Hi everyone - OMG - I had the opportunity to attend testing for therapy dogs todays (Delta.org and Paw Partners). Delta testers do this 2x a year at this particular location and when I called about Izzy being a therapy dog they told me that I could just come myself and observe. Wow - it's not as easy as you think!!
Izzy has been in training since I got her in May and will be attending Canine Good Citizen in November. There is a ALOT that they have to learn and not so much the learning part - it's the control you as a handler must have and the time spent in each command. I think the most interesting thing while I observed (and they even let me participate in helping test!!) was all the noise and distraction your dog must get used to before becoming a therapy dog. Also how long they must stay in a sit/lay down command, etc. etc. So next testing in our area may be January or March which works for us since therapy doggies must be a year old and Izzy turns 1 on 12/29. So we will have to practice, practice. Mostly with the noise factor - they were banging bed pans around and having people in wheel chairs and walkers and loud, loud talking.
Oh - and the entire morning that I was there they didn't past ONE doggie.
But they told each handler/owner what they needed to work on for the next testing.