If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Parts 1  through 4.  Back to our story where we just failed our therapy dog evaluation…

We ended up registering for the ASPCA’s “Go Say Hi” training, which helps prepare you and your pet for animal-assisted therapy. With the help of trainer Michele Siegel and her excellent team, Oscar sailed through the 6 week training class and we passed our Pet Partners evaluation with flying colors!

I would recommend taking the course even if you think your animal can pass the Pet Partners evaluation without it…the class emphasizes that as their owner, you need to be able to recognize when your animal is feeling stressed and reduce the stress or remove your animal from the situation. Michele did a great job of helping us to recognize subtle and not-so-subtle signs of stress with Oscar.

Finally, I would recommend the training because most people don’t have hospital equipment at their disposal to practice with. At first Oscar was terrified of most hospital equipment - walkers, wheelchairs, even crutches were scary to the little guy. The team at the ASPCA helped us make Oscar comfortable around the equipment in a controlled setting, so now when he visits the local hospital, it doesn’t phase him at all.

The ASPCA also helped match us with a facility to visit after we completed our training and they send us a newsletter that keeps us up to date with animal-assisted therapy activities and opportunities in NYC.

Finally, we had passed our Pet Partners evaluation! We were ready to start changing peoples lives! But wait, we’re not done yet? Nope, not by a long shot.

Today, when we visit people as Delta Society Pet Partners, we often get comments from patients who have dogs saying, “I’m going to be in the hospital for a while, I’d love to have my pet come visit. How can I get them in the program?” Or some people just think that the program is a great idea and want to know how they can get involved.

When we get these types of inquiries, we try to help people set realistic expectations about the time it takes to become registered with a therapy organization and start visiting. We let them know that we were pretty focused on the process and it took us almost 6 months from the time that we started seriously working towards becoming an active therapy dog team.

So, you’re wondering what’s next…well, now that we’ve completed the Pet Partners evaluation, we have to complete a 17 (or so) page registration booklet which includes a health screening by a vetrinarian (for the dog), a multiple choice test (for the owner) and several more pages of information about both the dog and owner. Then you send in your registration packet (along with a picture of you and your therapy partner and a registration fee) and a few weeks later you have your official Delta Society Pet Partners badge!!

 Tune in next time for the final chapter in our Becoming a Therapy Dog story - we’re almost there!

If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Parts 1  through 3.  Back to our story where we’re about to have our therapy dog evaluation…

NOTE: From here on out, our therapy dog tale will focus on the Delta Society Pet Partners program, which is the organization we are registered with, but from what we understand, Therapy Dogs International (TDI) is an equally terrific organization.

Shortly after Oscar’s 1st birthday, we found out that they were doing evaluations for the Delta Society’s Pet Partner’s program at the ASPCA (on 92nd St. between York and 1st Ave). I managed to secure Oscar a test slot at the last minute. We hadn’t taken an official training course, but I had read the Delta Society Manual from cover-to-cover and practiced with Oscar at home.

In addition to the skills from the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test (which translate almost exactly to Part 1 of the Pet Partners Program Team Evaluation), we would also need to demonstrate that Oscar would be able to react properly to stressful situations that he might encouter while visiting in a facility. These situations include, exuberant and clumsy petting, a restraining hug, staggering/gesturing individual, angry yelling, being bumped from behind and being crowded and petted by several people.

We hadn’t done any specific training for those situations, but I was positive that Oscar wouldn’t react aggressively to any of them. Plus he had done so well on the CGC test without any practice…

On the way to the test, we came across two little boys - I’m not very good at guessing kids ages, but I would say they were 3 and 5, maybe a little younger. The boys saw Oscar and immediately were drawn to him. The older of the two looked at us and asked in a loud squeaky voice, “IS HE FRIENDLY?”. Yes, I replied, would you like to pet him? Oscar sat like a super star and patiently endured some clumsy petting (good prep for the test).

A few seconds go by and the younger boy pipes in with his own, “IS HE FRIENDLY?”. Yes, he’s still friendly…..excellent training by the parents on how to approach an unknown dog, btw. Since we had a few minutes to spare, I had Oscar demonstrate some of his tricks. High 5 and Kiss were a huge success….then I had Oscar stand up and balance on his hind legs.

