Thanks we both love doing pet therapy! Bella Blue knows when we pull up that she is ready to work and her entire personality changes... I can't really explain it but its like she knows these people are sick and need some love.
I knew I wanted a therapy dog before we started the search for Bella Blue. I had 3 other yorkies before Bella and 2 were "puppy mill" dogs and at the time I didn't even know what to look for I just wanted a yorkie. (However all of these Yorkies were great dogs and very loved but not healthy, all of them died before the age of 6 yrs old b/c of bad breeding.) I was determined to find a wonderful breeder that raised calm well breed Yorkies. This was not an easy task as I live in one of the worst states for puppy mill breeders. After about 9 months we found a wonderful breeder and bought Bella Blue. We brought her home at 12 weeks old and I hired a dog trainer to help me train her and I started the week I got her. After 5 days with us she could do a 30 sec sit stay and about 10 days she could do a down stay. We just kept building from there. Every week we added on to the old training and added a new trick or obedience pose. I then started classes with other dogs for socialization reasons. And at about 4 1/2 to 5 months old I started getting her out in the public. Petsmart, and friends homes. Then at about 10 months we started going to farmers markets & home improvement stores like Lowe's. These are great places to train due to the loud noises and wide aisles. Then we started working on elevators, walking on and off with a loose leash not pulling or crying. Bella did great on all of these tasks. Then I called a friend of mine who is in a wheelchair and got Bella use to the chair, walking up to and around it. We put peanut butter on the vacuum to get good with it being turned off then worked up to turning it on & walking around (not having to do any sit/stay while running).
Bella Blue now is a wonderful, well adjusted, calm Yorkie who never barks outside the home. (In the home is a different story, she's allowed to bark in the house.) A therapy dog can not bark or ever growl in public. This is actually quite easy to teach them. That's about it. I hope this helps and isn't too much info! LOL! Thanks for asking. Below are pics of Bella Blue in her Therapy attire, id and tags. -Nikki |