Any Therapy Dogs Out There???
 

Hey all... I am trying to find out how many YTr's are involved in Pet Therapy. If we have enough people, I'll pm admin and see if we can start a new forum to post pics, ideas and just about anything associated with Therapy Work.

So send me your stories and send me some pics so we can get an idea of who's out there!

I know of myself (Sammie to be evaluated next month), Izzy Princess (working towards her cert soon) and dalnna (currently working) are interested in starting a new forum for this.

Who else is interested??

i REALLY want Layla to become a therapy dog and would LOVE a forum on it as i'm not sure what she has to be able to do before we can become one.. (i'm sure it is different in Canada than the US, but just the GENERAL idea) she gets SO excited to see people howeve ri beleive she gets a bit too excited to be a therapy dog just yet... so i'd love to hear about it...and see what i can learn

I am very interested in learning about this! Tbone is so young and hyper, but Tina loves laps and cuddle time. It is definitely something I have considered and would love to read up on! I say YES to a new forum, thanks for posting!:thumbup:

My Mimi (yorkie), Nikki (yorkie), and Lizzy (long haired Chihuahua) are all certified therapy dogs.
Im in the process of finding a new therapy group because the one I belong to now is runned by my ex bosses and I dont think Im going to be to welcome there cause I just quit my job yesterday (very stressful long story).
Its sad on the therapy part because I really liked the members of the group :(
But very happy on the quitting the job part!

That's so nice to see many of you that want to do this. Izzy and I are just getting into this and was contacted by a member of Pet Partners and explained to me the process somewhat. Izzy already has attended puppy training classes (clicker training) and now we are in the midst of Part II puppy training. She already knows how to sit, stay, lay down, leave it, and working on come (she is somewhat good at this). The only thing stoping us now is that Izzy is not 1-year-old yet - she will be on 12/29, so I'm attending a testing certification on 9/29 to see how the animals are tested, then I'll sign up to attend classes and get the manuals. The nice lady from Pet Partners was so excited when I talked to her because they don't have a Yorkie in their program yet and are so hoping that Izzy and I get involved. Their next certfication is not until next March but she told me of another testing location that might be earlier so as soon as Izzy turns 1 - we'll be ready. Plus the hospital that we would go to is only 5 minutes from our home and part of the infamous Cleveland Clinic Foundation so we are truly excited and hope this all works out. Keep your fingers crossed for us. ;) :animal-pa

www.deltasociety.org

Count us in. Itzi is a licensed service dog as well as a therapy dog. I bet he is one of the first Biewers as well as a Yorkie...

I also have Bailey--he's a full Havanese with the same certifications.

Yes!

Milo will be one in November and then I will get him tested.

I think a forum where we can all talk and exchange would be great.

i just contacted St. John's Ambulance (they do dog therapy here in ontario) and just waiting for them to get back to me!!!!!!:D :D

How exciting for everyone - even if we don't have the numbers for our own separate forum we can at least keep this thread going for us! Hope we all get involved in this - it will be great to share our experiences.:wub:

If anyone's interested, just go to www.deltasociety.org and look for a group in your area.

Sammie hasn't been evaluated yet, but that's in October. She does have all her training in.

I was just contacted by a Delta Group Leader in our area that has invited myself and another friend to join them (without our pups, of course) at the Shriner Burn Hospital in Galveston on the 21st. They will be showing us how it works and how to interface with the children there. I'm am really excited about it.

I'll post pics if I can take them. (They may not let us due to the seriousness of the children's injuries.) If not, I'll just take pics of the dogs and their owners before going inside.

Wish us luck! (I feel like a kid at Christmas....LOL)

B - good luck on Saturday....I just got back with Izzy from our clicker training and our trainer told me that they are going to have a 6 week Good Citizen course that would be perfect for Izzy to attend to get ready for the Delta training and testing. He said they have wheelchairs and everthing there so she would get used to it, etc. That starts in November so then we'll see about the Delta course and then test after the New Year since Izzy will be a year old then.

Keep us posted on what happens and I doubt too if you can take pictures inside but take pictures when you can. :thumbup:

hey chrissy...
hope to see you at the shin-dig tomorrow at Lion Lake. I'm not sure what the times are...but....just hope I can just stop in after 11am.

