I found out the other day that my local Great Dane rescue needs volunteers for their therapy program. The dogs are already trained for the program, but they need people willing to take them to hospitals and retirement homes for therapy. I am a stay at home mum, so I think this would be perfect for me! I filled out an application for their program, so hopefully I can volunteer! I'm so excited
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-The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
That is wonderful! Missy and I had planned to do that. They have to get their CGC first (at least where I live) and Missy still needed to fine tune walking on-leash without pulling before I wanted her to take the CGC test. I always thought it would be a very fulfilling thing to do though.
That sounds like fun. I once thought about making Oscar a therapy dog. But he might try to climb in bed with the seniors. That would be cute. And Danes are just great dogs for the job too.
I say go for it! Believe me when I say you will come home from the visits with such a great feeling!
Anyone who is interested should check into their local chapter of Therapy Dogs International. It is a great organization which tests the dogs to insure they are suitable for the work and they carry the primary liability insurance to cover you on any of your visits. Many obed. schools run 6-8 wk programs to help prepare the dogs for the testing. In our area the test also consists of the CGC - some dogs may pass the CGC but not pass the TDI. If they pass the TDI they definitely have passed the CGC. Many of the hospitals, etc. in our area require the dog to have their TDI certification before they are allowed to visit.
Wonderful Huntersmom...I persoanlly love giving back by volunteering...there is such a blessing you will get from doing it..im glad to hear that your so excited to do ti too...take care..
Thanks for the info! Hunter unofficially does it, but I would love to have him trained for it :)
I think what is cool about this one too is that I really like the mastiff breeds, so it will be neat to get to work with them since I can't exactly have 3 dogs right now, lol.
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-The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
I have a bruise the size of my hand on my shin, from Buck running head down, like a bull charging, into my leg...I think I better wait a bit before my dogs get around things that fall over and break... Sounds neat, let us know how it goes. Maybe that would make for some good photos. Give the real good photos to a Dane rescue, for their web-site
