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Passed our therapy dog test!

2K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  mnm 
#1 ·
We passed our Therapy Dogs International test this morning! I'm super proud of my pup. When I left him with the stranger to go fill out paperwork for supervised separation, I could hear him howling and crying... The evaluator told me when I came back in the room that she would just chalk that up to him being a GSD. :eek: It was very hectic and all the dogs were slightly off their mark compared to how they normally behave in class but I was really pleased with his level of comfort visiting people in wheelchairs and crutches. His least favorite thing was when about 15 people crowded around him and several pet him at once. He squirms and wiggles but once I tell them "he loves butt scratches" he can manage to keep it together. :D He rightly appears quite pleased with himself...
 

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#7 ·
Thank you all! The therapy stuff started when we ran out of other group classes to take at the local humane society. I really love our teacher - she runs a therapy dog program where dogs visit college students to de-stress. I'm not sure how much work in the community we will do, but I'm very proud to have a therapy German shepherd - it might change people's perceptions of GSD when they see he is a therapy dog. I get a lot of "I usually don't like GSD, but yours is nice..."
 
#8 ·
I work in a nursing home, and there's a golden that comes in to visit under a therapy dog program. It just lies on the rug and makes no effort to interact with the people.

Makes me think they NEED to expand their program to include other breeds. I don't really see the point of a therapy dog that just pretends it's part of the furniture....might as well just have a stuffed dog!
 
#17 ·
Congratulations!! All four of my adult females are registered Therapy Dogs with Alliance of Therapy Dogs (formerly Therapy Dogs Incorporated - TD Inc.)

All four have earned the THD through AKC, for 50 recorded visits. One has earned her THDA for 100 visits and we are working on the next level, THDX of 200. The other 3 are working towards the 100 visits, and my youngest will be next to earn it, as she is the closest. :-D

We have a local group and make regular visits to several Nursing Homes, a couple of the local Elementary Schools, one we visit the special needs kids, the other we have done the first graders, fourth graders and now kindergarteners, and we also visit the local jail and library.

Have fun!! It's a wonderful thing to volunteer your time to do visits. :)
 
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