What Is a Therapy Dog?
Therapy dogs are specially trained and certified to offer a range of health and emotional benefits. They collaborate with their handlers, often professionals, in educational, healthcare, and community settings (2).
Therapy Dogs are carefully screened for their temperament, which is crucial to successful training and visits to various settings. These friendly, easy-going canines often visit hospitals, schools, hospices, nursing homes and other facilities where they are encouraged to interact with a range of people while on duty – including petting them (therapy dogs don’t need to be crated).
No breed is ideal for therapy dogs; however, most organizations that utilize therapy dogs require that your pup be at least one year old and possess a current vaccination history.
To guarantee the animal is healthy enough to work as a therapy dog, several veterinary and behavioral tests are conducted. These include a full physical examination, rabies vaccination, and negative faecal parasite testing.
Handlers and their dogs receive extensive training to prepare them for the therapeutic role. To become certified, they must possess both practical experience working with a therapy dog as well as certification from an organization.
Therapy dogs may help decrease pain, increase mobility, accelerate post-surgery healing, comfort autistic children and promote social interaction among seniors. They may also provide comfort with anxiety or depression.