I’m so proud of Oscar, he looks like he belongs in the Big Apple Circus - his paws, stretched up in the air, reach just to the height of older boy’s chest and he takes tiny steps back and forth to keep his balance. Then all of a sudden, the older boy, overcome with delight, swoops in and gives Oscar a bear hug. I tense, preparing for Oscar to react to this aggressive hug, but he handles it like a pro…he holds still for a few seconds and then slowly and gently rotates around and drops back down to all fours. It’s an omen…Oscar is going to ROCK the therapy dog test. He’s already perfectly demonstrated two of the aptitudes from Part 2 right there on the sidewalk!

Fastforward 30 minutes …

We knew we were in trouble as soon as we entered the ASPCA building. In addition to conducting training programs, the ASPCA in NY is also a shelter and an animal hospital. As soon as we crossed the threshold into the lobby, Oscar’s tail clamped down (it would have been between his legs if it was long enough) and his nose went to the ground. The combined smells of the hospital and the rescue dogs seemed to send him into a panic. Next we had to go in an elevator - Oscar had never been in one before - he was absolutely terrified.

Finally, we made it to the evaluation room (we later found out that rescue dogs play in this same room and that they sometimes are not house-broken). It was a total disaster, our calm well-behaved dog was in a complete panic. His nose never left the floor, he strained at the end of his leash, he wouldn’t even respond to his name. The evaluators took one look at him and politely told us that Oscar was not ready to take the test. What?? He failed before he even started?!? Yup.

Poor Oscar, he’d never failed anything before…how would he handle the rejection? I consoled him for the entire car ride back home - I wanted to protect him from the embarassment, the shame of trying and failing…but by the time we arrived back at home he had completely recovered and seemed totally unphased about his failure.

Tune in next time to hear about how Oscar finally becomes a registered therapy dog!

If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Parts 1 & 2.  Back to our story where we’re about to take the Canine Good Citizen test…

So, we did some quick practice exercises while we were waiting (with T-R-E-A-T-S) and before we knew it, it was our turn. Oscar executed tests 1 through 9 like a champ! And then came the dreaded #10…

I warned the extremely nice lady doing the certification that we probably weren’t going to be able to pass this step and that Oscar was going to freak out when I walked away, but she reassured me that he would be okay and he’d done so well with the other exercises that we should give it a try. She suggested that sometimes dogs get less stressed if you put them in a sit or down stay before leaving. Okay…here goes…

I handed her the leash, told Oscar to lie down (he did), “Now, STAY Oscar” - I turned around and without looking back, walked away and disappeared into the crowd. For the first few steps, I was cringing…just waiting for that horrible yelping to start, but it didn’t come. When I was far enough away, I peeked out from behind a tree to check up on him - he was looking around a little nervously for me, but he wasn’t yelping and he was still LYING DOWN!!

But we weren’t out of the woods yet - to pass test #10, he had to go 3 whole minutes without showing anything stronger than mild agitation or nervousness….I held my breath….the seconds ticked by. After about 2 minutes (seemed like 2 hours!) he stood up, but he never strained at the leash or yelped. Finally, the woman conducting the test waved me back - Oscar had passed!! It was a miracle! As she signed his evaluation form, she told me that she had never seen a calmer 10 month-old puppy - I have never been so proud in my entire life! Atta boy, Oscar!

We later found out that by completing the CGC certification, we had demonstrated half of the skills needed to become a registred therapy dog - and the evaluator’s comment reinforced our belief that Oscar’s calm nature would make him a terrific candidate for therapy dog work.

Tune in next time when it’s finally time to take our therapy dog test!!

If you’re just joining us, catch up by reading Becoming a Therapy Dog - Part 1.  Back to our story…

As we patiently endeavored to wait a few more months to get started on our therapy dog journey, we stumbled upon the AKC’s Canine’s Good Citizen Program at the AKC’s annual Responsible Dog Ownership Day in Madison Square Park. (As a side note - Responsible Dog Ownership Day is an amazing event for dog owners in New York. The AKC has tables with information about almost every breed of dogs you can imagine - they also have Obedience/Agility/Rally/Performance demonstrations, contests, free samples from sponsors and much more. Mark your calendar…the 2008 RDOD will be help on September 20th!)

Back to Canine Good Citizen (CGC)…at Responsible Dog Ownership Day, we learned that the CGC Program is a certification program that is designed to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. A dog can earn his certification by passing a 10-part test that requires the dog to demonstrate proper socialization and basic obedience.

