# Therapy dog 101



## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

I have been thinking about this for a bit now and finally started to look into it. I would love to train and get Mieka certified as a therapy dog. 

I'm sure those who've met her at Nationals back when she was Gidget know what I mean when I say she has the perfect temperament for it. She loves people and she loves laps. She gets really happy to be pet and loved by new people. Additionally, she's a very calm dog. Nothing bothers her and she's a wet noodle in your arms. She loves to snuggle and will lay next to you snuggled up for as long as you'd like to. Lastly, holding her is the best thing in the world and it brings me a lot of comfort when I don't feel great. 

Now my questions are, what do I do next? I saw a couple of organizations that do therapy dog certification. Do you recommend one over the others? Or does it not matter?

For those of you who went through the process, how was your experience? Did your dog like the training? How about the actual work? How often do you visit patients etc.

Anything else you would like to share about the whole process? Thanks!


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## kd1212 (Nov 5, 2013)

The place where I take Tyler offers obedience classes and they give the test there as well. I don't know if there's a Zoom Room in your area, but that's where I go and I love it--they've got a bunch of national franchises. My suggestion would be to look on Yelp for a highly rated training place and then call and find out their process for therapy certification.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Aastha - I used Love on a Leash in Southern California (which is where you are) to train Lacie as a Therapy Dog. Like Mieka, Lacie is really outgoing and just loves meeting people and having them admire her. She has the perfect temperament to be a Therapy Dog.

We go to a particular Nursing Home -- sometimes we do it every week and sometimes only once a month. Depends on my schedule. When we don't get there every week, the Nursing Home calls us and asks when Lacie will be visiting again because the people love seeing her. And, although she's supposed to wear her Therapy Dog Vest, the patients enjoy seeing her all dressed up so she actually wears different outfits now. They love seeing what her outfit and matching bow will be. 

Love on a Leash is great. Couldn't recommend a better organization. Going through the certification and training was pretty easy because of Lacie's temperament. The only thing I worried about was her barking when they dropped trays at the test as she loves to bark -- "alien alert - alien alert", but we practiced by taking her to my office and having them drop noisy objections, and she was fine with the test. The other thing that sometimes gets some of the fluffs is the opening of the garbage bags, but since I do this all the time in the kitchen to put the trash in and to line the garbage cans, Lacie was already used to this noise.

Lacie loves her "job" and really seems to look forward to it. We have a few Hospices that we also visit from time to time -- but that's pretty hard on me. It's also hard when we lose a patient at the Nursing Home. 

I bake cookies and do take her to birthday parties for many of the patients. They gave Lacie her own B-Day party when she turned 10 last month. 

I would like to work with Breeze on getting her certified but know that it would break Lacie's heart if I gave Breeze her job. 

Love on a Leash

Go for it. I think you will find it very rewarding and I know that Mieka will LOVE it.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

And here is the AKC page that talks about Therapy Dogs and organizations.

AKC Therapy Dog? - Therapy Dog Training Programs & Organizations


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

My Cameo worked as a Therapy Dog through Happy Tails in Atlanta. The test was similar to the CGC she had earned a couple of years earlier, but with a few extra challenges specific to hospital or nursing home situations. 

She enjoyed her nursing home and assisted living home visits very much and I LOVED doing this with her. It is great to volunteer to share something you LOVE the way we love our dogs. She wasn't as thrilled with the visit we did as a substitute team where there were lots of children at a children's home, but I was able to see her reaction and keep her from being overwhelmed. The Golden on that visit with us ended up doing most of the work that day. 

I would love to be doing this work again with my current clan and perhaps I will be able to again, but the time commitment required by our local group seems too much to manage at the moment. As I recall the group in Atlanta required one visit per month. We generally did at least 2 per month. I think the group here requires more like 1 visit per week and frankly with all the other activities we do, that would be a difficult commitment to make for us now.


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

Aastha, that is awesome! You know I am so excited that you are considering this! I can attest to Mieka being the BEST cuddle buddy ever and she really does have just the perfect personality to be a therapy dog. I haven't gone through the process so I'm sorry I'm not much help there. I'm excited to hear about your experience though, because I would love to pursue this with Bailey too...I think he would be great at it and really enjoy it too.


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## lydiatug (Feb 21, 2012)

I've always wanted to that, I think you would really enjoy it! Good luck finding the right training facility


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## Trisha (Aug 8, 2014)

I'm also hoping to get Maggie certified as a Therapy Dog. The obedience place where she did the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy training also has the other training necessary for her to become a Therapy Dog. She needs to take AKC Canine Good Citizen next. I had to put her training on the back burner for right now. So probably after the new year we will get going again. She will be a year old in January and so I want to evaluate her temperament more. Some days, I think she will be perfect and then we have those unruly days! lol But, I think she will be ok as she gets a little older!

As Lynn said above, AKC has the guidelines on their site for the Therapy Dog Certification.

Keep us posted! I'm sure Mieka would do awesome!


