{"id":1632,"date":"2017-02-05T04:48:31","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T04:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aercmn.com\/?p=1632"},"modified":"2017-02-05T04:48:31","modified_gmt":"2017-02-05T04:48:31","slug":"the-right-stuff-would-your-pet-make-a-good-therapy-animal-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aercmn.com\/blog\/the-right-stuff-would-your-pet-make-a-good-therapy-animal-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"The &#8220;Right Stuff&#8221;: Would Your Pet Make a Good Therapy Animal? Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1640 alignright\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/patti_7-177x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"177\" height=\"300\" \/>If you haven\u2019t read Part I yet,\u00a0<a href=\"\/blog\/the-right-stuff-would-your-pet-make-a-good-therapy-animal-part-i\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">click here<\/a>\u00a0to learn about the nine species of animals that qualify to become therapy animals and the different terms used to describe the various jobs that animals do.<\/p>\n<p>How does a pet become a therapy animal? Here is how to get started:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step #1<\/strong><br \/>\nAnswer the following questions, keeping your animal in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Does your animal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>seek out people and enjoy their company?<\/li>\n<li>seem confident around new stimuli?<\/li>\n<li>meet new animals in a calm manner?<\/li>\n<li>respond positively to all ages, genders, ethnicities, and personality types?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you answered yes to all of the questions listed above, then your animal may have the aptitude for therapy work!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step #2<\/strong><br \/>\nAsk your animal! \u00a0A good way to tell if your animal really likes people is to try a &#8220;consent test.&#8221; \u00a0Exactly like it sounds, it may indicate whether your animal would like doing therapy work.<br \/>\nDogs that are uncomfortable visiting people may turn their head away, back up or avoid the person, lick their lips, yawn, do a &#8220;shake off&#8221; (like they just had a bath), etc. \u00a0Check out this Youtube video \u201cDoes Your Dog REALLY Want to be Petted?\u201d by Eileenanddogs for how to do a \u201cconsent\u201d test.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Does Your Dog REALLY Want to be Petted?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-cGDYI-s-cQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Note: If you have a species other than a dog, go to the Resource Library section of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.petpartners.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pet Partners<\/a>\u00a0website for a list of typical stress responses for them. Just type in your animal&#8217;s species for more information.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Step #3<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Attend a free &#8220;Introduction to Therapy Animals&#8221; presentation!<\/li>\n<li>Register at: \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.northstartherapyanimals.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.northstartherapyanimals.org<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Review the three national websites and decide which one fits best for you and your animal.\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.petpartners.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pet Partners<\/a>\u00a0(will register nine different species)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tdi-dog.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Therapy Dogs International<\/a>\u00a0(registers only dogs)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.therapydogs.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alliance of Therapy Dogs<\/a>\u00a0(registers only dogs)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Step #4<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1639 alignright\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/patti_6-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tips for dog handlers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Obedience train your dog!<\/strong>\u00a0Dogs need to instill confidence in the people they visit. \u00a0Nothing like a handler &#8220;water skiing&#8221; down the hallway trying to hold their dog back as they chase the resident nursing home cat, to make people feel a bit concerned.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Utilize positive methods for training.<\/strong>\u00a0The three national therapy dog organizations will not allow handlers to test or visit using negative training equipment on their dogs. \u00a0That might include pinch, prong, choke, shock collars, etc\u2026 \u00a0A more seamless way to train your dog is to find a training school that utilizes positive training methods throughout the levels. \u00a0There is a list of some of the positive training schools with therapy dog classes at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.northstartherapyanimals.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Star Therapy Animals<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take and pass the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test with your dog.<\/strong>\u00a0While the CGC is a general obedience test for any pet dog, many of the skills in this test are in all three of the evaluations for the national groups. \u00a0The CGC certificate is often a pre-requisite for many therapy dog classes. More information\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.akc.org\/dog-owners\/training\/canine-good-citizen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take a Therapy Dog Class.<\/strong>\u00a0As an evaluator for therapy animals, it has been my experience that people that take a Therapy Dog Class gain more knowledge about best practices and have a much higher percentage of passing one of the national tests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you think you and your pet will make the perfect therapy team, we hope you will go through these steps and choose to make a difference today!<br \/>\n<em>Written by Patti Anderson, C.P.D.T.,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pawsabilitiesmn.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paws Abilities<\/a>\u00a0Therapy Dog Trainer<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1642 alignleft\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Therapy-Dogs_PawsAbilitiesDogTraining_3b-300x122.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"122\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1643 alignleft\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/northstartherapylogo-300x82.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"82\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven\u2019t read Part I yet,\u00a0click here\u00a0to learn about the nine species of animals that qualify to become therapy animals and the different terms used to describe the various jobs that animals do. How does a pet become a therapy animal? Here is how to get started: Step #1 Answer the following questions, keeping [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The &quot;Right Stuff&quot;: Would Your Pet Make a Good Therapy Animal? Part II | Animal Emergency &amp; Referal Center of Minnesota<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aercmn.com\/blog\/the-right-stuff-would-your-pet-make-a-good-therapy-animal-part-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The &quot;Right Stuff&quot;: Would Your Pet Make a Good Therapy Animal? Part II | Animal Emergency &amp; Referal Center of Minnesota\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you haven\u2019t read Part I yet,\u00a0click here\u00a0to learn about the nine species of animals that qualify to become therapy animals and the different terms used to describe the various jobs that animals do. How does a pet become a therapy animal? 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