Therapy dogs are calm, well-mannered dogs who volunteer with their handlers in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, reading programs, dog education events, and many other areas. This class covers basic elements of therapy dog work such as manners, calmness in unusual situations, and visiting etiquette. Dogs and handlers will learn behaviors associated with a good therapy dogs, obedience and handling skills need for visits, visiting protocol, and techniques for effective interaction between visiting teams and patients. Dogs will be introduced to medical devices including walkers, wheelchairs, canes & crutches. This class is not designed nor required to certify dogs but rather to give both handler and dog the tools to become effective therapy teams and to be better prepared for tests conducted by various programs.

Prerequisites Skills:
Dogs must:

Be unfailingly friendly with other dogs and people.
Consistently desire interaction with people
Understand basic obedience commands on a leash such as : Maintaining a reliable sit and down stay on leash with other dogs, coming when called on a 20 foot line, walking on a loose leash, have a dog license, be clean, well groomed, and be up to dates on vaccinations