What is a Therapy Dog?

A therapy dog is a pet who together with their owner took classes for basic obedience. A therapy dog is a dog that can do a basic sit stay and down stay. He can do a recall on a 20 ft leash and come directly to me. For me his name is Jake. We started our training when he was 4 months old. He learned how to walk nicely on a loose leash. He has respect at doorways. He can be in a room with other people and other dogs and still know what is expected of him. When I give him the leave it command, he will leave food on the floor and in someone’s hand. He’s ok with sudden noises and sounds. And when he enters a room full of people who need uplifting, he delivers. Jake has been a therapy dog for 8 years now and he’s visited people in nursing homes, libraries, schools, and hospitals. We only go where we are invited. We don’t use our certification to go into places where dogs aren’t allowed. I will continue to share Jake with others who need canine love and attention.

Above is the article that I wrote a few years ago which mostly describes what it takes to become a therapy dog. Since I wrote that article, I’ve come to realize that a therapy dog is so much more than words can explain. All dogs in their own way are therapy dogs of some sort. Who else would sit with you as you cry your eyes out over a lost loved one and not judge you at all? Who is ready at a moment’s notice to just GO FOR A WALK? Just those words alone “go for a walk” can be so healing and having your best friend with you makes it that much more healing.

So how do I make my dog a therapy dog? Like I said in the beginning all dogs are therapy dogs in their own way, but not all dogs are meant for being a therapy dog to the public. It does take a certain kind of temperament for our dogs to do therapy work. I started my dog Jake at 4 months on what I like to call “therapy dog track” meaning that’s where I’d like us to end up but knowing that when we get there it might not be right for me or my dog. The test for therapy dog certification requires our dogs to have strong basic obedience skills. They do need to know how to hold a sit stay or a down stay for sometimes long periods of time if you take your dog to the library for children to read to them. They need loose leash skills to work in the corridors of hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. And yes, LEAVE IT is one of those lifesaving commands. Especially in hospitals and nursing homes. I also like to say that a therapy dog needs to learn how to exist in a room with other dogs and not want to play or be with them. You could be on a therapy visit with several other dogs.

You might ask “what do I have to do to get my dog therapy dog certified?” If you are dealing with a 4-month-old puppy like I started out with – they need to be exposed to many things like, people, places, surfaces & noises. Confidence is a big key for our therapy dogs. When we say exposed to people, that doesn’t mean that they should greet many people, just that they need to be exposed to them. Men, women, babies, kids, people with glasses, people wearing hoodies and a gamut of other things. We do want our puppies to learn how to greet people properly. You should teach them a command of “Go greet”. This should be a nice calm greeting, no jumping or over excitement. While you are doing your training your pups should greet maybe just 1 in 5 people that they are being exposed too. If they greet everyone they see, then they could become entitled, meaning they will demand to say hi to everyone. We’ve all seen those dogs, “my dog just wants to say hi and then they will calm down.” That’s not what a therapy dog does. They wait patiently until they are given the “Go Greet” command and then they go in a let someone love on them.

If you have an older dog that you think would really like to do therapy work, you now know the basic obedient skills, impulse control, loose leash walking, sitting politely for petting, can work in a room with other dogs and not want to be with them, strong leave it skills, good with loud noises (can easily recover when hearing them), long periods of time to hold a stay whether it be sitting or downing, and it doesn’t hurt for them to have a trick or two that they know. Jake loves to do the trick of putting a treat on his nose, ask him to wait, then tell him to get it. He does catch one occasionally, but he really does love trying.

We do like to say that our therapy dogs need to be somewhat ‘bomb proof’, which basically means they can be in many situations and be ok with it. There have been many tragedies that have happened that bring such sorrow to communities and one of the first things that is thought of is to bring in therapy dogs. My therapy dog continues to amaze me when we go on visits. When Jake is on a visit to help bring joy, or to heal a broken heart, it in turn helps me.

My wish for myself is that I could be as forgiven and honest as my boy Jake. I for one, will never be without my therapy dog Jake.