Therapy

[Tea]

Could someone give me a description of what a therapy dog does during its work? I am writing a very positive short story and need to have some information?

I have a general idea. But I kinda need 'the day in the life of......'

 

 

Thanks

 

you can e-mail me at

 

huiha@centurytel.net

[sea4th]

Could someone give me a description of what a therapy dog does during its work? I am writing a very positive short story and need to have some information?

I have a general idea. But I kinda need 'the day in the life of......'

Thanks

 

you can e-mail me at

 

huiha@centurytel.net

 

I'll start you off with a link to the Delta Society website. Delta Society provides continuing education in the human/animal bond. http://www.deltasociety.org/Page.aspx?pid=183

 

I can tell you what therapy dogs are not. They are not trick dogs, they are not obedience trained, robots. To be a successful therapy dog, they must have a genuine love of people, not too easy to train into a dog, and they must be bomb proof. Of course things might happen in the course of a therapy dogs work where they will startle, but it's how they react that's important. Do they react, "OK, I'm outta here", do they piss on the floor out of fright? Or do they, in a moment of being frightened react with "you come near me, I'm going to nail you". None of these are acceptable behaviors, but they can be worked on.

 

I've had 5 therapy dogs in the past. We worked out of Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, an affiliate of the Cleveland Clinic. Rules were strict and each dog in the therapy dog program carried a million $$ liability insurance, at the hospital's expense, so you know that no insurance company would even consider coverage on a dog/handler team if some sort of stringent testing was not applied and not passed by the dog/handler.

 

Therapy dogs work at different levels, in a wide variety of ways. If you'd like, I can give you a brief description of each of my own dogs and the dog's approach to his or her work.

[Suzyann13]

Could someone give me a description of what a therapy dog does during its work? I am writing a very positive short story and need to have some information?

I have a general idea. But I kinda need 'the day in the life of......'

Thanks

 

you can e-mail me at

 

huiha@centurytel.net

 

Hi. I'm training a BC mix puppy to be a comfort/therapy dog for my mother to help her with my father, who has Alzheimer's. I researched online and discovered that the first people to do therapy dog training for Alzheimer's were in Israel, and they say that collie breeds work best for that job because of sensitivity to people's feelings. Other breeds of dogs are more often used as therapy dogs for other purposes, from what I read so far, but one of the books I am reading (see below) says many breeds can be used for therapy purpose, depending on the individual dog's personality. I haven't finished training Mickey, but I can recommend two books for you to use as a source, if you want to. One is Therapy Dogs by Kathy Diamond Davis, and one is Partners in Independence by Ed and Toni Eames. Both are very helpful for what a trainer needs to learn.

[Suzyann13]

I'll start you off with a link to the Delta Society website. Delta Society provides continuing education in the human/animal bond. http://www.deltasociety.org/Page.aspx?pid=183

 

I can tell you what therapy dogs are not. They are not trick dogs, they are not obedience trained, robots. To be a successful therapy dog, they must have a genuine love of people, not too easy to train into a dog, and they must be bomb proof. Of course things might happen in the course of a therapy dogs work where they will startle, but it's how they react that's important. Do they react, "OK, I'm outta here", do they piss on the floor out of fright? Or do they, in a moment of being frightened react with "you come near me, I'm going to nail you". None of these are acceptable behaviors, but they can be worked on.

 

I've had 5 therapy dogs in the past. We worked out of Fairview Hospital in Cleveland, an affiliate of the Cleveland Clinic. Rules were strict and each dog in the therapy dog program carried a million $$ liability insurance, at the hospital's expense, so you know that no insurance company would even consider coverage on a dog/handler team if some sort of stringent testing was not applied and not passed by the dog/handler.

 

Therapy dogs work at different levels, in a wide variety of ways. If you'd like, I can give you a brief description of each of my own dogs and the dog's approach to his or her work.

Hi, Sea4th, thank you for listing that site. I have a few others, but it's great to have more information. I read your web page about Pete, and I love it. Wonderful poems and beautiful dogs.

 

--Suzanne