I noticed you're looking for another dog therapy group...when you find one, can you pass the info on to me because I've been considering getting Cyrano involved in that....

Tiffany

ps. oh yes, when can Cyrano get an appointment with you?? give me a call!

Great idea!
 

I have been thinking about this for awhile - so glad to hear so many of you have gotten your dogs certified.
Thanks for the link....I'll check it out! I'd love to learn more about it!

Anyone in Florida?
 

I just checked the delta society website and there are no scheduled classes in Florida.
Do most people attend classes or have any of you ordered the material and completed it on your own?

pet therapy in the san francisco bay area
 

Alfie and I plan to volunteer at Furry Friends once he's old enough. Here's a link to their website in case anyone is interested and lives in the SF Bay Area:

http://www.furryfriends.org/

I have wanted to do this with Deiter, He is great around people in wheel chairs, walkers, canes. Because I help my Mother-in-law. But I didn't see any for my area, I did for about 45 min away.

Hi Deiter & Lynda - check out these two sites and see if they help you out.

http://www.deltasociety.org/

http://www.therapydogs.com/

You can complete the course at home with the Home Study Guide. You can purchase it on their website. But you will still need to find an evaluator for testing. Maybe they know of someone that's willing to meet you part of the way or maybe already in your area.

Good luck!

Thanks I will look into those. I was going to call the one that is 45 min from here also and see what they might know. Deiter is great very friendly, loves to sit in laps. I have notice that with my Mother-in-law he is very careful compared to at home. There he is like a totaly different dog. I think he knows that he has to be that way around her. Which is great. He will even walk with the leash on while we go in the wheel chair, or while using the walker. That is why I think he would be great to take to nursing homes etc.....

Thanks I will look into them.

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!!:eek: 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.

Sounds like it would be a very informative and needed forum.

I will be going through the delta society as well. When i get back to Nebraska i plan on ordering and studying from home. I got the information from my friend who is blind. Her service dogs were trained through there. My thing is that a trained pet is a happy pet, and leads to a happy family. It never hurts to give some of that happiness back to the community.

Which society is better?
 

Out of the two websites listed for therapy dogs - which one is the most recognized? :confused:
Thanks
:)
Anybody involved in either of the organizations in central Florida??

There is Delta.org and Paw Partners but they are part of Delta. I know that there is a therapy dog website and organization but I'm not too familiar with that one. We are going through Delta. Good luck in finding a group in Florida. :D Stay on this thead - I think we can learn a lot from each other on this. It's a wonderful thing to get involved in this - if you could just see how these dogs work with patients - it's so unbelievable and so rewarding - for both you and your Yorkie. :D

I would really like Winstin to become one. My mom and I were just talking about it yesterday. However, I have no clue where to start! Any help would be great.

Try this link - then find a Paw Partner that is close to where you live and then email them and get more info - that's how I started.

http://www.deltasociety.org/search/deltastateresult.asp

Therapy Dogs International
 

Hi, my little one is registered through Therapy Dogs International and I live in Cemntral Florida. We visit nursing homes and assissted living facilites for the most part and just this month went to a group meeting for a cancer support group. I've heard that Delta Society is much more through....and in fact, harder to get through. That's not why I chose TDI, I hadn't even heard of Delta before mine was certified. But even now that I know the difference, I can't honestly say Abbie or I would be better trained if we had gone to Delta. I think the really great thing about Delta is that because it takes so long and they put you and your dog through so much, it tends to weed out those who aren't very serious about becoming certified. If I can answer any more questions, please feel frr to PM me.

This is so true - I couldn't believe what Delta makes you go through to get certified - again - when I was viewing their certification on Saturday - I was there a half day and probably 6 dogs came through for testing (each test was about 45-60 minutes) and not one dog was passed and they only test 2x a year in our area. But now I know what they are looking for.:eek:

WoW! Do I need spell check!!
 

I just reread my post. For goodness sake! So many misspelled words. That's what I get for being in a hurry! Sorry all! I'm really not a ditz.

Yes, we finally have finished everything, we got tested, vet check, mailed papers and fees in , last week. So we should be about ready to go. I'm am pretty excited about it. Alison :):thumbup: