As we have mentioned multiple times in the comments, we were not planning on taking this test when this was filmed specifically because we knew we were not ready for the “down” command. The point of this video is to demonstrate that you don’t necessarily need to be perfect to qualify as a therapy dog. Basic obedience is still important of course, but reaction to and temperament towards people is the most important part of a successful therapy dog team. We are always trying to learn to be better and encroached others to try themselves. Hope that helps clear up our goal for this video! ❤️

Exactly!

My Pomeranian was the same way! I could get her to sit but she didn't want to lay down on command

This is fr a problem my sister has a dog named Mocha and she'll keep telling him to sit or lay down and u can't tell he already is bc his legs r so short there's barely a difference

Yeah he was hurting the dog by tugging like that

I have a corgi for my anxiety and agoraphobia, and that is what he does haha

It’s also important to remember How your dog interacts with people is evaluated at every step including energy levels with individuals and crowds.

That is something you can practice! It is an important skill to have depending on where your therapy visits would be. Obviously would not be good to eat medicine from a nursing home or a hospital, but you may never encounter food in a library for example.

Practice makes perfect

The Stumpy Brigade good point!

I had the exact same thought - went through the video thinking oh my dog’s got this, then saw that and was like okay we have a little work to do 😆

You are right that is an important skill. When we tested, we had only had Eggnog for just over six months (the minimum required amount of time) and had not expected to test then. We knew he wasn't perfect at all of the commands, but were encouraged to test anyway because of how friendly he is with people. We still work with him on all of these skills but posted this anyway to showcase that you might not need to be perfect in order to become a therapy team. We hope to encourage as many people as possible to try!

It's also VERY wrong to pull on his head to make him lay down! You could hurt his neck and head

My dog took about a year to get fully trained

@@sammyk6684 Thank you for your concern about this. We actually had to watch it again to see if we had missed something, but we can confirm that we always strive to use corrective training (like pulling down on a collar or leash) with the lowest amount of pressure. It is a technique that is helpful to speed up training but does not injure the dog (when done properly). Training is a lifelong process and we always strive to learn as many techniques as we can so that we know how to deal with many situations. Our trainer has trained both military and police dogs for decades. While he teaches positive training first, he also shows his clients how to use corrective techniques to add to their problem solving and training abilities. Hope that helps!

Stumpy legged dogs don’t understand the whole “down” concept sometimes 😂

So he can at least help you and your family! 😘

Being happy to see people is actually good! The trick is just making sure they don’t jump up on people so that no one gets scratched or accidentally knocked down 🤗

Very sweet but you should join an official therapy dog organization so that you are protected should anything happen to you or your dog and to make sure you are not going anywhere that could put you in danger. This is a good list: www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/therapy-dog-organizations/

Yes! We know how to teach down and that technique does often work very well! Unless you have a short legged dog that is basically already on the ground and then actually getting them to understand what you are asking can take a little more convincing. But thanks for the tip! Hopefully it can help!

i got my dog to do down on the first time using a stick! maybe find an object that makes training better for the dog. and carry it with you. i’m making my puppy into a ESA.

Bernie looking at your dog me walking dog Bernie walker dog Missy message dog in uhh moving but guy but he h get you I try to I'm the j FB hi bb bb bb hung up s rough night but huh huh I'll.

Thanks for your support! (We are already a certified team but we still try to work on the basics with him constantly to improve his skills)

Our hoomans were trained at Ilvermorney, so who really knows?

I thought the same lmao. I mean just turning your palm to the ground works as well.

Good luck! We love therapy work! Remember you don't need to be perfect so just do your best! Your relationship with your dog and your dog's general temperament and enjoyment of the work is the most important part of a good team!

My wife and I have a German Shepherd named Sasha too!!!

The Stumpy Brigade what place is this my dog could pass the test

Did she pass?

We always encourage anyone that is interested to try! Good luck!

Yes that is a good way to teach down! It works especially well on slightly bigger dogs. When we took this test we had known we were not prepared enough for down but were encouraged to test anyway. During the test you cannot use treats but you can try to use the leash to guide certain behaviors so that’s what we were attempting to do. You don’t need to be perfect to pass the test so we hope more people might try to get involved with therapy work knowing what is needed to certify! ❤️

Thank you for your feedback! You are right that he did not "down" properly, and it is a useful skill to have. He did not pass that portion of the test. Because of his overall demeanor and attitude, Eggnog does still make a good therapy dog. We also hold the leash very tight during visits so that our dogs stay close to us in tight spaces. My handling that day was more out of habit than out of demonstrating technique. We hope to show that your dog does not need to be perfectly obedient to be a good therapy dog, though basic obedience is a requirement. Our organization looks at the dog's temperament first, and then checks obedience skills as a more objective measurement. The test is not a pass fail requirement. It is graded based on overall performance. Obedience skills should always be practiced and we are not perfect, but we always try to be better!

Woah m8 who hurt u?

Who is your therapy dog with?

I agree, I was cringing every time he tugged on the collar like that. Although I don't think it hurt the dog, it's still an unnecessarily aggressive tactic.

@@StaticWolfGirl1 that down signal was so funny wtf was that lol. No wonder dog listens.

He sounds like he has potential! If it is something that you want to try you can look for a recognized organization here: www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/ Keep working on training! We love doing therapy work and it's a growing activity!

We technically failed the down portion of the test (as the comments love to point out :P) so don't worry about being perfect as long as you can do 90% of the things in the test! Good luck!

@@TheStumpyBrigade Well you know love people love to complain! but definitely found this so helpful!

Good luck! That was a pawsome story! Thanks fur sharing!

You will need to find a therapy organization that operates in your area. Ours allows you to test with your dog after you have had them in your home for at least six months, but you should check with your local organization. If you are asking about Therapy Dog Titles with the AKC there is no age requirement.

We rescue a german shepherd from Spain his tail was cut off by the owner, he will not allow easily to be touched. My only concern is that. Such a pity because he is an genuine good soul dog. I even mafw a little book to gp with our therapy days.. I feel we will not make it bevause of that tail. Not fair really.

@@rosap7912 It is fair because an elderly person or child may try to touch your dogs tail. It's a skill they need for safety. Sorry that ur dog just isnt fit for therapy work.

@@Qunpowder they meant unfair as in the situation the dog is in

We generally call him Noggy! ❤️

That’s not really part of the test since there are not usually squirrels inside schools so if you want to be a therapy dog team you probably can!

Remember the most important part is how she interacts with other new people! The obedience commands are important too but your dog should enjoy the work just as much if not more than you do! Good luck! We encourage anyone that is interested in therapy work to try and get involved!

@@TheStumpyBrigade yep we got permission to take her in public to test her and she was iffy at first but quickly resumed walking on next to my left leg like she was trained at first she wanted to interact with everyone but she is meant to be a service dog to me and she was really good we were able to sit in stores with her unfortunately till covid 19 cools off we can't do a restaurant test

Sounds like he or she is a good candidate! With a little more practice you could probably be a great team! ❤️

@@TheStumpyBrigade yes!!!!!! And thank you!

Remember that this is for therapy dogs which are meant to help other people (service dogs are different and people confuse them all the time). We did a class with the dogs we certified that took a few weeks but it depends on the dog and how good they are at basic obedience. You also don’t need to be perfect to be a good therapy dog team but some skills are more important than others. This is the official list for the US of certified organizations. www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/therapy-dog-organizations/

@@TheStumpyBrigade thank you so much!

You are correct! He did not get a point for "down." However, the scoring system for our organization works in such a way that you only need to meet a certain thresh hold to pass. That was his only point off during the test and it is something we continue to work on. Eggnog is in fact certified and we are very careful in how we handle him in order to provide the best experience for the people he is there to provide comfort for. Remember that his job in this case is to provide comfort in short intervals, so extremely strict discipline is not as important as overall temperament! Thank you for reaching out! We hoped to demonstrate the skills anyone would need to start training if they wanted to try to be a therapy team even if we aren't 100% perfect at them with all of our dogs!

@@TheStumpyBrigade he should have failed he couldnt heel he cowered and was obviously uncomfortable during havinf his feet picked up and multiple other parts of the test...he didnt stay he's very poorly trained. Was looking for a video to show my client definitely not using this.

@@madisonguyett5332 That is fine. We are not professional trainers. I might suggest The Super Collies if you are looking for professionals. This was Eggnog's actual test to certify, which he did in fact pass. We felt it was important to show the entire test, unedited, so that other prospective teams would have a realistic example of what their test might look like. We are therapy dog volunteers. We do this in our spare time and we make videos about it in our spare time. Eggnog has been doing visits for a year since this video was shot and we constantly work with him to improve these skills. If you have questions or constructive criticism we would be happy to discuss our experience. We hope this helps.

@@madisonguyett5332, wow. Rude much? If you know so much about perfection I'm a bit curious as to why you haven't put your own video up of your "clients" passing the test? Why do you need to use someone else's? You should have dozens of your own perfect examples for us to learn from. You are a horrible judge of dog behavior. Eggnog wasn't cowering, nor was she uncomfortable having her feet handled. Oh, except where she was surrounded by children and being petted by multiple people at once. Is that what you call "cowering"? Maybe your definition is different from mine? What I saw is a submissive dog who was a bit confused by the handling, unsure if she should show submission (roll over) or not. Therapy dogs are being tested for temperament. We want to know if they are reasonably socialized, how they behave in an unusual situation, if they recover from a startle, if they have basic obedience skills, etc. I probably would have had Eggnog practice a bit more, mainly for the walking on leash portion, and return for another test, but I don't think it was a mistake to pass her, either. Please remember to link me to your uploaded video so I don't miss out on the perfect test instruction. I eagerly look forward to it.

@@MsDarby64 the dog was poorly trained and shouldn't have passed its that simple. If eggnog is your standard they are really low. To answer why I don't have examples of my own. I train Service dogs and the client with the therapy dog is the first one in my program.

found it kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z8mAftWHsK-dYmg.html

Yes, he would definitely make a bad service dog and a bad therapy dog 😂

If you want to try to certify then you should be able to! Our organization runs on a point scale and you get multiple attempts to demonstrate commands. You don’t need a perfect score to qualify!

This video was shot during our therapy dog test, so everything you see is what most organizations will look for when certifying a therapy dog. All you have to do is find a local therapy dog group, practice the skills you need, and certify your dog by passing your local test!

The Stumpy Brigade Ok thanks!

Hmmmm. We assume you are actually asking about therapy dogs and not Service Animals in which case, yes you can train therapy animals yourself. Our entire organization operates with volunteers and many (including us) are not professional dog trainers. All you need to do is find a local organization that operates in your area. You can find a list of organizations on the AKC website www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/therapy-dog-organizations/ You will likely need to pass a test (which should be very similar to what we cover in this video). As far as we know there is no nationwide mandated test, but we would not recommend trying to operate as an independent therapy animal team because then you will have to negotiate visit opportunities and many other things entirely on your own. Definitely try and find an organization that operates near you in Texas. Good luck!

The obedience aspects are definitely important but the most important part is how he interacts with other people since his job (as a therapy dog) will be to interact with and cheer up people that need him. He should be interested/excited but not too bouncy or aggressively seeking attention so that for example he doesn’t knock over someone in a wheel chair or pounce on a small child trying to say hello. Not everyone is always excited (at first) to meet a therapy dog so it’s important they are friendly but still controlled/calm. Hope that helps to clarify! He’s certainly old enough now and you have definitely had plenty of time to work on his training (per any requirements we know of for our own testing experience). ***and good luck if you decide to become a therapy dog team! ❤️

That is why they like to check! Then the handler can be aware and prevent children from hugging and holding the dog. It is important to be tolerable of hugging even if its not the dog's favorite thing ever!

My dog would be ok if she was stolen by someone but I would be depressed 😢

😘😘

If you want to become CGC certified or become a therapy dog team then these are the skills you need to train and practice!

To be a therapy dog as shown here means your dog’s job will be to help other people in public settings. Usually that means you need to be affiliated with a therapy animal organization that will test and evaluate your dog and you as the handler. If you are trying to train your dog as a service animal to help you, these skills are really only the foundation and your dog will also need to learn specific skills that help you in your daily life whether that is alerting to a potential anxiety attack, helping to guide you, or any number of other skills. A service dog does not necessarily need paperwork, but a therapy dog will have records on file with their supporting organization usually.

His ability to walk shouldn’t really make a difference as long as you can carry and lift him as needed. Visits are usually an hour long so keep that in mind. We often lift Eggnog (shown in the video) when we go to nursing homes and other places so that he can better greet people with limited mobility. We have also seen cats and rabbits be great therapy animals and they are not expected to walk around. Good luck! We love therapy work!

