when I have a younger one who approaches ten or twelve weeks of age and has been vaccinated. 
A couple weeks ago, I had a new patient referred to me. I spend an hour with her, listening the a horrible history of her coming home to find her home burned, her husband and one son dead, and another near death. She told me of ending up in a state mental hospital for two years in a catatonic state. She is now having behavior problems in the home. As with any session, I find a time to do summary, and set the tone for the next visit. As I was doing this, I asked if there was anything I could do for her. She said, "where's the dog?" She knew about them even though I had never seen her before, not even in the public area of the home. On the next visit, and the one thereafter, the first question out was "where is the dog". I dare not go back next week without one.
It's funny that when I go into a new home and I encounter staff I might have worked with before, one of the first thing they ask is about the dogs.
I strongly encourage each of you to call your local nursing home and see what is involved in taking one of our babies for a visit. You might find that it is a lot easier than you think. Just be prepared to get more from the visit than you give. These people can really touch your heart.


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## Max & Rocky (May 20, 2004)

Just as a heads up, it may not always be necessary to have certification.

We previously have had a set of parents living in a care facility in So. Ca. called Sunrise. Neither of our two boys Rocky and Max are official therapy dogs but since the facility itself had a resident dog, we got in the habit of taking our two with us when we went to visit. We all piled in the car and drove there numerous times over a few years and the boys clearly brought some joy to some of the people who they encountered.

I no nothing of the laws and rules applicable to this sort of thing other than there was never a problem other than all dogs have to stay out of the dining room part of the facility. Even with respect to this rule, the staff was very reasonable and I know at least once or twice, we would eat with our parents and we just had the boys on a leash which was long enough to allow them to lay outside of the dinning room.





> I have been using my dogs now in my work in nursing homes for almost six years. I do not have any official certification on any of them, and I have never been asked for it. I am just required to be able to show they have been vaccinated. I have had mine in over a dozen nursing homes within this time frame, and they are all well accepted. I do either hold them or carry them in a pouch on my chest. I have, on a couple of occasions taken dogs in full coat and let them walk on a lead. I find these are not good to let the residents pet because they think nothing of rubbing them in the wrong direction or ruffling their hair to cause matts. Pocket loves to go with me. He is almost six months old, and is the perfect little gentleman while visiting. I know which patients I can let hold without supervision. Since I try to do breedings twice a year, I can swap out an older pup when I have a younger one who approaches ten or twelve weeks of age and has been vaccinated.
> A couple weeks ago, I had a new patient referred to me. I spend an hour with her, listening the a horrible history of her coming home to find her home burned, her husband and one son dead, and another near death. She told me of ending up in a state mental hospital for two years in a catatonic state. She is now having behavior problems in the home. As with any session, I find a time to do summary, and set the tone for the next visit. As I was doing this, I asked if there was anything I could do for her. She said, "where's the dog?" She knew about them even though I had never seen her before, not even in the public area of the home. On the next visit, and the one thereafter, the first question out was "where is the dog". I dare not go back next week without one.
> It's funny that when I go into a new home and I encounter staff I might have worked with before, one of the first thing they ask is about the dogs.
> I strongly encourage each of you to call your local nursing home and see what is involved in taking one of our babies for a visit. You might find that it is a lot easier than you think. Just be prepared to get more from the visit than you give. These people can really touch your heart.[/B]


 

Great post!!


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## Maltese Adora-Belle (Jan 23, 2005)

Thanks everyone!


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## lorraine (Jun 24, 2006)

> I have been using my dogs now in my work in nursing homes for almost six years. I do not have any official certification on any of them, and I have never been asked for it.[/B]


Wow you guys have it easy. Most establishments in the UK require the dog owner to have police access clearance (in addition to certification) i.e. the police check you out with the criminal records bureau. Still better safe than sorry, I suppose, given how vulnerable some of the residents are.


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> > index.php?act=findpost&pid=237815
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I am employed to see patients in these homes. I'm not just coming in as a casual visitor. I have a doctorate in psychology, and I am considered to be one of the professionals in the homes. I had to be finger
printed and have a background check before I could be employed to do this type work. Currently, I work for a large agency that supplies professionals in over 300 homes. I find it better than doing private practice where I have to deal with billing and general office overhead, as the hourly rate works out to be good, and the benefits from the group also are good. The dogs are just part of my therapy work. In fact, many of my patients don't know my name. They just call me "The Dog Doctor".


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## lorraine (Jun 24, 2006)

Thank you for clarifying that/your earlier post.


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## Tanner's Mom (May 27, 2005)

I work in a retirement community where we have a nursing home and get to bring Tanner to work with me every day. A lot of our nsg home residents are not able to pet Tanner but they do like to see him. And we encourage families to bring dogs out to visit. On the residential side, the non-nursing home residents, they love to see Tanner, and if he's not with me, they want to know where he is. Dogs are a big hit at my place. We had a Pet Parade around the 4th of July and the room was packed. You will enjoy brining Belle to see the residents, and she will love the attention.


