Therapy Dog Training

Therapy Dogs need to be prepared for all kinds of distractions, able to respond with calm grace and environmental stability.

In other words – they need to maintain composure and a good sense of humor when, for instance, they are draped in flowing orange Hawaiian leis!

Yes, we do our best to make Therapy Dog Training fun – and Boston Terrier Stich (pictured to the right) is being an absolutely great sport about his training!

While leis aren’t necessarily the most common item you’d find in hospitals or nursing homes – some of the locales where Therapy Dogs are so much in need – there you will find I.V. tubes, rattling wheelchairs and gurneys, cascades of cords from various medical apparatus, and so many other foreign objects.

By practicing a sit-stay with Stich in the presence of the distraction of the leis, Stich’s owner learns to counter-condition the Boston Terrier’s natural response (i.e. “Get these leis off me!”) by reassuring him that this is a perfectly fine and acceptable situation to find himself in.

Learn more about Therapy Dog Training.