We think your friend may be confused about what a therapy dog is. Therapy dogs are not Service Dogs. Both my wife and I are certified with both of our therapy dogs. They will listen to other people when given commands (usually) but they are basically volunteers just like we are. Service animals are required to be much more obedient to only their handler because their response could make the difference between life and death for the handler in many cases. Hope that helps! We would be happy to answer any other questions on Instagram.

There are a few major differences. We will start with the dogs shown in this video. This training is for therapy dogs and their job is to help people in general to feel better just by being around. They are generally required to be friendly with people and animals and to have relatively good basic obedience standards. They are allowed in public places ONLY when invited. ESAs are to help the owner specifically. They do not require special training. HOWEVER, their only special access is that they are always allowed to live with their owners even in pet controlled apartments or other living spaces. They do not have special privileges outside of the home. It is still a good idea to practice obedience with them since they are supposed to be reducing stress not causing it. Service animals are trained to do specific tasks for a specific person based on that person’s needs. This includes seeing eye dogs, diabetic alert dogs, PTSD alert dogs, mobility assistance dogs, and many others. They require intensive obedience training and specific skill training. They can also be very expensive (upwards of $10k) but can be trained by the owner for “free”. Keep in mind that in training a service dog you should be holding the dog to very high standards and they should be trained to assist for a specific medical issue. Service animals do get full access to public spaces with their handler/owner. HOWEVER, they are also expected to behave perfectly without attacking other people or animals, using the bathroom in public places, or otherwise not listening to their handler’s needs. Not every dog can be a service dog or a therapy dog. They require certain temperament and obedience levels to do their jobs correctly. Hope that helps!

If we remember correctly, she is a Leonberger, a German dog that is somewhat rare and often overshadowed by German Shepherds.

Just have to teach him the difference between work time and play time. Using a vest for therapy dog time might help!

@@TheStumpyBrigade that’s such a good idea. I was surely leaning towards just having him play with more dogs but of course that would make it worse. It’ll just reinforce playing every time he sees a dog. Not my brightest moment 🤦🏾‍♀️ I’ll definitely get a vest. I’m sure he’ll pick up on the difference in attire just like when he sees his collar and leash. Thanks!

That works for us!

You can start training as soon as your dog starts recognizing their name. Our organization lets your get certified after having the dog for six months. Otherwise its never really too early to start obedience training!

Therapy dogs (shown in the video), emotional support dogs, and service dogs are three different dog jobs! Therapy dogs are meant to help other people in public settings like reading with children, visiting people in hospitals, or visiting nursing homes. They need basic obedience training and temperament evaluation. Service dogs are trained to help a specific person and need to have stricter obedience standards, full focus on their owner, and more specialized training to physically assist their owner/handler or identify signs that something may be wrong with their owner or handler. An emotional support dog doesn’t need any special training but they are also only “protected” from being separated from their owner or having their owner evicted from a living space because the animal’s presence helps the owner. It is still a good idea to practice basic obedience with emotional support animals but they should not be brought to public spaces without more specialized training. If your dog is anxious, he can certainly help you feel better but he probably isn’t a good candidate to be a service animal. He can also possibly be a therapy dog but that job is not meant to help you specifically. Hope that helps!

Our therapy organization and our trainer feels that the temperament of the dog is the most important part of a good therapy dog team. Many dogs can be very obedient but can't handle greeting people. Despite not being perfectly trained during this impromptu test over a year ago, we hope to show other owners that they don't need to be perfect to consider becoming a therapy dog team. At the time, we had not planned to test but our trainer and therapy dog organization encouraged us to try anyway. We did pass the test despite not being perfect. We constantly try to improve our training methods, and our obedience skills. Hope that helps!

Why are you vexing criticizing this man? He was only working o. What he was taught to do with his dog. He’s at a training facility so he and his dog can work together. But somehow you think the dog and his owner can’t do anything right. While you have some good points you shouldn’t completely put this guy and his dog down.

