Professional Development Centre
Professional Development
Community Pet Therapy Dog Team
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
The Therapy Dog
A Community Pet Therapy Dog is a pet that is trained to interact with many people
other than their handler to make those people feel better.
Examples are dogs that visit nursing homes and hospitals; dogs that go to court to sit with minors or other traumatised witnesses while they give testimony; dogs that go to the library so that kids can read to them.

So you want to become a Therapy Dog Team?
Where to start,
Most places you will visit with your Therapy Dog will want you and your dog to be registered or certified, with a therapy dog registry mainly for insurance purposes.
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Therapeutic Dog Services Incorporated is a Therapy Dog Registry, in Animal Assisted Interventions: Activities, Education and Therapy.
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Places that you visit at minimum, they will require you to have: dog temperament tested, veterinarian health clearance, up to date with vaccinations, training and good skills set in animal assisted activities and most importantly covered with insurance.
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There is no breed restriction on a Therapy Dog, however, since they don’t enjoy public access rights, you are not protected in areas of Breed-Specific-Legislation and if the institution you want to visit decides to put breed restrictions in place, you have to follow the rules.
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A Therapy Dog does not have public access rights and is only allowed in certain places by prior arrangement.