Therapy dogs
 

I am going to do this for my dog. I found some great info on a previous thread. If you do a search for "airplanes" the threads will come up and there is a good deal of info about getting your dog registered as a "service dog"
Hope it helps.

I have 2 therapy dogs. One I tested and registered with Delta Society the other with Therapy dog International.

Testing comes in 2 part. If your dog can pass a Canine Good Citizen (CGC-obedience) then the first part is a breeze. The 2nd part is a temperment test.

Business or restaurant will still turn your dogs away. By law they are not allowed to do it with SERVICE dogs not THERAPY dogs. People will get these 2 mixed up. You can take advantage of it but I think it is very dishonest to do so.

I wasn't aware there was a difference. Can you let us know what it is?
Thanks.

Being a recent retired Health Official, I have worked with this situation many times. A Service Dog is entitled to go anywhere the owner goes. A Service Dog performs day to day tasks, that the owner cannot do. A Therapy Dog is basically a Cheer UP The Patient Dog, or perhaps a Encourage The Patient Dog. Children's Hospital, Nursing Homes, etc. This is why the obedience and temperment test are so important to pass. I think it's a great idea. Yorkies are so small and love to be loved anyway. As far as Airlines, the Service Dog may fly free, but not the owner. Not all airlines will do this. Check with your airlines before hand. You will have to prove that the animal is a Service Dog. The Therapy Dog is NOTconsidered a free flyer, restaurant, grocery store, etc. Service Dogs are normally large enough to handle daily tasks. Yorkies would have a hard time pulling a wheelchair, leading the blind, or opening doors. They are very good at opening our hearts though.

I know of a yorkie that is a service dog. The yorkie is less than 4 lbs. Her name is Cosette and is featured in one of the Yorkshire Terrier Magazine. One of her job is to speed dial 911 if her owner has a seizure or passes out. So there are yorkie out there that are service dogs.

Yorkieagility,

That is wonderful to hear that her Yorkie can dial 911. Hopefully she won't have to.

Actually, Cosette has saved her owner's life 7 times I think.Yorkies make wonderful service dogs because they are small and they travel easily. Therapy dogs are different from service dogs and not allowed the same freedoms, but a lot of service dogs are also therapy dogs.

It is not dishonest in the least to take advantage of the service dog laws. They exist because it is recognized that dogs can serve many needs for people. Yorkies make great "signal dogs". They can alert a diabetic of changes in body temperature and chemistry or of when it is time for insulin. They can alert a migraine sufferer of the same symptoms or act as alarm clock for when to take meds. They can help the hearing impaired by being trained to bark at certain noises the owner cannot hear. I know of one person who uses her yorkie for high pitched sounds like a forklift backing up in Costco for instance. Epileptics use yorkies too as do people with social anxiety and high blood pressure.

I actually wish more people took advantage of the law because then the business owners would be more dog friendly and all disabled could fel more comfortable using these animals as "working" animals and feel ashamed or like they are "putting people out". Our yorkies are no more dirty, disruptive or noisy than the average toddler you see in a restaurant. No manager would think of asking the parents of a whining child to leave. In fact, a properly trained yorkie who is accustomed to public places, will behave perfectly in most situations.

You can get a lot of info just by "googling" service dog. It is not required but you can get a laminated service dog card from the Service Animal Registry of America. You can train your own dog. My dogs are trained to bring me my cell phone and my purse in an emergency. It was easy to train.

PM me if you wnat more info or have trouble.

As I understand the law, you do NOT have to prove anything. In fact the business owner is not even supposed to ask what service the animal provides or what your disability is. That would be like asking a person why they are in a wheeelchair and making a disabled person disclose his disability. It is a privacy issue. The goal of the law is to assist people with disabilities lead as normal a life as possible. I cannot think of a situation where you would have to "prove" anything. Can you elaborate Stitiches29?

I have even read stories where the disabled with service animals civilly arrested business managers who violated these rules and illegally asked the disabled person to leave.

service dogs
 

[QUOTE=SoCalyorkiLvr]Actually, Cosette has saved her owner's life 7 times I think.Yorkies make wonderful service dogs because they are small and they travel easily. Therapy dogs are different from service dogs and not allowed the same freedoms, but a lot of service dogs are also therapy dogs.

It is not dishonest in the least to take advantage of the service dog laws. They exist because it is recognized that dogs can serve many needs for people. Yorkies make great "signal dogs". They can alert a diabetic of changes in body temperature and chemistry or of when it is time for insulin. They can alert a migraine sufferer of the same symptoms or act as alarm clock for when to take meds. They can help the hearing impaired by being trained to bark at certain noises the owner cannot hear. I know of one person who uses her yorkie for high pitched sounds like a forklift backing up in Costco for instance. Epileptics use yorkies too as do people with social anxiety and high blood pressure.

I actually wish more people took advantage of the law because then the business owners would be more dog friendly and all disabled could fel more comfortable using these animals as "working" animals and feel ashamed or like they are "putting people out". Our yorkies are no more dirty, disruptive or noisy than the average toddler you see in a restaurant. No manager would think of asking the parents of a whining child to leave. In fact, a properly trained yorkie who is accustomed to public places, will behave perfectly in most situations.QUOTE]

SoCalyorkiLvr,
We were talking about this earlier on the "airplane" thread that I started...you will be pleased to know that I have passed on the abundant info you gave me to some of my other-breed-owning friends. One of them is currently in the process of registering her sheltie, Willow.