Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a therapy dog?
A therapy dog is a specially trained animal that is used to comfort and relax people of all ages. Therapy dogs can be used in a variety of situations and can be beneficial to those with disabilities.
2. What does a therapy dog do exactly?
Therapy dogs don't "do" a specific action or task. A therapy dog is simply there for someone who needs comfort or calming. Therapy dogs can help calm child who is nervous about reading, an elderly person in a retirement home who needs company, or a grieving spouse who needs comfort. Therapy dogs are trained to be patient, quiet and calm. These qualities are transferred to the person they are working with and allow for a decrease in stress levels.
3. Did you have to go through training?
Yes. All therapy dogs must go through training to be ready to perform visits. There are a few different types of trainings as well as different organizations handlers can choose from to register their dog(s) with. However, the basic outline of training begins with obedience training from a young age. The dog must then complete an evaluation through the therapy animal organization of their handler's choice. The dog is put through a rigorous obedience test which involves the use of other, unfamiliar animals and people. Dogs are tested for their patience, calm behavior, quietness, politeness and attention to their handler. Once the dog has been evaluated and passed, the handler must also complete training to prove that they are ready to take the dog on visits. Handler training is equally important for successful therapy teams because the handler's main duty is to ensure that their therapy dog has a good visit. This means the handler must be able to read their dog's physical cues and understand how their dog is fitting into the environment they are visiting. The handler must know what the dog needs in order to ensure that the therapy dog is able to help others.
4. Can any dog be a therapy dog?
Dogs that are considered appropriate for therapy need to have good obedience skills and the right temperament. A dog must be naturally friendly to strangers and other animals. The dog must be okay with people of all ages, infants to elderly, and be able to adapt to new environments. If a dog is afraid of loud noises and crowds, for example, they would not be ideal for therapy because they would be uncomfortable in almost any visiting environment which would cause the dog to be tense and not provide quality services. Dogs must also be quiet and gentle. The dog's natural temperament is very important as it will not change with training and, therefore, needs to be "therapy ready" before any training is completed.
5. How did you choose your dog's breed?
Our team was not chosen based on breed. However, there are certain breeds that are naturally better for therapy than others. Labradors, Poodles, Golden Retrievers, and Golden-doodles are popular breeds. However, Red Bones, as we discovered, are also a very good breed for therapy! Sometimes the breed a handler chooses will coordinate with the type of visits they are interested in doing. For example, our dog, Peach, was chosen for use in retirement homes because of her small size. She is able to sit on someone's lap if they are restricted to a bed or wheelchair which might prevent them from interacting with the larger dogs. Peach is also suitable for use with people who have a fear of large dogs. Our larger breeds are popular for use in schools with small children, as they are more playful and do not mind being petted by lots of people at once. The larger breeds are also more suitable for people who have motor skill deficiencies, as their is more area on the dog's that can be petted or brushed. Our preference at BRD is to choose for temperament and trainability over specific breed type. Since we like to use shelter pets, the likelihood is high that our dogs are more than one breed which we think gives them an advantage to have the preferred traits of more than one type of dog.
6. What about allergies?
This is one of the most common questions we are asked when being considered for a new visiting site. Allergies have not been a barrier to us yet. Some therapy handlers will prefer to use hypoallergenic breeds, like Golden-doodles, to eliminate the chance of aggravating someone's allergies. We do not currently have a dog that is considered hypoallergenic. However, we typically ask about allergies before we begin visiting and will take this into consideration before performing a visit. In the past, we have visited facilities where people with allergies are present. Most often, as long as the person with allergies is able to either take medication before the visit or does not physically touch the dog they are okay. If a person is extremely allergic, we will look into completing a visit in an area that would not affect that person's typical day. For example, we would visit outside on a patio instead of inside in a community room or we would visit one room specifically instead of walking through an entire facility. We believe that whether or not a team has a hypoallergenic team should not hinder you from choosing them for a visit as their are ways to accommodate this need and still have a successful therapy visit.
