One of the other big reasons for starting this blog is in hopes that it might help someone else on their path to training their dog to become a therapy dog. At times, I have felt pretty lost and wondering what I should be doing for him. I found information about dogs that were already therapy dogs (Zoe, Dixie) but I struggled to find anything on the process of becoming a therapy dog. I looked for book(Therapy Dogs for Dummies??) but nothing. I am still searching because I can't believe there isn't something out there that someone else has written. If I find anything, I will share it on this blog.
In the meantime, I will share as much as I can about our journey. I am figuring it out as I go so I can't guarantee what I am posting is the perfect path. I have already mentioned in previous posts that we started obedience training early. I decided to use a dog training facility in my area called The Dog Spot. I knew Ivan needed something a little more than a class at a large corporate pet store and this seemed a good fit. I attended an orientation that explained their philosophy on training and that also allowed me to see the facility.
I found another training facility in the KC area that did have a class geared towards therapy dogs. Now, I realize, if I had picked this path I might not still have all these questions. It might have put me in touch with others who are on the same path. However, it finally came down to cost and not being able to read the future. We were just starting out with training. I felt like our 3 month old puppy would do good with training but I had no way of knowing for sure. We made the decision that we would take a chance on training and see how it went. Ivan might become a therapy dog or he might just be a "stay at home" dog. The therapy dog class would have cost over $900 and The Dog Spot training would be about $300 for a puppy class and an adolescent class. Once Ivan completed the 2nd class with The Dog Spot, we decided we needed a little more one on one work to get him to the next level. We are now working with a trainer that comes to our house through Canine Dimensions. In the end, this is going to cost about what the therapy dog class would have cost. I still think we went the right route.
For the first several months with Ivan, our main focus was basic obedience and socializing him. During that time I was also trying to figure out what path to take to get him to therapy dog but I was pretty lost. I hoped he would be able to help in my daughters school but I really had no idea what that meant or how to go about it. What therapy dog organization should I get him into? So, we did what we could and spent spring and summer getting him out with people as much as possible. We got him used to riding in the car and walking on a leash. Even though at this point we didn't know how we were going to get to our end result, we tried to focus on training and hoped the rest would eventually fall into place.
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