One of the questions that I enjoy the most is when people ask me how they go about getting their dog started as a therapy dog. Being a therapy dog is not only a very rewarding experience for your dog but it is also a very rewarding experience for you as a dog owner and it enables you to give back to your community but that being said, how do you begin?

The first step in determining whether your dog is suited the therapy dog life is to assess his personality and character, if you have a high energy dog with a high prey drive then he is most likely not suited to being a therapy dog; however, if you have a dog who thrives around people then the chances are that he could make a very good therapy dog. You should also realize that being a therapy dog “handler” is going to demand more from you than just a visit once a week to a local hospital or nursing home, it takes dedication and most of all a love for what you are doing.

Once you have determined that you and your dog are ready to embark on the journey of becoming a therapy dog and a therapy dog handler you want to contact various agencies that offer therapy dog services and determine which is suited to you: do you prefer elderly people, are you uncomfortable in hospitals, does your dog prefer children etc. When you have settled on a program it is time to begin the training process. Training programs for therapy dogs are specially suited to the needs and demands of being a therapy dog, they will train your dog to understand his new environments and to behave well around strange, elderly or even sick people and get him used to being touched and even manhandled (especially if you will be working with children.) Finally once you and your dog have completed the necessary training to be certified you will be certified as a therapy dog and handler and matched up with a program close to you!

Being a therapy dog handler can be a lot of work but it is also one of the most rewarding things you can choose to do with your dog!

Service dogs play a very important part in our local communities and in allowing people with specific disabilities to live their lives more fully than they would without the assistance of their service animals. Because dogs are so intelligent and so adaptive to learning new skills and information they make perfect animals to pair with people who had disabilities. Having a service or assistance dog for some people who suffer from disabilities makes them feel whole and enables them to live their lives in a “non-disabled” world.

There is a wide variety of service dogs, each of which has to under go complete training programs throughout their career as a service dog. Despite the fact that a service dog has been “assigned” a partner and has to complete thorough training prior to and during their first few years with their owner the dog must continue “brush up” training throughout their career as a service dog to make sure that they perform to the top of their ability.

Service dogs can be used as seeing eye dogs to help the blind to “see”, seeing eye dogs are raised by the seeing eye dog institute and from their first moment of life they are set on to a path of training to make them good seeing eye dogs. Seeing eye dogs are assigned to individuals who are legally classified as blind in order to help them navigate obstacles such as traffic, stairways and other pedestrians.

Service dogs can also act as hearing dogs for the deaf. Hearing dogs are less heard of than seeing eye dogs; however, the part they play is just as important by giving their deaf owners an opportunity to “hear” noise. Hearing dogs are allowed in the same areas as seeing eye dogs and are able to alert their handlers to noises outside of the home as well as inside the home. Hearing dogs are trained to alert their owners to noise in the household such as crying babies, smoke alarms, door bells, timers and alarm clocks.

Mobility assistance dogs are also allowed in areas that are designed for service animals, they are trained to pull wheelchairs or walk along side their owners wheelchair and assist in picking up items that are dropped, mobility dogs are also capable of opening and closing doors and assisting their handlers in tasks such as getting dressed in the morning.

Seizure alert dogs are allowed in any area that service animals are accepted, they are trained to alert their handler to any change in biochemistry which signals an oncoming seizure. Seizure dogs are assigned to individuals that suffer from illnesses such as epilepsy and helps their owner to avoid dangerous situations by giving them warning prior to onset of a seizure. Seizure dogs can be trained to alert the authorities when a special console is installed for the seizure alert dog to hit and connect directly to 911.

Alert dogs are another type of service dog which is trained to react to specific biochemical changes in a person, more recently alert dogs have been trained to recognize blood sugar changes in diabetic children and when the blood sugar drops significantly the dog will alert other family members to assist the child.

sSIG dog’s are dogs that are trained to work with individuals with autism. Ssig dog’s alert their handlers that they are partaking in a ritual movement pattern common to those with autism and when alerted by the dog the individual is able to recognize their repetitive motion and stop it.

Psychiatric service dogs are trained to work with individuals with specific psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric service dogs will never leave their handler and are trained to offer them support when they step out in to unfamiliar, uncomfortable or even familiar situations in which they need assistance. These dogs work well for individuals who find themselves uncomfortable in crowds, the outdoors or other specific situations.

There are so many ways that service dogs can assist their handlers and there is no limit on what “jobs” a dog can be taught to do. Assistance dogs by law are allowed in any public place that their owners need to access and they are always monitored by the necessary service dog agency who maintain training with the handler as well as track the health of the service dog provided to the individual handler.