An ESA is not a therapy dog is not a service dog. Those are three different jobs and we are not trainers. Eggnog is our pet and this is not considered aggressive dog training. It is how you teach short legged dogs to go down at all. Please make sure you know what your dog is trained for and allowed to do. Therapy dogs are not allowed in public places unless invited. They do not get special treatment while service dogs will. ESAs only get the privilege of remaining in the home regardless of renting or leasing policies.

It should be very similar (and you don’t need to be perfect ours was a point system and we obviously failed down during this test). It may vary a little by therapy organization but it should be the same basic test as the Canine Good Citizen Test but scored differently.

You need to find a recognized therapy animal organization in your area. If you are in the US we recommend using www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/ They have a list of qualified organizations all over the country. You can also start training the skills shown in this video. You don’t necessarily need to be perfect (depending on the sponsoring organization) but you need to be able to successfully complete approximately 90% of the skills shown. Hope that helps!

You can start training basic obedience early! It’s often easier to train puppies when they are still eager to please and ready to learn!

Do you mean for therapy dog work or to act as a service animal?

@@TheStumpyBrigadeto be a therapy dog. Are service dogs used for people with PTSD that isn't war related?

@@radientlight9210 A therapy dog's job is to make other people (not the handler) happy and to help them just by being present in an environment. A service dog is specially trained to assist their handler with a specific task or tasks. The basic obedience skills shown here are a good foundation for any dog to have, but a service animal that goes into public spaces must be held to a much higher standard of obedience than most dogs. They should also be able to help their owner with specific tasks like acting as a seeing eye dog, recognizing a potential anxiety attack and helping their owner prepare or leave an environment, or alerting to low blood sugar as a diabetic alert dog among many other different things. Hope that helps! The skills shown in this video can be a great foundation for a service dog, but they would also need much more extensive training that we are not qualified to provide or comment on.

Sorry for your loss 💔

In our experience it is 1) not as important as sit, stay, leave it, and even trick training (little kids love being able to do tricks with a dog) and 2) More or less difficult and important depending on the breed of dog. For a corgi (or other small dog) they will usually settle down on their own as soon as they start interacting with people, but for a bigger dog like a Great Dane it would be much more important. That being said we do not think it should ever be the one factor that would fail a team. If we had to choose definite failure criteria we would choose innate personality responses like how they approach people, how they handle being touched (accidental eye pokes are very common) and other things like that. We realize we are not perfect trainers but we also don't think a therapy dog needs to be perfectly obedient to be successful.

Emotional Support, therapy dog, and service dogs are all three different jobs even though they all sound the same. Emotional support dogs require no training just a doctors note but it only lets you keep them in your home without being evicted. Therapy dogs (like shown in this video) are meant to help other people like reading with children etc. Service dogs are trained for specific tasks to help their owners in their daily lives like seeing eye dogs for example. They can’t bark at people or dogs while in public and should be focused on their owner’s needs. To actually train a service dog would require more info than can be written in a comment. This video would be a good starting point of the basic skills you would need to be perfect at in order to successfully train a service dog and be able to take your dog out everywhere with you.

These are the basic skills that she will need but to be considered a service dog she will definitely need to master and perfect them. You also need to try and teach her some skills that help your special needs specifically but you can definitely do it yourself. It just takes a lot of work, patience, and a very special dog. Good luck!

@@TheStumpyBrigade thank you. Will do my best and she did do some things well. God bless you

Yes! A big difference actually! Therapy dogs, like in this video, are trained with basic obedience in mind, but are more importantly calm and friendly with people and other animals. Their job is to provide comfort and support for people at the locations that they are invited to go to. Other than that they are normal dogs (ours are our personal pets when they are not volunteering as therapy dogs). They do not have any special privileges beyond that. Service Dogs are trained specifically to assist one person with a specific disability like a Seeing Eye Dog or a Diabetic Alert Dog. They need basic obedience skills as well and must be taught to act and respond calmly to their handler's daily life needs. They are permitted anywhere that the handler goes and the handler cannot be denied housing because of their dog. A true service dog will stick to their handler's side at all times and will act almost as if they are not there at all unless the handler needs assistance. That is the major difference between them. You can self train both types of dogs, but it is much more difficult to train your own service dog properly. Hope that helps! Feel free to message us on Instagram if you have any more questions! We can be much more responsive on there!

that is a good question. We assume so but it's up to the test giver. Personally we would probably laugh and give him full credit if he laid down like that on command!