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## izzysmom (Nov 6, 2005)

> I have been using my dogs now in my work in nursing homes for almost six years. I do not have any official certification on any of them, and I have never been asked for it. I am just required to be able to show they have been vaccinated. I have had mine in over a dozen nursing homes within this time frame, and they are all well accepted. I do either hold them or carry them in a pouch on my chest. I have, on a couple of occasions taken dogs in full coat and let them walk on a lead. I find these are not good to let the residents pet because they think nothing of rubbing them in the wrong direction or ruffling their hair to cause matts. Pocket loves to go with me. He is almost six months old, and is the perfect little gentleman while visiting. I know which patients I can let hold without supervision. Since I try to do breedings twice a year, I can swap out an older pup when I have a younger one who approaches ten or twelve weeks of age and has been vaccinated.
> A couple weeks ago, I had a new patient referred to me. I spend an hour with her, listening the a horrible history of her coming home to find her home burned, her husband and one son dead, and another near death. She told me of ending up in a state mental hospital for two years in a catatonic state. She is now having behavior problems in the home. As with any session, I find a time to do summary, and set the tone for the next visit. As I was doing this, I asked if there was anything I could do for her. She said, "where's the dog?" She knew about them even though I had never seen her before, not even in the public area of the home. On the next visit, and the one thereafter, the first question out was "where is the dog". I dare not go back next week without one.
> It's funny that when I go into a new home and I encounter staff I might have worked with before, one of the first thing they ask is about the dogs.
> I strongly encourage each of you to call your local nursing home and see what is involved in taking one of our babies for a visit. You might find that it is a lot easier than you think. Just be prepared to get more from the visit than you give. These people can really touch your heart.[/B]


thanks for your post! hopefully i can find time to do this with izzy (he is always on best behavior around strangers, and reserves his manipulative maneuvers for mom & dad)


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## wizzyb (May 24, 2005)

it's so funny, because i too was interested in how to come about to do this type of thing. my boyfriend/best friend of three years moved to Colorado and i suddenly find myself alone and sad. i figured the best way to get over this would be focus on bringing happiness to other people's lives and what better way than through the little monster who brings me so much laughter and joy. 

i must say that i really have no idea how to go about doing this and if anyone has any more information/experience in the southern california area, it would be very much appreciated.

thanks in advance!!!


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

When we lived in Virginia my next-door-neighbor was a middle school teacher who was involved in a service organization for the children that she taught. The kids got the idea that they wanted to take pets to a nursing home. They got permission to do this and my neighbor would "borrow" Jolie to go and visit. She was very well behaved with the elderly. Most of them were alzheimer patients who just wanted to pet her. She never had any certification at all. I would not take her now because as she's gotten older she has gotten a bit grumpy and if her hair was pulled or something she might growl at someone.


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## NONNY (May 21, 2006)

> My mother-in-law works at a nursing home. She has asked me to call the supervisor to set up a date to take Flossy and Roy to visit. I have not done that bc of my work schedule, maybe on day when I am off. Anyway, I would just call the nusing home and ask for the super. You could aslo look in the yellow pages for agencys on aging. I think that would be a good place to start. Perhaps through one phone call you find other places that maybe you could visit as well. I know that wasn't much help, but it is a starting point. Maybe someone else has some ideas too.
> 
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> 
> ...



It's amazing. Your pic looks exactly like my Chipper!!


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## Teddyandme (Feb 6, 2005)

Yes, Teddy is a Certified Therapy Dog and has had to pass certain criteria in order to be certified. He also has his Canine Good Citizen award or CGC. The organization that we belong to is Furry Angels which is a small group within the Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dog Orgainization which I have included the link for. 

http://www.golden-dogs.org/

The reason that it is so important to get your little one certified is for their benifit as well as for the patients or students you will be helping...Teddy was trained to be around wheel chairs, walkers, crutches, canes of all sorts...noise from all these things. He was also trained for rude people, leaving things (what if someone drops medication and your little one picks it up), he must listen to every word I say for his own welfare. 

There are also many places that will not allow dogs that are not certified into the establishment....and for one reason only or should I say 2 million....Teddy is insured for 2 million dollars. Teddy was tested and certifed so that the people who allow him in feel comfortable that he will not ever bite anyone or do anything that may cause harm...If something happens then they are not out money because insurance takes care of it. 

I truly feel that for your puppies best interest you should get them training.....of course someone like Faye who has been a therapist for years and has taken her little ones with her is totally different than someone like myself who is not a medical professional. By going to class myself it helped bring a deeper bond with Teddy and myself.

PS. I forgot to include this befor...the puppy must be at least one year of age in order to participate...now they can take the classes before hand and be ready to go into action once they are 1 year of age but not before and I think this may be a good thing also...teddy has calmed down so much and most puppies are way to hyper to do this work.


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