For CGC, the owner must also sign the Responsible Dog Owners Pledge which states, “We believe that responsible dog ownership is a key part of the CGC concept and by signing the pledge, owners agree to take care of their dog’s health needs, safety, exercise, training and quality of life. Owners also agree to show responsibility by doing things such as cleaning up after their dogs in public places and never letting dogs infringe on the rights of others.”

We liked the idea of the pledge (we hate it when people don’t train their dog or don’t pick up their dog’s poop and give other dog owners a bad name) and we were anxious for Oscar to add another certificate to our fridge, so we took a look at what our little genius would have to do to earn his certification…

Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger

Test 2: Sitting politely for petting

Test 3: Appearance and grooming

Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)

Test 5: Walking through a crowd

Test 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place

Test 7: Coming when called

Test 8: Reaction to another dog

Test 9: Reaction to distraction

Test 10: Supervised separation

Hmmm…no problem on the socialization stuff - Oscar’s a lover, not a fighter. He was also pretty good at obedience by then, but we hadn’t completely weaned him off of “incentives” at that time and you’re not allowed to give treats during the test, so we weren’t 100% sure that he would be able to pull those off.

Finally, there was #10 - supervised separation…well that one was going to be a problem. Recently, Oscar had started to develop a little separation anxiety - specifically, when we were out on a family walk and one of us would try to leave (to go into a store, run an errand, etc.), Oscar would stand up, strain at the end of his leash and make this pitiful, frenzied yelping/crying noise. Well, 9 out of 10’s not bad, but unfortunately you needed to pass all 10 tests to earn your CGC certification.

We resigned ourselves to the fact that we would NOT be earning our CGC certification that day. But it was early in the day, the line was short and the test was free - so we decided to give it a shot anyway, it would be good practice to see if we could pass tests 1 through 9 and we’d work on the separation part for next time.

Tune in next time to find out how we did!!

Hi there and welcome to the first installment of a weekly series on Oscar’s Therapy Dog Training!

When people hear that Oscar is a therapy dog, we usually get a lot of questions about what exactly he does as therapy dog, why we decided to become pet therapy volunteers, and how he became a registered therapy dog. So, we decided to have a special section of the blog that would be dedicated to posts and comments on this topic.

Maybe you’re interested in becoming a pet therapy team, maybe you’ve had a therapy dog visit you in your time of need or maybe you’re just looking for a feel-good read. In any case, we hope you enjoy our therapy dog exploits. Our first several posts will be dedicated to telling the story of how Oscar became a Therapy Dog…Enjoy!

As soon as Oscar was old enough, we signed him up for Puppy Kindergarten with Andrea Arden Dog Training, where they mostly taught us how to behave like good dog parents. We also learned that training is quality 1-on-1 time that can really help to forge a bond between you and your dog. In our case, it also helped strengthen the bond between the people…we both love spending time with Oscar and we previously had very few leisure interests in common.

Since we enjoyed Puppy Kindergarten so much, we started looking for other challenges to tackle. We were making some good progress on trick training when we saw a commercial for the Westminster Kennel Club’s Angel on a Leash program during their annual Dog Show.

Now at this point, we had started to notice that Oscar seemed to elicit some pretty strong reactions from people on the street. There were the regular friendly encounters with dog lovers or people who would oooh and aaahh over a cute little dog. But we also noticed that even people who didn’t stop to say “hi” would look at Oscar and smile.

In fact, it was rare that we didn’t get AT LEAST a smile. And on Oscar’s end, as soon as he recognized the slightest bit of interest from a 2-legged being, his little stub of a tail would start to wag and he would enthusiastically go over for a sniff or to give some kisses. Finally, Oscar (although he had his crazy moments) was pretty calm for puppy. So when we saw the Angel on a Leash commercial, it seemed like a perfect fit.

After doing some research, we found out that there are two major organizations that provide training programs for animal-assisted activities (AAA) and animal-assisted therapy (AAT) - The Delta Society and Therapy Dogs International (TDI). We learned that you must be registered with one of these organizations in order to participate in Pet Therapy programs at most hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities and that registration also provides coverage under the organization’s liability insurance. Finally, we learned that dogs must be at least one year old to register - alas, Oscar was too young!!!

Tune in next time to learn what we did to get ready to start Oscar’s therapy dog training.