Friday Fun Fact: Therapy Dogs vs. Service Dogs In recent months we have received a few calls from people inquiring about training for service dogs. One person did have a service dog but the rest actually wanted training for therapy dogs. So what is the difference? According to federal law, service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks for a person who has a “physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability’. Service dogs are allowed any place their person goes. Seeing Eye dogs were just the beginning. Service dogs are also able to smell spikes in blood sugar to alert a diabetic, sense the onset of seizures to help an epileptic, calm a child with autism, warn a bipolar person that their body chemistry is going awry or help a person with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s keep their balance and stay calm. They are also being trained to help people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Service dogs are trained for use by a particular person or family. By contrast, therapy dogs work with their handler as a Pet Partner Team. The Team’s goal is to provide comfort and healing to others. Therapy dogs may visit nursing homes or hospitals to cheer and encourage people or they may go to schools or libraries to work with children as part of Reading with Rover or other similar programs. They might also visit colleges during exam weeks to help the students de-stress. While Best Paw Forward does not provide the specialized training necessary for preparing a service dog to help a particular person, we do provide Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog classes to prepare therapy dogs and their guardians for the Pet Partners Skills and Aptitude Tests. If you think your dog has the temperament necessary to be a good therapy dog and you might be interested in being a Pet Partner Team, check out a list of upcoming CGC/Therapy Dog classes at our website bestpawforward.net. Basic Manners is a prerequisite for this class and Level 2 is highly recommended. Please note that dogs must be at least one year of age by the testing date to qualify to be evaluated. Further information on becoming a Pet Partner Team including the requirements and fees charged directly by Pet Partners is available at petpartners.org. The picture on the left is a service dog helping his boy with his book. The picture on the right shows a therapy dog listening to a boy read.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:55:00 +0000
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