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So what’s the difference between Therapy Dogs vs. Emotional Support Animals? First, a Therapy Dog can help multiple people, sometimes even at the same time! An emotional support animal (as well as a Service Dog), is dedicated to helping one person all of the time. Another important difference between therapy dogs and ESA’s is how the law recognizes them. ESA owners get special protections that allow them to have their animals  in rental units; these laws do not cover therapy dogs. Therapy dogs may only go into facilities where they are invited.

This 4-week class is designed to prepare handlers and their dogs for visits to institutions, facilities, and any other place where Therapy Dogs are needed.  The primary objective of the Therapy Dog is to provide comfort and companionship in a way that promotes healing and improves the quality of life for the people being visited and the staff who care for these people.

The CDTC utilizes the highly respected Alliance of Therapy Dogs organization for our Therapy Team evaluators.  We provide onsite Testers/Observers from ATD so you can transition from student to Certified Therapy Team easily. . Taking this class does not guarantee your team will pass the test but we will do our utmost best to help guide you to be the best team you can be and prepare you for our ATD Observers/testers.


Prerequisites:
1.  Your dog is at least one year of age and

2.  Your soon to be Therapy Dog must have an outstanding temperament. This means that your dog should be outgoing and friendly to all people, tolerant of other dogs and non-aggressive towards other pets and

3.  You & your dog have taken one of the following classes: Basic training or CGC or higher level and last instructor vouches on your behalf that your dog can perform a sit, stay, come and walk on a loose leash most of the time.
                           OR
a video submission of your dog performing a sit, stay, come & walk on a loose leash sent to the instructor.

4.   ATD requires a background check and Health Verification form before the testing process.  This will be discussed in the first class.   The link for the background check is provided in our event rules.

If your dog has these qualities and skills and you are interested in getting started, please register for this class. Our ultimate goal is to create teams to visit facilities together. It’s a great way to build a strong relationship with your dog and help address a real need in our community.