Leash corrections are the best way to begin deterring this behavior. I don’t really remember if I do that at all in this video. You can also enforce a sit and stay to help teach a more calm approach and reduce lunging. We cover a lot of the drills you can do for leash walking here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ict6n5emkqm4Yok.html

We had not planned on testing when this was filmed because we knew he had these issues. However we were encouraged to try anyway because you don't need a perfect score to pass the test and the evaluators liked how Eggnog interacted with people. Training is a constant process and it's important to remember that the most important part of a therapy dog team is the interactions with other people.

You can speak but no treats are allowed. Some commands do require repeating them in order to perform them “correctly” like stay while you walk away for example. Edit* you can also do leash corrections on some skills to keep your dog focused if we remember correctly

Command words don’t matter as long as they use the skill. You can train in other languages, use made up words, or whatever you want as long as they can do the command required.

The Stumpy Brigade oh ok thanks ❤️

Sounds like you actually mean to make him your service dog which is a little different than a therapy dog. Everything you see here is a good foundation to start with but in his case he needs to be pretty much perfect at it especially if you intend to bring him with you everywhere you go. He will need to learn how to stay close to you when out in public and keep himself out of the way like under your chair or table when at a restaurant or other public location. He will also need to be attached to you specifically and you will need to try and teach him to recognize when you may need assistance. Try looking up PTSD service dog training for more specifics. We are not trainers and service animals need specialized training and the proper temperament to succeed. Hope that helps and good luck!

@@TheStumpyBrigade Thank you. I thought I just needed a therapy dog to ease my depression but I didn't know people with ptsd get service dogs! There are only a few cue's that riles up my ptsd. So I don't know what training I should do... Btw, I got him today! He's an absolute angel. So quiet and behaved. He doesn't know any tricks yet so I'm gonna start training him the basics. Thanks for responding!

You can teach him not to jump but you may need some correction techniques as opposed to all positive training tactics that work well for basics and trick training. You can try keeping a leash on him so you can grab it and give him a few quick pulls (pops) on the leash to deter jumping. You don't need to drag him or anything like that. (We have a leash training video that should show you what we mean if you can't find a trainer to ask.) You can also just try ignoring him but that takes time (and he will also get pretty big if he isn't already). Some people also use spray bottles of water for things like this. If you are consistent and don't allow jumping on anyone he should learn not to jump.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rOCFnLR6trewqn0.html

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nOCRaN2Xu5q7eKM.html

Some of these techniques might work. Maybe if you have some family members or friends to have them come over to practice... Like ALOT. :) hope this helps.

If you want to be a therapy dog team he will likely have to work with other dogs so definitely try and see if you can work with him to at least be calm. We often worked in tight spaces where the dogs would need to be closer together so it is important to not have him get too upset 🤞

@@TheStumpyBrigade Thank you for the tips!

Thank you very much 😊😊😊

If he can pass this test he can! Just keep in mind therapy dog is not service dog. Therapy dogs are meant to help other people 🤗

Therapy dogs are not emotional support animals but they do similar jobs. Any dog that is calm, knows basic obedience, and likes to comfort people can be either a therapy dog or an emotional support animal. The important difference is that Therapy dogs (shown in the video) work to help anyone that needs them when invited to a location. Emotional Support dogs only help their owner and only in their own home. They have certain living space protections but that’s the only “special treatment” they get. Service dogs are also different but typical only work for people with debilitating medical or emotional issues. This is because the correct training is very expensive. You can not get a certificate online that proves any certifications for any of these three jobs. Your dog should be fine if he works for you in your home. Hope that helps! If you have more questions message us on Instagram. It is easier to respond there.

The Stumpy Brigade what would my dog be if i trainer her to help out with my moms job she has a high stressful job and has kids in her office and I was thinking having dogs in the office would help would she have to be a therapy dog?

Yes she would have to be a therapy dog in that case. However, since that is a private workplace, the workplace would also have to approve it. Therapy dogs are invited to locations to work and are then expected to behave in a certain way hence the test certification required. Hope that helps clarify! Again we are more than happy to answer questions on Instagram of more specifics since we don’t always see all the comments here. Our handle is the same on all platforms.

