Training For Therapy Work
Do you think you have a potential therapy dog in the making? Want to do therapy work with your 2nd hand dog? It is imperative when visiting with any breed, but especially if you have a large or giant breed, that you have absolute control of your dog at all times and know how to direct or redirect his behavior. Accurately reading his body language is also vital to your success as a therapy dog team.
Training Puppies:
Puppy Kindergarten should be the first item on your list. Puppies, while cute and alluring, do not have the mental stability for regular visitations especially if the visits entail meeting different people each time. Visitations should not be used to socialize a puppy. However, proper socialization is critical for the puppy’s success and mental well-being. Puppy Kindergarten gets you started in the right direction.
Socialization includes exposure to many different sights, sounds, objects, as well as diverse peoples. By the time your puppy is 5 months old, he should have been exposed to at least 20 different surfaces: grass, gravel, bark dust, asphalt, concrete, aggregate, bricks, grating, berber and shag-types of carpeting, linoleum, laminate, polished wood, etc. Also, there should be places in your community where you can practice riding in elevators, going thru sliding doors and going up open steps (due to the visual disturbance they present to the dog) as well as conventional steps. Do NOT attempt to take your dog on an escalator.
If you live in a location with one predominant ethnic group, you need to make sure your puppy has exposure to and meets people of different races/ethnic backgrounds, as there is a difference in skin odor as well as different food smells associated with different nationalities and gustatory preferences. They also should be exposed to wildly different types of dress, such as big swirling capes, tall or wide-brimmed hats, full-face beards and moustaches, women with lots of jingly, clank jewelry and bracelets, etc. If you don't smoke, you need to acquaint your puppy with someone who does. Many dogs react negatively to their first encounter with a smoker if they don't live with one. It’s the same for people wearing half a bottle of cologne/perfume/aftershave, etc.
Training Adult Dogs:
Going through all the points for socializing a puppy should be done, a little at a time, with your new dog. You need to find out what he knows and has been exposed to or experienced. The next step is a good beginning obedience class. Even if you’ve been told the dog has had training, or you can see evidence of actual obedience training, you should take your dog through at least one beginner level class. This helps you and the dog develop a closer bond, and you both learn to read each other’s body language. If training had been done individually by the previous owner without a group experience, your dog will learn that even with the various class distractions, a command must be obeyed.
You also need to be aware that not everyone doing visitations has a well-trained dog, and more importantly, the handler might not be trained in visitations and be well-intentioned but clueless about not letting their dog interact with your dog. You should politely tell these people to keep their dog back until you have a chance to assess the person and their dog (by asking pertinent questions about their level of training, certification, etc.). The dog might be 100% safe with people, but not with strange dogs. This may be especially true for a dog/handler team that has been visiting at the same facility for several months. Sometimes, the dog begins to think of that facility as his territory. I can guarantee you that if something should happen, the bigger dog will be assumed to be the guilty party!
Concerning certification, you may have heard about Therapy Dogs International, Inc., Therapy Dogs, Inc, and Delta Society’s Pet Partners Program. Paws For Love Therapy Dogs, Inc, is newly incorporated as it’s own entity. In addition to training you in how to conduct a visit and handle your dog in various situations, these programs offer liability insurance should something happen during a visit. You need to be aware that there is no liability coverage with the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen test. Also, the insurance is there to protect the dog/handler team in the event of an actual or PERCEIVED incident. You need to make sure you know the policies and guidelines of your program as well as the facilities' policies in the event something happens- even if no contact occurred and body parts weren't punctured. You need to be aware of the potential for an incident, and if there is a perception, even if wrong or unfounded, that something happened - "his dog knocked me down" or "his dog growled at me", etc., you need to make a formal report to your therapy dog program coordinator as well as to your contact at the facility.
Therapy dog visitation is a very rewarding activity for both the dog as well as the handler. I tell all my students that this is one way to brag about your dog and not appear conceited!!!
“What’s your attitude? Your dog can read it and will respond accordingly”
