My last dog was a therapy dog. She was a border collie, so she didn't just come and lay down. She was extremely well trained and even asked permission to chase squirrels ( if I said no, she wouldn't, ppl never believed me until they saw it themselves) . As a border collie, I was always requested for different functions, because she had so much energy she was always ready to put on a show or simply get petted. She was also an agility champion, and I think that really helped with her listening skills. Her regular job ( for more than 7 years) was at a veterans hospital, but she also would do YMCA summer camps, and many other children's activities. At an agility demonstration, she was an audience favourite, not because she was the best, but because she loved the kids so much- many agility dogs are not as friendly as you'd expect because, they have been taught to pay attention to only their handler. My girk, on the other hand, was encouraged to play with kids, well play with anyone really. I remember how she used to sit on the front porch and when the mailman came, she would get up and look into our house and bark like crazy- she was telling me her friend was coming to visit her. She never barked or growled at a person unless she was telling them to throw the ball. Man I miss that girl. My border collie I have now is just as friendly and well trained EXCEPT she doesn't ask if she can chase squirrels, she just chases them- she does stop chasing and drops if they get close to the road- I wonder if she's afraid they might get hit by a car. She wouldn't hurt them purposely, she just loves to chase. Dogs are wonderful!

I'm all for dogs in the work place if they are well trained, behaved and under control, but as someone who uses a service dog and goes to a college that assigns a therapy dog to each department within the college, I found the their training is often very subpar. They are fine around people, but the second they see my dog almost every single one of them loses their mind. Also, they are commonly left off leash, and many of them have rushed up to me and my dog out of nowhere, or if on a leash bark repeatedly at us. (Notice how excited the speakers dog gets when they bring out the second dog, this could be because they're very familiar with one another, but they should be taught to ignore other dogs while vested as to not distract working service animals. This is a huge blind spot of training that I see in almost every therapy dog. It should be an absolute minimum training requirement.) A lot of programs use the dogs that wash out (aka flunk out) of their service dog training, and instead assign them to places to be therapy dogs (this is how my school gets their therapy dogs) They just aren't typically held to the same level of behavior that service animals are. This gives me a lot of grief, as I need my dog not to be distracted so that I can go about my day safely. It also creates a social problem for me, as I end up having random people walk up and start petting my working dog because they assume he's a therapy dog. (Notice the blonde woman at 1:35 that walks up to the dog and instinctively reaches out her hand to pet her before she even looks at the handler). I can't be mad at these people, as many places vest their therapy dogs in the same types of vests that service dogs typically wear, and if people expect every department to have a therapy dog, the second they see a well-mannered, vested dog with a not visibly disabled handler, of course they assume it must just be another therapy dog. Even though the vest boldly says Service Dog, many people either simply don't read or weren't taught that there is a difference. It also creates a negative space for people who have severe allergies or fear, as they can't avoid these dogs if they are allowed to walk around study rooms and common areas unleashed. I'm not saying there's no place for therapy dogs, but there's a lot of factors that come into play and if implemented improperly it can cause a lot of uncomfortable and even dangerous situations. It takes a lot of responsibility to do right, and in the case of my school, there has been many shortcomings. If you are an institution that is thinking of implementing therapy dogs, please take these factors into consideration. I'm fully aware of the emotional support that these therapy dogs can offer and the positive impact they can have on the general public, but when that benefit is placed above the safety of disabled handlers, therapy dogs can quickly become another dangerous obstacle that disabled handlers like me have to face in their daily lives.

Nice story, she talks to fast and should show what the dog does. Great job Evie and Lorinda! I train my service dog and will be adopting her training mate as we lost our last one not too long ago. The pal will be trained as well but for therapy.

the most wonderful animals they know us better than we do ourselves

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beautiful story, however Evie looks stressed.

CDUT& OBU, hope you will never understand.😢

Nice story, she talks to fast and should show what the dog does. Great job Evie and Lorinda! I train my service dog and will be adopting her training mate as we lost our last one not too long ago. The pal will be trained as well but for therapy.