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

kd1212 said:


> The place where I take Tyler offers obedience classes and they give the test there as well. I don't know if there's a Zoom Room in your area, but that's where I go and I love it--they've got a bunch of national franchises. My suggestion would be to look on Yelp for a highly rated training place and then call and find out their process for therapy certification.


Thanks, Kim. We used to go to the Zoom Room in Culver city for agility and obedience classes. Didn't realize they had therapy dog classes too. Will look into that. 



Lacie's Mom said:


> Aastha - I used Love on a Leash in Southern California (which is where you are) to train Lacie as a Therapy Dog. Like Mieka, Lacie is really outgoing and just loves meeting people and having them admire her. She has the perfect temperament to be a Therapy Dog.
> I would like to work with Breeze on getting her certified but know that it would break Lacie's heart if I gave Breeze her job.
> 
> Love on a Leash
> ...


Thank you so much, Lynn. I am looking into that organization and it looks like you will only go to nursing homes etc. that they are affiliated with. Is that not correct? Or are you able to go to places in NM with their certification? How does that work?

I think you should do it with Breeze if you think she'll enjoy it. Then the girls can take turns.  




CloudClan said:


> My Cameo worked as a Therapy Dog through Happy Tails in Atlanta. The test was similar to the CGC she had earned a couple of years earlier, but with a few extra challenges specific to hospital or nursing home situations.
> 
> She enjoyed her nursing home and assisted living home visits very much and I LOVED doing this with her. It is great to volunteer to share something you LOVE the way we love our dogs. She wasn't as thrilled with the visit we did as a substitute team where there were lots of children at a children's home, but I was able to see her reaction and keep her from being overwhelmed. The Golden on that visit with us ended up doing most of the work that day.
> 
> I would love to be doing this work again with my current clan and perhaps I will be able to again, but the time commitment required by our local group seems too much to manage at the moment. As I recall the group in Atlanta required one visit per month. We generally did at least 2 per month. I think the group here requires more like 1 visit per week and frankly with all the other activities we do, that would be a difficult commitment to make for us now.


Thanks for your post, Carina. The organization I looked into needs a three visits a month commitment with might be too much. I don't want to sign up for anything I might not be able to sustain. I am now looking at others where one visit a month might be enough. 



Bailey&Me said:


> Aastha, that is awesome! You know I am so excited that you are considering this! I can attest to Mieka being the BEST cuddle buddy ever and she really does have just the perfect personality to be a therapy dog. I haven't gone through the process so I'm sorry I'm not much help there. I'm excited to hear about your experience though, because I would love to pursue this with Bailey too...I think he would be great at it and really enjoy it too.


Yes, do it with Bailey. He will love it. You know Mieka will. My little 'love me, cuddle with me slob."



lydiatug said:


> I've always wanted to that, I think you would really enjoy it! Good luck finding the right training facility


Thank you so much, Lydia.



Trisha said:


> I'm also hoping to get Maggie certified as a Therapy Dog. The obedience place where she did the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy training also has the other training necessary for her to become a Therapy Dog. She needs to take AKC Canine Good Citizen next. I had to put her training on the back burner for right now. So probably after the new year we will get going again. She will be a year old in January and so I want to evaluate her temperament more. Some days, I think she will be perfect and then we have those unruly days! lol But, I think she will be ok as she gets a little older!
> 
> As Lynn said above, AKC has the guidelines on their site for the Therapy Dog Certification.
> 
> Keep us posted! I'm sure Mieka would do awesome!


Thanks for replying, Trisha. Yes, definitely pursue it with Maggie. Love training these little ones.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Aastha -- The Nursing Home that we go to is affiliated with Love on a Leash -- but -- we are able to go to others too. I have a good friend here that is the HR director for a company that runs Assisted Living Facilities, Various Nursing Homes and Various Hospices. We've been to visit many of those, and never had a problem because Lacie is a Ceritified Therapy Dog and that's all they've ever asked -- to see her Certificate. And, if we go to different places, I make her wear her vest instead of her dresses, and her Theraphy Dog Tag. I actually made the vest and sewed the patches on it. I did the same for another Maltese that is a Therapy Dog back East. The owner sent me the patches and I made the Vest. Bella Bianca is from Chrisman and has been doing this for about 6-7 years.

If you get Meika Certificated, I'd be happy to make a vest for her if you send me the patches that you want/need on it.

Because Love on a Leash is primarily in Southern California, they are affiliated with most facilities there.


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

Awww thank you, Lynn. I'm looking into that organization now and hopefully everything will work out just fine.


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

Aastha -- what I've found is that, if you want the organization you are certified by to help arrange visits for you, then you need to use the places they are associated with -- but, if you want to arrange you own visits by contacting the facilities yourself, you only need to tell them that the fluff is a Certified Therapy Dog and present the certificate at the first visit to the facility.


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

Lacie's Mom said:


> Aastha -- what I've found is that, if you want the organization you are certified by to help arrange visits for you, then you need to use the places they are associated with -- but, if you want to arrange you own visits by contacting the facilities yourself, you only need to tell them that the fluff is a Certified Therapy Dog and present the certificate at the first visit to the facility.



That's great to know! Thank you.


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