Volunteering
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Sharing your dog with patients in health care facilities can be wonderfully rewarding. Animal-assisted activities are friendly visits with patients by a therapy team. Taking a therapy dog to a nursing home to cheer the residents is an example of an animal-assisted activity. Animal-assisted therapy is treatment prescribed by a health care professional for a patient involving a therapy team. For example, a physical therapist may request that a therapy team assist a patient who has had a stroke. If the patient brushes the therapy dog or throws a ball for her to fetch, he is exercising his muscles and hand-eye coordination. Puppies who make good therapy dogs are social, friendly, confident, and love to be handled all over their bodies, even by strangers. They must have excellent obedience skills because they may be working with some very fragile people, so they must be under control at all times. They must be well behaved in different environments, and they cannot be skittish or fearful. You can start training your puppy for therapy work at a very young age, but she will not be eligible for a national program until she is one year old. Getting registered with a national program is important,
because the program will provide you with the education and training that you need to have safe, effective visits. You'll be evaluated to make sure that you and your puppy have the right skills and aptitude for this kind of volunteer work. You'll also benefit from liability insurance, so you'll be protected in case you have an incident. If you'd like to volunteer with your puppy in animal-assisted activities and therapy, contact one of the national programs that register teams and learn about their requirements. If you have a local group that volunteers with their pets, contact them for tips on how to get involved. Start training your puppy in good family manners, and make sure that she receives plenty of positive socialization. She already brings you great joymaybe she will grow up to be a dog who is able to share that joy with others!
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