Therapy dogs are known for the feelings of rehabilitation and well-being when they interact with people. Playing with the dogs provides calmness and relaxation by elevating the levels of serotonin and dopamine. The dogs have a non-judgmental presence, so they can help people in a scared and stressed environment like hospitals, nursing facilities, schools, and rehab centers. The dogs can return to help the people just by behaving normally and wagging their tails.
If you are looking to share the love with the dogs, don’t overthink as there are no age or breed requirements. You just need a positive temperament puppy with good health. Most of the dogs love to have a job. May your dog job will be hiking alongside something else. But make sure to don’t give your dog a job that it’s doesn’t like.
Consider a good candidate
Your dog should be perfect for a good therapy animal. A good therapy dog is always friendly and always keeps quiet and calm in a variety of environments. They usually enjoy it when they are touched by strangers, especially when they are touched by the children. These dogs know to take the treats nicely.
All dogs of any size, mutts, or purebreds can make the perfect therapy animals.
Although the size plays a little role in some places like the small dogs are good for snuggling in the hospital bed or on a lap, while the larger dogs are good for encouraging the people to through a ball for them. The two main categories of therapy dogs include the following.
Animal-assisted therapy
It uses companion animals for the therapy of the patients. The health care professional recommended the interaction to improve the physical and emotional function of the patient. For example, the tossing of a ball or brushing the dog’s coat encourages repetitive hand-eye coordination exercises.
Animal-assisted activities
Animal-assisted activities
encourage people to communicate. Many people feel better and relaxed in the
presence of animals without any special professional trainer or formal
treatment plan.
But neither of these dogs are considered as service animals by federal law. Service dogs are usually for helping disabled people.
Practice the Tests for therapy dog training
Usually, the older dogs are the
best therapy animals, but make sure to train your puppy early to make them a
perfect therapy dog. According to the American Kennel Club, 10 tests within
their program covers all the basic behavior training.
1. The first one accepts a friendly stranger, which tests whether the dog accepts the
friendly stranger.
2. The
second test is about petting. You need to check your dog sit politely and allow
the stranger to pet.
3.The
next thing is about the appearance and grooming of the dog. In this test dog
allow the strangers to check its feet and ears like the veterinarian.
4. The
next test is about dog walking. They should be walking on a loose leash with their
owners.
5.The
next test is the dog’s walking through the crowd. Check if the dog can handle walking through the crowd with his owner without reacting negatively.
6. The
dog should be responding to the basic behavioral commands.
7. The
dog should be responding to the recall commands.
8. The
dog should be responding properly when another dog owner is approaching the
dog.
9. Check
how perfectly the dog can react to the distractions.
10.The
next test is about dog separation. Check how much time the dog can handle away
from its owners.
