For those interested in making your labradoodle or goldendoodle a Therapy Dog!

[Adina P]

There are three big national organizations:

Delta Society
Therapy Dogs International
Therapy Dogs Incorporated

Rosco and I are registered with Delta Society (certification is not applicable because Delta doesn't train the dogs only registers them based on passing an evaluation).

I believe most if not all of the above offer liability insurance as part of membership--which is nice in case anything bad ever happens (unlikely but ya never konw). And most, if not all, offer training classes or workshops.

At least with Delta (maybe all?) their training classes are NOT required. However, in general the pass rate is lower for those who have not been through classes. And yet both Rosco and I and three other local teams passed in the last year without having taken classes...so it is TOTALLY doable if you train your labradoodle or goldendoodle well and he/she is basically polite and non-aggressive =) The main thing here was that classes were 3 hours away...and while we still had to drive that distance to take the test..no way was I driving that far weekly!

I'm attaching the Delta two-part evaluation for your perusal below. None of it is terribly hard. For us the hard part that we had to train for and practice LOTS for the weeks leading up to our test was the greeting another person with a dog. And the "leave it" which I thought we'd do fine with ... was our sticking point on the test. I was prepared for them to bring out a stuffed animal or large car or something.

They brought out a 6 inch plastic horse. Rosco lost his self-control entirely...I'm POSITIVE he thought it was a real animal of some sort (skinny squirrel?). We managed, but just barely. Thankfully we're not faced with 6 inch horses "on the job" too often--LOL

[Richard Crowe]

Congratulations, Adina, on sharing your Rosco with less fortunate people. What miraculous dogs these animal are!

Whenever I am walking with Holly, people look at her and smile. Even the folks who don't stop and talk to us smile. That is the wondrous thing about these great dogs, the ability to make people's hearts happy.

Previous to Holly, I had a gorgeous German Shepherd-Golden Retriever-Wolf mix who was gentle as a lamb. She drew a lot of attention from people also but, many people were frightened of her wolf-like looks. I could see owners of small dogs worry when they saw my big-dog coming towards them and mother's would bring their children close to them. It is not like that with Holly, people are just about unanimous in their smiles.

I also want to share my Holly Doodle's ability to make people smile with people who have not a lot to smile about.

I have enrolled Holly in the San Diego Paws'itive Teams Therapy Dog Boot Camp which begins on January 20, 2009. This is a very popular class in the San Diego area. I reserved the space in the class in March 2008, when Holly was just about two and a half months old, and the January 2009 class was the earliest that had an opening. If I had waited until now, April 2009 would be the earliest opening.

http://www.pawsteams.org/class_details.php

Perhaps the January 2009 class is best because Holly will be a year old at that time and will have matured a bit more. Hopefully, Holly will have her Canine Good Citizen certification before we start the Therapy Dog Boot Camp.

[Richard Crowe]

Actually, due to a knee replacement (mine, not Holly's), I had to postpone Holly's Boot Camp debut to September 2009. However, this is propably a good idea. Holly has always been an well behaved young dog, but she is maturing even more lately.

[Susan, Zeke. Lily & Jasper]

Thanks Adina for sharing this information! Zeke is only 6 months but we are working on obedience now with the goal in mind of therapy and canine good citizen. It sounds like Rosco is doing a great job sharing the love these wonderful dogs have to offer. Keep up the good work!

[Eva]

Dear Adina,
I'm cracking up over your plastic horse that Rosco went bonkers over..... he sounds like a big hoot. Yeah, other warnings for strange objects during testing sessions......books being dropped, chairs knocked over, running kids, squeaking dog toys. Mali passed all of those, BUT in real life the real kicker was the cut out tennis balls on the bottom of people's walker's! She thought she should play with those. The leave it command came in very handy!

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

Adina, congrats to you and Roscoe!! And thanks for posting the Delta Evaluation info. Connor starts advanced obedience 1/25 with hopes of getting his CGC and being prepared for his Delta Certification. I had to laugh when I read about the plastic horse....to pass our intermediate obedience Connor had to get past many distractions, too. For the final test, our instructor brought in a 6-7 inch remote control rat with glowing red eyes. I was really concerned Connor would go for the rat...luckily he did come to me without stopping to investigate. Yikes!!

Again, thanks for the files.

[Jeanne]

Thanks for this information. Last year when Tika was about 1 1/2 I wanted to start therapy dog training but had a very hard time finding out about it in our area (I looked on line). Someone told me it was expensive: like two thousand dollars.....
We live in southern New Hampshire. Does any one know of a place near here?

I can see from your posters that Tika already does most or all of the commands. She has come in to our school where I work several times and loves it, but she does get excited. Often it helps on a sidewalk or in a crowded excitable place if she wears a gentle leader. When we walk in the woods she is off leash. I think she may really enjoy the work and the socializing of going in to places to meet folks.

The kids in the juvenile center are lucky to have visits from a nice dog. I bet it does them a world of good.

Jeanne

[Adina P]

Jeanne,
Thousands of dollars!? Whoever told you that must have been thinking of service dog training.

To find a place near you, I would check each of those web sites I've listed in the discussion that you responded to and see both where their training facility and their testing facilities are in your state.

If each of them have an option for you then read about each organization and pick the one that you think is best for you :-)

Good luck!

[Marianne *OZZY & ZOEY]

Hi Adina, that is great that Rosco is going to be a thearpy dog..Ozzy is in classes now to also be able to do this, the dog I had before was also a therapy dog..."Bright and Beautiful" is another organization that sponsers this type of work in my area..they do insure your dog....(never know in this sue happy world) what someone might say your dog did to them even if they didn't. It is great to part of a program, just incase something happens, for the good work you do, someone may try and accuse you of something...the organizations give you protection for that....Good luck and YEAH!!!!!Rosco

[Adina P]

Rosco has been a working therapy dog for over a year now... =) It's lots of fun!