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

[BG and Gavin]

There is one at the end of this article. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior...

[TYoung]

Thanks SOOO much! That's exactly what I will start with...exposures of all sorts.  I take her to my daughter's ballet class most weeks where she is swarmed by little girls 7-12.  She handles it pretty well.  The moms are always amazed at how well she stays by me and how calm she is, especially for being only 4 months old.\.  I have 4 kids from 7-18, so she has been interacting with their different personalities her whole little life as well.  Excepting walks, I train her off leash exclusively...so perhaps I need to look into the "future" harness requirements and get her use to it for handling purposes. Do you have a recommendation as to how I go about choosing a company to certify and work with/through?

[Sue Robin F]

What state do you live in? Some organizations are active in one state and not another.

[TYoung]

We are in Raleigh, NC.

I don't know how to reply using my iPhone.  So, I couldn't reply until the first time I could get to a computer.  Thanks!

[Sue Robin F]

This is a Therapy organization in Raleigh, NC. I do not know much about it but they have much info on this website. It sounds good!

http://www.helpingpawsintl.org/helpnav3.html

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

My best advice would be don't be in a hurry.  Practice that walking and get the pulling under control.  I say this because he is going to be in an excited state when you test as well as when he is working much of the time.  I know that the waiting is extremely hard.  Our Sophie was a therapydog through Pet Partners and also Therapy Pets of Greater Cincinnati.  These are the two main ones in my area.  We lost Sophie two years ago to Cancer.  She was an amazing therapy dog.  She got so many cards and gifts while she was going through chemo.  I still run into people that knew her from her visits and are shocked that she is gone.  I'm currently training AnnaBelle.  I had high hopes that we would test at one year.  She just hit her 2nd birthday and she still isn't ready.  I will not push her.  It has to be when she is ready.  And then there are those dogs that will never be suited for the job.  Most of the training that you need is just simple obedience training.  You might check with your local chapters and see if you could go out on some visits with some of their better handlers just so you could get an idea of how visits work and some of the issues that are encountered on visits.  This will give you a really good feeling for when Loki is ready to test.  I learned so much when I was out and about on visits.  Some the hard way.  I didn't have any mentoring.  We worked nursing homes and hospitals.  There are just so many things that go on in these facilities that you just do not encounter in the real world.    The noises alone can be crazy.  You don't notice them when you just go in a hospital, but when you take your dog in for the first time it is like crap, this place is noisy.  Dings and Dongs and beeps and buzzers.  If you have ever been in a hospital when a "code blue" is called, you know that people come out of the woodwork flying down the hallways pushing noisy carts.  You have to be able to keep your dog under control as well as not let them be frightened by all the commotion.  Things you can do to practice are work with him around wheel chairs, people on crutches & walkers, older people with shaking hands.  This was a biggie in nursing homes.  They want to pet, but their hands are so shakey.  Train with him on purses or bags that have food in them so he knows these aren't his.  Train on kids stuffed animals (they look just like his toys).  Helium balloons.   The "leave it" command is a must at 100%.  There are pills on the floor there is food on the floor.  You don't know but what there may have been a pill in that food.  They must leave it.  He must gently take treats from even the shakiest of hands.  I could go on and on.  I don't say any of this to discourage you, I just say it so hopefully you will be more prepared for when you guys pass and are ready to start.  I will leave you with this thought.  I'm not sure about all Organizations but with Pet Partners you can get different scores.  Complex, non-complex, a chance to test again, or a not-suitable.  We all want the Complex rating which means you can go anywhere.  Non-complex means you can only go in certain environments.  Not-suitable, well, that means you can't test again, that you dog is just not cut out for therapy work.  With Pet-Partners they are also watching you very closely and how you interact with your dog, how you show your dog you are in charge and you will keep them safe and if your dog seems to know that.    Good luck.  If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.  Hopefully we will both be out there spreading the love real soon.

[BG and Gavin]

Great response Sheri. We did not do the test until Gavin was 2.5. He was just not ready. Also when we did test he was crazy excited on entry due to all the other dogs there (read playmates). I thought that was the end of us, but I got him settled and later the evaluator commented that yes he was excited, but it was how he responded quickly and effectively when I put him under control.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Thank you for that! I've been feeling a little pressured because I thought that 1year was the prefered time to test but this is a huge relief to hear! He's actually done much better with the pulling when he has a harness on even when he's excited- not perfect but getting there. He still gets so excited when kids are around so I've been trying to bring him around kids more. Hope fully that works. Thanks again!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Our local Pet Partners evaluator also let me come and watch testing, and bring the girls, before we went to take our test so that I would have some idea of the process.  We just had to sit back in a corner and the girls had to be quiet.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Oh that's awesome! I will have to look into that!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I agree with Sheri.  It takes time to develop a dog's natural abilities and his attitude but the journey can be as rewarding as the destination, so take your time to train and nurture Loki.  

My large medium ALD and I have been a Bright and Beautiful therapy team for almost 2 years.  It's great to share your dog.

We took a course to prepare for the Canine Good Citizen Test which Finn passed on his first birthday. The B & B test was similar but with more distractions. Although it would have been nice to test right after the CGC and I think Finn would have passed, he really wasn't settled enough for therapy work until he was three. In the meantime, there was plenty to do.  In addition to training, it's important that you introduce your dog to lots of new situations and that he stand or sit quietly to greet new people no matter what's going on around him/her.  I took Finn to parks, festivals, around town, to nursing homes, etc. -- even a ferry boat ride with ship engines and clanging bells. Sometimes we would just sit in the outdoor areas and watch the walkers, carts and wheelchairs go by. Finn got petted by hundreds of hands lol.  You probably already know how many admirers your doodle has when you go walking.  People would ask if they could pet him and I would tell them he was in training but they could help me by waiting until he sat down and then say hello.  Children can be noisy and scary so I would carry small pieces of cheese with me ( a high value treat) and when they asked to pet him, I'd say yes if you'll wait until he sits and after you pet him, hold your hand out flat and give him this treat.  I carried lots of hand wipes too lol.  Finn is not your typical therapy dog.  He doesn't come in, lay down, and nod off.  He wants to participate. and can still get a bit exuberant when he sees his "special needs" kids in his weekly reading group. But he's extraordinarily intuitive.  He will give kisses, lay paws in laps, and crawl on his belly around the group.  If someone has a melt down, he gets calmer and sits quietly until it's over.   Children with uncontrolled movements don't faze him, even if they bop him on the head trying to pet him.  These are things you cannot train into a dog but you can nurture them.  We just started as a therapy team at the hospital and there, he's like a fish in water, probably because going from person to person is natural for him and he pays no attention to all the crazy equipment -- but that's only because he's experienced so much.   You wouldn't know that as a pup, he was stone cold terrified of the vacuum cleaner.  Our mentor at the hospital is involved with Pet Partners and she wrote me the nicest note after our first visit about the bond Finn and I have, and how he aced every challenge.  Best advice is find the therapy group that's most active in your area -- or if there is a certain place you want to go, find out what groups they accept.  Our trainer was experienced in working with potential therapy dogs and everyone here has been so encouraging along the way with our small successes and setbacks.  Keep us posted.      

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I think that the biggest difference (or at least with my testers) between the CGC test and the Pet Partners test is that they are watching you and your actions and interactions with your dog a whole lot more in the Pet Partners test.  AnnaBelle has passed her CGC, but it would be a complete fluke if she passed the Therapy test now.  That being said I know a whole bunch of people who have passed that in my opinion have no business doing therapy work.  There isn't a lot of oversight of some of the programs.