A therapy dog is a specially trained animal that is used to comfort and relax people of all ages. Therapy dogs can be used in a variety of situations and can be beneficial to those with disabilities.
2. What does a therapy dog do exactly?
Therapy dogs don't "do" a specific action or task. A therapy dog is simply there for someone who needs comfort or calming. Therapy dogs can help calm child who is nervous about reading, an elderly person in a retirement home who needs company, or a grieving spouse who needs comfort. Therapy dogs are trained to be patient, quiet and calm. These qualities are transferred to the person they are working with and allow for a decrease in stress levels.
3. Did you have to go through training?
Yes. All therapy dogs must go through training to be ready to perform visits. There are a few different types of trainings as well as different organizations handlers can choose from to register their dog(s) with. However, the basic outline of training begins with obedience training from a young age. The dog must then complete an evaluation through the therapy animal organization of their handler's choice. The dog is put through a rigorous obedience test which involves the use of other, unfamiliar animals and people. Dogs are tested for their patience, calm behavior, quietness, politeness and attention to their handler. Once the dog has been evaluated and passed, the handler must also complete training to prove that they are ready to take the dog on visits. Handler training is equally important for successful therapy teams because the handler's main duty is to ensure that their therapy dog has a good visit. This means the handler must be able to read their dog's physical cues and understand how their dog is fitting into the environment they are visiting. The handler must know what the dog needs in order to ensure that the therapy dog is able to help others.
4. Can any dog be a therapy dog?
Dogs that are considered appropriate for therapy need to have good obedience skills and the right temperament. A dog must be naturally friendly to strangers and other animals. The dog must be okay with people of all ages, infants to elderly, and be able to adapt to new environments. If a dog is afraid of loud noises and crowds, for example, they would not be ideal for therapy because they would be uncomfortable in almost any visiting environment which would cause the dog to be tense and not provide quality services. Dogs must also be quiet and gentle. The dog's natural temperament is very important as it will not change with training and, therefore, needs to be "therapy ready" before any training is completed.
5. How did you choose your dog's breed?
Our team was not chosen based on breed. However, there are certain breeds that are naturally better for therapy than others. Labradors, Poodles, Golden Retrievers, and Golden-doodles are popular breeds. However, Red Bones, as we discovered, are also a very good breed for therapy! Sometimes the breed a handler chooses will coordinate with the type of visits they are interested in doing. For example, our dog, Peach, was chosen for use in retirement homes because of her small size. She is able to sit on someone's lap if they are restricted to a bed or wheelchair which might prevent them from interacting with the larger dogs. Peach is also suitable for use with people who have a fear of large dogs. Our larger breeds are popular for use in schools with small children, as they are more playful and do not mind being petted by lots of people at once. The larger breeds are also more suitable for people who have motor skill deficiencies, as their is more area on the dog's that can be petted or brushed. Our preference at BRD is to choose for temperament and trainability over specific breed type. Since we like to use shelter pets, the likelihood is high that our dogs are more than one breed which we think gives them an advantage to have the preferred traits of more than one type of dog.
6. What about allergies?
This is one of the most common questions we are asked when being considered for a new visiting site. Allergies have not been a barrier to us yet. Some therapy handlers will prefer to use hypoallergenic breeds, like Golden-doodles, to eliminate the chance of aggravating someone's allergies. We do not currently have a dog that is considered hypoallergenic. However, we typically ask about allergies before we begin visiting and will take this into consideration before performing a visit. In the past, we have visited facilities where people with allergies are present. Most often, as long as the person with allergies is able to either take medication before the visit or does not physically touch the dog they are okay. If a person is extremely allergic, we will look into completing a visit in an area that would not affect that person's typical day. For example, we would visit outside on a patio instead of inside in a community room or we would visit one room specifically instead of walking through an entire facility. We believe that whether or not a team has a hypoallergenic team should not hinder you from choosing them for a visit as their are ways to accommodate this need and still have a successful therapy visit.