What Is Involved With Therapy Dog Training?
Many people are familiar with seeing-eye dogs or assistance dogs, those that directly help persons with disabilities. Seeing-eye dogs are assigned to those that are blind whereas assistance dogs may help those that are deaf, in wheelchairs, or who have any number of other disabilities. Beyond a seeing-eye or assistance dog, healthcare professionals are now appreciating the assistance of therapy dog training, which is something different than assistance dogs. Therapy dogs do not necessarily provide any specific help the way seeing-eye dogs or assistance dogs do, but rather are meant to provide comfort and companionship to those in wheelchairs, assisted living facilities, hospice care, and so on. Therapy dog training doesn’t include the training of dogs to guide their owner through traffic and crowds or to respond to doorbells and other sounds the way it would be for assistance dogs. However, therapy dogs are not just any old dog and there is some specialized classes needed for therapy d
