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Posted by KDiamondDavis on March 07, 2003 at 12:00:47:
In Reply to: Re: How old is your therapy pet? posted by PHHotdog on March 07, 2003 at 09:38:44:
::Angel (Miniature American Eskimo) was about 3 years old.
::Star (Belgian Tervuren) was about 18 months old.
::Saint (Labrador/German Shepherd) was about 7 1/2 years old.
::Gabriel (Belgian Tervuren) was about 22 months old.
::Believer (Belgian Tervuren) was a year and 2 days old.
:I see most of them were young when they started...I would have thought that older dogs-after 3 let's say would be a little less active and more focused no?
:PHHotdog-Host/Trainee>>>
Training helps focus, and along with sufficient maturity training also channels activity. A dog who, along with the handler, has developed the ability to stay in a "working" mode for the duration of a therapy dog visit (limited to an hour at first) can be a highly active dog at other times. One reason therapy dog work can have so many different types of dogs is that it's not a full-time job for the dog. At least, hopefully it's not, because that would place excessive stress on virtually any dog. For an hour or so, a dog can "work," even if the dog's more "normal" speed is go-go-go!
Having the dog be older is a disadvantage to the long-term volunteer, because every change in dogs is a radical change in your own routine. Every dog needs different handling support from you. Every dog has to be trained and kept in training, and of course constantly socialized as well. At the loss of every dog, you grieve, and so do the people you visit who have come to love that dog.
So I think for the most part, like any other job that dogs do, it's ideal if a therapy dog can have a fairly long working life. Saint, my dog who started at 7 1/2, was a big, strong, hyperactive young dog, and that power carried him past the normal working time. He retired from therapy dog visits at age 13 1/2.
Angel was with me for 18 months before she started. As my first therapy dog, she had to be VERY ready before I ventured out with her. She was working on the Open level of obedience when we started, and we worked in Utility before I retired from doing things with dogs for titles, in favor of therapy dog work.
Star was 7 months old when I got her, and was such a mild dog that she easily slid into the work at age 18 months. If I got a dog like her these days, she'd probably make it at a year.
Saint came to me at 9 months, and he and I learned obedience work together, as well as tracking. With my experience these days, perhaps he could have become a therapy dog by age 2 or 3 years. He definitely would have needed more time than age one year to mature before having enough impulse control. But he became such an ace after the years of being my partner in other things. He was a marvelous walking companion, and we walked hundreds of miles together through the neighborhood over the years.
Gabriel came to me at 21 months of age, with an outstanding background of manners training, and he was a snap to train. He has such a lovely and responsive temperament that everything I put into training him came right back in great work. He was a joy from day one. He's the world's best snuggler, and he physically looks like a teddy bear. Of my big dogs, he's the only one who has never needed any kind of costume collar to soften his appearance and relieve people's fear of the big dog. He looks so cute, walks around smiling, and approaches people very gently.
Believer came at 7 months, I knew how to train a dog like her, and my schedule revolved around her daily training and lots of special outings such as 12 visits to obedience classes, because I knew what I needed to do with her. When I got her, Gabriel was 7 years old, and had been my only therapy dog for 5 years. I knew I needed her ready as soon as she could be ready, without placing undue stress on her by rushing, of course. Our sessions were relatively short, happy, but daily, 7 days a week. Her first year of visits was on a light schedule, about one a month. In her second year, Gabriel was sidelined by medical problems several times, and she was fully ready to step up and do even the most difficult of the visits I do. A therapy dog and handler should get better and better as time goes by. It seems to be a law of nature that most things are constantly changing. If we're not getting better, we're probably getting worse! That really does go for dog training. We need to always strive to continue to improve, always watch ourselves for handling errors and watch our dogs for where they need more help from us. None of us will ever know it all!
The age a dog can be gotten ready for therapy dog work varies tremendously. Some breeds mature slower than others. Some dogs mature slower than other dogs in their same breed. Some handlers have enough skill to handle an easy dog, but need more training before they will have the skill to handle a more difficult dog.
If you have a choice of dogs in your home for starting therapy dog work, start with the easiest one. It will increase the dog's chances of success, your chances of success, and will make it easier for you later on to develop the ability to do it with a more difficult dog. Some of the more difficult dogs have more power to reach people. Saint was like that. He would have made a very difficult FIRST therapy dog for any handler, though.
Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com