I'm new to the forum, so hello and thanks in advance to any help or advice.

I picked up my German Shepherd (male) pup and 7 1/2 weeks old. I was looking for more of a family dog, than a working line for (home peace) lol anyway, I had pick of the litter and chose a very calm, great disposition puppy. He is going to be 10 weeks old tomorrow. He trains really well, and is still well behaved. He is house trained (with the obvious duh of keeping my end up) and sits, downs, knows come and touch and watch me. He is so calm though, nothing like my last working line dog. Course I keep reminding myself that is what I wanted lol but it's hard to get used to a pup that is just not so high drive. He seems so friendly I was thinking of doing therapy work with him. Volunteering my time at Children’s Hospital and Hospus and I started to look into and I was informed I would have to take him to a puppy class at Petsmart. This upset me, because he is so little, and so well behaved and right in the middle of my training and from the video's I've watched from Leerburg I was under the impression puppy classes were BAD for the dog... I've never done anything other than Schutzhund with dogs before, so this is all new to me. Does anyone have any advice on what to do in regards to creating a therby dog? It's just something for me and the dog to do, (a feel good activity all the way around) but I have to be prove he has good behavior with certificate, anyone have any better ideas or am I stuck with petsmart?

Thanks for any help...

Since he is only a very young pup there are a lot of things you can do which will work toward him eventually becoming a therapy dog without attending a puppy class. I recommend continuing to bond with your pup, and train him yourself! If you haven't read about marker training yet, that is well worth looking into. Once he is a bit older and you need to introduce distractions to proof his training, then the classes would be beneficial and you would still get the certificate.

Take him to parks and let him climb all over the playground equipment, expose him to lots of different places, sights and sounds. Just lots of fun things to build his confidence. Have fun with the little guy - you have plenty of time to work toward your goal.

Who said you had to do Petsmart puppy classes? the hospital? Where I live, the hospital requires a certification from Therapy Dogs Intl or Delta, but they don't dictate any specific classes you have to take. They also do not take dogs that are less than 1 1/2 yrs old at the minimum, so there is a lot of time to train. I'm using the Canine Good Citizen book for a guideline in how to train since the therapy dog certifications are based a lot on that. They have the book in the Leerburg catalog.

Hi,

Lori and Barbara are both right! You'll need a TDI or Delta certification, down the line. Where and how you train will be irrelevant to getting either of those certifications.

Some of the things you'll encounter in the tests include someone in a wheelchair, on crutches or with a cane, crashing bedpans, etc. So, the thing to do now and for a long while is to socialize your pup to everything you can imagine.

If you google Therapy Dogs International and/or Delta Society, their websites will give you a ton of information.

(I would definitely be skeptical about the advice you got when calling your local hospital. Just because someone gave you an answer doesn't mean s/he knows what s/he's talking about. )

leih

I look at "puppy kindergarten" classes as just one more way to socialize the pup. It gives me another opportunity every week to put the pup in the car, go some place, meet new people and their puppies in a controlled environment, and then do something else while we're out in the world--the car wash, train station or WalMart parking lot. Whether or not you or the pup learn anything in the class is a bonus.

Sounds like your pup already knows most of the "skills" they'll teach. But that's okay. Your pup will get to meet people that don't live in your house, and practice behaving in the car on the way there. I think in a town the size of Buffalo you can probably find something better than PetSmart as a venue. But even if you can't, going to PetSmart once a week will bring with it lots of good socializing opportunities. As long as you're in control and everything is positive, I don't think any socializing is bad for a pup. I would think that's especially true for a future therapy dog.

Thanks to everyone who answered... I will look into all the info I received and I feel a lot better. If I can get the certificate later on that would be great. I'm already using Marker Training from the Leerburg video collection I own. I've trained a Schutzhund dog once, but that was over 10 years ago. So, I'm already socializing the little guy, parks (play grounds), parking lots, trains, dropping things and such... (I’m just skipping the puppy bite work videos) Looks like I can continue my training the way I was headed and get a certificate later down the line... I'm not in a huge hurry, as most important is bonding with my pup and the Therapy work would be a bonus, not just for us but those we visit. (Well, he’s only 9 Wks, so obviously I’ll have to wait to see how he turns out lol), but doesn’t hurt to have a goal to work towards and it gives us something to do together. I wonder if I could still get his B.

Thanks again for all the advice... I have lots to look up now...

Hi!

Also, look into any local dog training clubs. They usually offer a wide variety of classes. While we are working with a trainer 1:1, we continue to go 1x/week to class at the club. It's an easy way to work on training with distractions--and most of the focus of the Adv Obedience class we're in is training the elements of the CGC test. Just a thought.

I greatly respect Ed and have some of his videos. That said, I don't think its a bad thing to take a pup to a class, so long as you understand what you / your pup can get out of it. As Ed says, its not a productive place to learn skills and commands as pup will be so distracted by all the other pups and the new scenery. But if you want a therapy dog, there can be value in the socialization. So if you go, just have fun with your pup, the other pups and the other owners! The only danger I see is in terms of communicable disease. Not sure where you stand on the vaccine issue, but that would be something to think about.

I got on the sites listed regarding therapy dogs. (thanks) I agree puppy classes would probably be good for this type of work as the tests require the dog get along with not only other dogs but cats. Though, this is something I would love to do, the site also said a Therapy dog is not created it's born so only time will tell if my pup can measure up. He is ten weeks and two days old now, and he is still really mouthy. I'm torn on what to do about this behavior. I wonder if it will just go away, or if I should correct him. He is really, really calm, relaxed and not high drive, yet very mouthy at times and oh-so stubborn... Which seems contradicting I know, but true. Anyone have ideas on mouthy-ness? Should I correct him? I'm not sure if therapy work is a hugh-reach, it just sounded a something very rewarding.

Thanks again...

Isn't mouthiness part of a ten-week-old's nature?

I'm not a puppy expert at all; I'm just going by what I've read.

"Stubborn" ? How?