During testing treats are not allowed and for therapy dogs they have to wear the same style collar they test in. All training is important and needs to be done constantly to reinforce the behavior that you want to promote. In this case, like we have mentioned many times before, we were not planning on testing when we filmed this, but our trainers and testers encouraged us to try anyway. We hope people see that they don’t need to be perfect dog trainers to work with and train therapy dogs and encourage more people to get involved.

The primary requirement for therapy dogs is being friendly to people and other dogs (since you could be working with other teams but dog friendly is more flexible). After that you only need to basics shown in this video to qualify. Your dog should have all these skills at around 80% perfect. Then you need to find a local therapy dog organization. This is a good list of most of the ones in the US www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/therapy-dog-organizations/

The CGC test and therapy tests are a little different although they cover the same skills they are not graded the same so you would have to qualify on both tests separately. You can also qualify as a therapy dog and after completing around 10 therapy visits you can apply for the CGC certification. Emotional support dogs do not require any special training but also do not get any special access to public areas. You do not need special obedience training as long as you can train the skills we show in this video. In general a service animal would not also be a therapy dog because the jobs require a different mentality that is hard for a dog to separate. If you want your dog to help you with a specific task to aid in your daily life we would recommend focusing on that as a service animal.

@@TheStumpyBrigade My dog I think she would surprise you, and most people. I now she can do both be a Hearing alert dog and a therapy dog. I have seen a dog do two different thinks before in a video, and I real life on youtube.

@@lyons1973 It is just a suggestion! We are not professional trainers and we feel it will be difficult but not impossible to separate the two jobs, especially if you are always going to be her handler. Remember a service animal is supposed to be focused on you and your needs and a therapy dog is supposed to be focused on the people around them. We wish you the best of luck!

Yes Eggnog is one of our Corgis!

This is the actual therapy dog test for the organization we work with! So you can train all of these skills to start. You can also use treats and toys to associate people with positive feelings! Be sure to give treats with a closed hand to start and don’t give the treat until he uses his tongue to try and get it. This will help teach gentle eating habits. You can’t really teach how to interact with people but you can help reduce jumping and things like that with some leash work. You can also check here: www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/ For a therapy organization near you that might be able to suggest training programs. Hope that helps!

@@TheStumpyBrigade Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the tips 👍

It depends on the person you are visiting. Some people won’t mind. Some people will. It’s probably a good idea to be able to redirect kisses if you need to because not everyone likes getting them for 2 minutes straight 😂

There’s no age restriction! Any dog that is friendly with people and other animals, isn’t too energetic, and can learn some basic obedience skills can be a therapy dog! ❤️

It is possible, but you need to get him to understand that he can't just jump up on people. Eggnog (in the video) is much more energetic than our other therapy corgi (Toffee who you can see in some of our other videos). To some extent, being excited and happy to see people is a good trait, but he can't be bouncing into people or accidentally hurting people. Many dogs can be therapy dogs but how they do approach greetings and interactions is just as important as obedience. We would recommend reaching out to a local therapy organization if you are interested and asking to get their evaluation! Hope that helps!

The Stumpy Brigade thanks, it helps a lot. My dog just hops around, he never bumps into people but is really hyper and over-exited.he tends to lick a lot which I’m not sure if it’s a problem but I’m trying to get him to stop (with yelling or being cruel of course) thanks for the advice!

Just to address licking is not usually a problem (but some people don't always like it so its good to be proactive as you go.) Good luck!

The Stumpy Brigade thanks! (Stumpy brigade oh my hearts that’s adorable)

Therapy dogs do get crowd tested with a bunch of people approaching them talking, sometimes doing other things to make noise and they are expected to approach calmly and greet the group. Not sure how any dog might respond to some guy trying to be “alpha” or something that is not part of any test we know of. Sorry you and your dog had to deal with a person like that 😂

@@TheStumpyBrigade thanks for the response! I’m sorry too; people can be jerks sometimes

It’s OK to remove your dog from a weird situation where you feel the dog is stressed. This is the information I received in the training from the organization I am registered with. Organization recognizes that a dog is an animal with emotions and is capable of feeling stressed and “you are your animals best advocate.” Just because it is a therapy animal doesn’t mean it has to put up with stressful situation.

