Training Tips: Therapy Dogs 

Unfortunately, not everyone can have a pet.  However, therapy dogs can go visit those people who cannot have a pet and bring them the same joy that you experience every day!  Therapy dogs visit places like nursing homes, hospitals, and adult day centers.  This article will go into further detail about what a therapy dog is and how you can train your dog to become one.

Most importantly, a therapy dog is a dog who provides comfort and affection to people.  The good thing about therapy dogs is that they can help people who must deal with physical and emotional issues.  Keep in mind that therapy dogs are not the same as service dogs.  A service dog will provide a specific service for a person with special needs. A therapy dog will require a certification from a national organization and must pass the Canine Good Citizen test.

There are many steps to training your dog to become a therapy dog.  The earlier you start to socialize your dog, the better the therapy dog will be.  Most of the time, this training will occur at a young age.  It is important for your dog to fully understand the basic commands such as:

– Leave it
– Sit and stay
– Come
– Loose-leash walking
– No jumping

Clicker training may also be beneficial when you are training your dog to be a therapy dog.  A clicker is used to give positive reinforcement when training your dog to follow simple commands.  Clicker training aligns well with athletic training and leash training too.  These areas will make for a better training dog as well!

Training dogs are wonderful.  They help brighten the day of all people that they encounter.  It is a good feeling to know that you can spread happiness through a therapy dog because it makes so much of a difference in people’s lives!  The process of training your dog to be a therapy dog may be tedious, but all of the efforts along the way will be worth it in the end.