Therapy Dogs

Many of us know that dogs make us feel better just by having them around us, but there are situations where dogs can provide support to people for short and long-term situations.

Service Dogs are trained to provide specific and sophisticated physical and/or emotional support for just one person, whether it be as a visual guide, hearing alert or support for PTSD, and can go virtually anywhere the public are allowed. This training is undertaken by people and organizations with specific mandates and the dogs are carefully chosen by evaluators for their training.

Therapy Dogs are trained to provide emotional support, limited physical support and comfort to many people and will only have limited access to private and public places.

Several organizations provide training, evaluation, registration or certification in Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and many Toller owners have taken advantage of the opportunities offered to use the training they have already put into their dogs to give something back to their communities. Owners with therapy dogs participate in many different activities including: assistance with reading programs, physiotherapy, speech therapy, development of social skills, and reduction of anxiety and stress.

As with many initiatives there are several organizations – each with their own focus – so it’s up to interested dog owners to do their research and reach out to fellow dog owners before deciding which group to join.