# Therapy Dog Training



## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Find a Therapy group in your area, contact and see what their requirements are. Basic obedience is a must but each group has a different criteria. Each facility has different challenges so depends on where they are authorized to visit. 

Nails must be kept really short (older people have very thin skin and bleed easily) and we were required to bath the dogs prior to each and every visit. It's also a good idea to teach your pup to "potty" when asked. Nothing like being on the 3rd floor and have a dog that needs to GO. We also had to teach them to be in an elevator with lots of people and other dogs, our group did not allow even a nose touch between dogs. 

I was grateful as my company was very involved, there was a group of us that visited the local children's hospital & rehab center. They allowed us to bring our dogs to work with us on our scheduled days. Gave us opportunities to be around lots of people, ride busses & elevators and learn to sleep under my desk and stay there if I had to leave my desk. It was a really large company, we had 40 floors so they made training easy. Now the children's hospital has 2 goldens that live at the facility. 

You might contact more than one group as each one is different, you will need to find the right fit for you and your pup and your schedule. 

Good luck!


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

There's a section of the GRF with threads discussing therapy dogs. _Golden Retriever Therapy Dogs - Golden Retrievers : Golden Retriever Dog Forums _You will find lots of information there.

A good way to get started is by calling the hospital(s) where you think you'd like to work and speak to their director of volunteers. They should be able to tell you whether they use therapy dogs and if so what sort of certification they require. It may be the dog needs a CGC, certification by a specific therapy dog organization such as PetPartners or TDI, orientation and passing a test given by that hospital, or in some cases all of the above. If you check on this before you get started you can avoid duplication of effort and make sure you get the training you need. The hospital contact may be able to put you in touch with someone at the relevant therapy dog organization.

Another way to approach this is to find a training facility that offers a therapy dog class. They are often about 6 sessions and geared toward taking the certification test of one of the national organizations at the end of the course.


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## Jaxy (Jan 15, 2015)

Thank you both!


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

There are a few organizations that certify dogs. Google therapy dogs and your area. For example, there is Therapy Dogs International, Therapeutic Paws of Canada, St. John's Ambulance, and others. They all generally have similar guidelines. 

You can also seek out CGC classes and get her Canine Good Neighbour. That's a good start. 

I am hoping to do therapy work with my dog, too. She also has Excessive Greeting Disorder (3 years old). She has her Canine Good Neighbour (Canada), but she still couldn't pass a therapy dog evaluation yet (she had a very good day at her CGN test!!). She is super excited for that first 30 seconds, then totally calms down. I met up with the therapy dog coordinator for my area to get an idea from her of what we would need to work on. We "bumped into each other" at the park, so she got to see Shala in her totally natural meeting a new person way. Really, that is the only issue she has. When she meets elderly or more frail or vulnerable people, she is very calm. But the test is with young, strong adults! So we know what we need to work on. I am taking her more places with me to work on this. I take her to stores that allow dogs, for example. I think we probably won't be ready to be tested for at least another year.


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## glenhaven504 (Sep 4, 2007)

I would also take your dog out among people every chance you get. ;This will help with the initial excitement that they experience. This currently is an issue with my Mickey. You also have your choice of where you take your dog. His behavior might dictate where you can go. It like all the training is a process and you might find that he is not good at therapy.

Good luck


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## Oldreid (Aug 16, 2019)

You can train it by yourself. Do some preparations before you plan to train your doggie to a therapy!

Firstly, do obedience training. Leaning some basic training tips just as "sit", "come", "calm", etc, you need to be very patient, and express your love to them.

Also, you can search for some creative ways like play games them will let them learning happily.

This will be a long period, but please keep the training constantly, then it will make an effect.

After the command training, the next step is you need to take them to go to more public space to adapt to as much as environments because therapy requires to meet many people and work at various places. Train them to be sociable.

The last step is to do a test to see if they can do the job well.


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