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Posted by KDiamondDavis on January 05, 2003 at 09:41:43:

In Reply to: New at Therapy Dogs posted by Lavender on January 03, 2003 at 20:10:04:

:Rocke and I are just starting out as a Therapy Dog Team. We've had two of our three field trials in a nursing home and we passed! (Rocke is a super-friendly, young, basenji-mix who really enjoys "visiting" and being with the other dogs.) I just bought Kathy Diamond Davis' book and look forward to reading it. Any advice for us?
:Lavender
:>>>>>

Congratulations on getting started in therapy dog work! The book will help you a lot, and please feel free to ask any questions here on the board and/or to email me directly with questions at KDiamondD@aol.com. I love to help other therapy dog volunteers!

Let's see, advice when you're starting out. Well, stay with a group, for a year or so if you can, before going on your own. It really gives you a good head start over trying to start on your own without a leader there. Keep up your training with your dog between visits. Keep brief notes on each visit and pay attention in those notes to what needs improvement in your dog's training and your handling, so you can be working on those things. These notes are JUST for you, so be completely honest in them. Also note things that happened on the visit, staff reactions that you particularly liked or did not like, and the same with reactions from the people you're there to visit. There will be some people who don't treat the dog properly, and you'll want to learn to steer clear of them. Never put your dog at risk on a therapy dog visit. It could ruin the dog's working ability for the future, and besides, it's just not humane.

Teach your dog to ignore the other dogs during the actual visit. If you and the other handlers want to have playtimes for the dogs before or after the visit, find an area where frolicking dogs can't cause anyone to fall! While working, the dogs need to ignore each other. There will be strange dogs around from time to time, and letting your dog poke his nose into their faces could lead to a dog fight! That can get your dog kicked out of therapy dogs, or at least kicked out of that facility. Even play between dogs just isn't safe in close proximity to people in a facility (falls are the most common workplace accident, plus the folks in health care are often especially frail). So this is an important one.

A therapy dog's training is never over. Keep working together as a team, and keep having fun!

Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com

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