Advice/tips for a newbie?

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Hi guys!

My doodle (Loki) is almost a year old and I would love nothing more than to get home started with a therapy dog program. Since we are coming up on his birthday I figured I should seriously start looking into evaluating him and getting him going. I have called some evaluators in my area and have chatted with them and he seems to be "up to par" with the exception of occasionally tugging on the leash- which we are working on.
All that being said, do you guys have any tips to pass on? Any good recommendations for which organization to go with? (Not sure if that allowed on here, so sorry if it's not!) there are a couple of doodles that play with Loki at the dog park that are therapy dogs and their handlers have nothing but great things to say about the experiences.

Thanks guys, have a great night!

Jess and Loki

[Michel A Overton]

Hi Jessica! I am going to follow this thread closely as we are hoping to be able to use Plexy as a therapy dog as well. She is 9 months and we are working on her training very dilligently to make sure she is "responsible citizen" ;-)  Can't wait to read what people respond with...

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I'm excited to hear too! My friend's dogs and pretty wild and crazy so Loki looks like a saint next to them. But when I compare him to older dogs or extremely well trained therapy dogs I start to have my doubts. Part I'm sure is that he's still a puppy and the other part is that it's new and unknown to me so I'm not sure what to expect!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Same here! That was one of the goal I set for Loki early on and it seems like the year I had "until he could be tested" flew by! And thank you! Wrigley is so adorable I'm sure he will be great too!

[Michel A Overton]

Plexy is VERY rambunctious at times! We get lots of compliments on her behavior most of the time. Right now we are working on the jumping up when she's excited, the puppy nibbles (mouthing) and her stay.

She's doing well  - it's so time consuming being consistent with her! 

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

That's good that you get compliments though! It's always reassuring to hear other people's comments or at least I think so :) For 9 months she sounds like she's doing great!

[Debbi & Harley]

We worked with Therapy Dogs International. (http://tdi-dog.org/) I knew where I wanted to go so that helped, but they are great at connecting organization, individuals etc... I don't have any experience with other agencies.  Happy to chat more if you are interested PM me at [e-mail].  

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Messaged you! :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My mini ALD is a TDI Therapy Dog.  I chose that organization mainly because there was an evaluator in our area as well as opportunities for him to work in an Alzheimer's Facility which was personally important to me.  He went through a Therapy Training Program after completing his Basic and Intermediate Obedience Training programs.  He was young, so impulse control was something we really had to work on.  Ultimately he "got it" and passed the evaluation.  He went on to work for a couple years in an Alzheimer's Facility.  Then life took over and I got really busy with other things, so we stopped doing our weekly visits.  Someday I'll get back to it, since these were really special times for us and the clients.  It really is incredible rewarding and a wonderful bonding experience.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Did you do the therapy training program through TDI? I'm having trouble finding therapy dog training classes, I guess in my state (maybe all) it's not required to have specific classes, or this is what I have heard at least. I would love to enroll him in one if there is a good one out there!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Sorry that I missed this question.  The training program I did was not "officially" through TDI, but the trainer who ran the class was very familiar with their expectations and even had relationships with some of the TDI "sites" so we could use them for practice.  The trainer actually locally advertised a Therapy Dog Training class. 

[Michele & Kallie]

I took a class through a local trainer who then had TDI Therapy Dog Incorporated, evaluators come and test the dogs in the class that were ready.TDI isn't really a training group, but the testers certify the dog has passed the therapy dog test., and then you have to go on a few therapy visits with others already approved. After that then you send in the info to them for official membership. The test includes much of advanced obedience, but the parts many dogs have problems with are being left alone with a stranger for 3 minutes happily, Sit stay, owner walk away 20' and come close then leave again with dog staying all the time (test is on a long leash), and walking past another dog unaffected when owner greets the other  human. Loud trash can lids are dropped, wheel chair and coughing person, My class was fun, we went to shopping malls and rode elevators, went around lots of people and dogs. My area requires a Canine Good Citizen certification now before the Therapy Dog test, so that may be a place to start. You should definitely look into it, few of the dogs are perfectly trained, but they all bring lots of smiles to those visited.

[Debbi & Harley]

we didn't do any specific therapy training classes. I had the list of what we needed to do for the test and I worked with him from that.  I don't know about a state requirement for classes NY definitely doesn't have that.