While we highly recommend completing the same level of training shown in this video it is not required for him to become an emotional support dog (which is what you are probably referring to). Please keep in mind that being an emotional support dog does not give him special access to public areas. That access is only given to properly trained service animals that are helping their owners with a specific task like seeing eye dogs, diabetic alert dogs, or others. Make sure to invest time in proper training to make your own time with your dog less stressful and more enjoyable!

The only things you need to "teach" are basic obedience commands. It would also be good to expose your dog to some of the health equipment shown in our video. Any trainer should be able to demonstrate the basics. We also have other videos detailing training techniques.

i don't know online but petsmarts do have a therapy dog program

@@hollykeenan4011 Petsmart does offer training (but no offense we have seen it and we would not recommend it). If that is your only option though just remember to repeat commands once and make things happen. Dogs learn to associate sounds with actions, so if you start repeating your dog may think that "sit sit sit sit sit sit sit" is the command. You really don't need special training as long as you can teach basics like sit, down, stay, leash walking and leave it. Hope that helps!

You can definitely apply for a service dog depending on the disability you are personally dealing with. Service animals like seeing eye dogs, diabetic alert dogs, and other dogs like that are specifically trained to help people with specific jobs. Many organizations do help to provide service animals for those in financial need. Therapy dogs as shown in this video are not meant for jobs like these or are at least not fully trained to be capable of jobs like these. The handler of a Therapy dog team is also an important part of the team, so you cannot really “apply” for a trained therapy dog because the handler must also learn how to interact with people during visits and is an important part of the team. Hope that helps distinguish the difference between service animals and therapy animals!

I was going to ask the same thing!

There is no age limit to start training. All five of our dogs are rescues and we got them at over 1 year old. The important thing to remember is temperament. If your golden is calm and relaxed around people, dogs, and other animals of all shapes and sizes then he is a good candidate! It is also a good idea to see how your dog interacts with new people because you want him to enjoy the work (one of our dogs loves people but she is very skittish so she would not be the best candidate). Then all you need are some basic obedience skills and a good therapy animal organization to test and work with! Good luck and hope our video helped show you what you would need!

@@TheStumpyBrigade It sure did!😁Thank you for the quick reply!

@@TheStumpyBrigade does it need to be a registered breed? Specifically pedigreed I mean, or not? Tysm!

There is no requirement like that for therapy dogs. If you want to get AKC titles you will need to register your dog with them and that process will be influenced slightly by breed, but it will not prohibit you in any way. We know both mixes and purebreeds alike that are all wonderful therapy dogs!

What people also don’t understand is that therapy dogs are not protected under the same laws as Service Animals. Therapy dogs are not allowed special privileges in public and are only allowed on visits when invited (even though they have gotten a small amount of extra training to be better dog citizens). Unfortunately it is difficult and often unfair to challenge anyone who does have a service animal under the same laws.

No! You can go to hospitals, but we mostly go to Libraries to read with children. You can also go to nursing homes, some airports especially during holiday seasons, halfway houses, veterans support centers, and basically anywhere where a) people are stressed, sad or in need of support b) invited into the facility. Our organization provides lists of places you can go on visits at that have requested a therapy animal during a certain day and time. Here is a list of AKC recognized Therapy animal organizations: www.akc.org/sports/title-recognition-program/therapy-dog-program/therapy-dog-organizations/

thank you

You're welcome!

Sometimes schools too

We have 2 therapy dogs at my school

It did kind of bother me, but with dogs as short as that it's a lot harder train by placing the treat low enough that they have to go down. I'd prefer if they placed Mr. Nog on an elevated surface to achieve it, but I can tell they love him and it's not visibly hurting him, so I'm not too worried about it.

Trust us he is not scared of new people! He loves meeting people of all ages!

My very submissive dog looks like that when she meets someone new, but she is not scared, just a little cautious before she warms up to a stranger. She loves everyone!!

We like to try and let people know that unlike service animals, therapy animals don’t need to be perfect all the time. The more important aspect of a therapy team is bringing comfort to people. While the obedience aspect is still important, many people lose focus on what the job is supposed to be about. We hope that more people that might be afraid their dog is not “perfect” may be willing to get involved if they see a real test where mistakes can be made without completely failing. We hope people will be encouraged to try! You don’t need to be a professional dog trainer to be a good therapy dog team!

Ashley Cornejo wdym

We have a bit of a theme going 😉