Therapy Dog Readiness

A therapy dog is trained to provide comfort, emotional support and positive interaction to other people, not just its owner. They typically visit places like hospitals, nursing homes, schools, libraries for reading programs, and crisis or disaster areas. Their job is to help people feel calmer, less lonely and more supported.

Therapy Dog Training in Real World Situation

Therapy Dog Readiness Classes

8 Lessons

Building calm, confident dogs through clear communication, real-world exposure and thoughtful training while preparing teams for therapy work and public interaction.

Therapy dog tests evaluate a dog's calm temperament, obedience and social skills in stressful or distracting environments. Key requirements include accepting friendly strangers, passing a "leave it" command, walking on a loose leash, demonstrating basic commands and maintaining control around other dogs, medical equipment and clumsy petting.

Core Therapy Dog Skills Evaluation

1. Initial Meeting with Evaluator

The dog needs to be sitting and not jump up on the person.

2. Accepting a Friendly Stranger

The dog needs to be sitting and not jump up on the person.

3. Appearance and Grooming

The dog's coat, ears, teeth and paws need to be clean. Nails need to be short and smooth.

4. Out for a Walk

going forward making a right and left turn
a person walking unsteadily - the dog may look, but not be scared of the person
going slowly and quickly while avoiding the treats - we use a 20-foot leash and put treats on each side of the leash
go to a person who is sitting in the wheelchair - the dog may not jump up on the person in the wheelchair

5. Commands

The dog must follow sit and down on commands, stay in place and come when called at 20 feet.

6. Reaction to Noise Distraction

The dog may look, but should not be scared and cannot recover.

7. Walking through Crowds

The dog must walk through a crowd with people using medical equipment, such as a cane, walker and wheelchair.

8. Reaction to Another Dog

The owner and their dog will walk up to another dog and person, the owner will have to stop and say hello to the other person. The dog should not go in front of or behind you to meet the other dog. The dog should not be pulling on the leash to get near the other dog. The dog should be by your side farthest from the other dog.

9. Angry Yelling

We will look for the dog's reaction.

10. Crowd Petting

restraining hug
bumped from behind
clumsy petting

11. Supervised Separation

The dog will be given to a volunteer, and you will have to leave the room for three minutes.