Hi everyone!
I'm new to the forum & have been reading & watching everything on the Leerburg site, & have a question that hopefully someone will be able to answer: I have a 4 month old female husky/lab mix, & she is smart & has a wonderful temperment - really has the best of both breeds. Because she is so docile, even as a puppy, I would like to prepare her to become a registered therapy dog through the Delta Society when she reaches 1 year in age. I was having her play with other puppies & get used to children petting her (I live next to an elementary school), because I figured that was the best way to socialize her for entering the world of animal-assisted therapy. The problem is that in a few of Ed Frawley's articles, he talks about doing the exact opposite with my puppy - condition her to ignore other people & dogs, & not let children or strangers pet her. What exactly should I be doing here to prepare her for animal-assisted therapy work? Any advice is welcome.
Thanks!
~Tori Wheeler
Welcome to the forum! If you were raising a dog for Schutzhund, you would want him neutral to strangers and would not be letting strangers come up to your dog. Since you are interested in perhaps doing therapy work, your method of training is going to be a bit different. You are going to want a dog who is comfortable around strangers and having people approach her, so what you are doing is perfect for your plans.
It would also be good to expose her to different places and items such as shopping carts, wheel chairs, baby strollers, etc...
There are several folks on the forum who either currently have a therapy dog or are working toward that, and I know they will chime in to give you more input.
BTW, If you haven't read any of the info on marker training, I highly recommend it. It is a great way to train your pup!
Hi! I totally agree with Barbara...our dog is being trained as a personal protection dog and possibly a police k-9, so we follow the advice of not letting strangers approach him. We had a sheltie though who I wanted to do therapy work with and it was the exact opposite..we wanted everyone to pet and interact with him from a young age so he would be well socialized and easily approachable. Good luck!
My current GSd Drift was recently certified through Therapy Dogs International and works with me in a mental health facility for children and adolescents.
When Drift was a pup, I didn't really plan on her being a therapy dog. She was exposed to anything and everything. She naturally takes everything in stride, and LOVES people. We did lots of OB training, agility, and Rally.
After earning her CGC, I took her through a Therapy Dog class that helped to expose her to things that I don't have access to, such as wheelchairs, people on crutches, people shuffling their feet, loud noise distractions, etc. She was taught the proper way to approach a person in a wheelchair. The class was invaluable to me.
You can read a little about the things that Drift has done in threads called "Drift Therapy".
If you have any specific questions, I will try to help
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Animal-Assisted Therapy
#305317 - 12/02/2010 05:04 AM 
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