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How Do My Pet and I Become a Therapy
Pet Team?
An Aptitude Screening for Becoming a
Therapy Pet Team
Each therapy pet team consists of two members - the pet and the handler - and
each member has to meet certain standards before animal assisted activities or animal assisted therapy can be safely
attempted.
Your Pet
Consider the following questions about your pet. You must be able to answer "yes"
to each item. If you are unsure, seek the opinion and observations of a trained person:
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Is your pet temperamentally and behaviorally reliable?
(OR) Does your pet's behavior and temperament vary depending on the setting or the person they are meeting? |
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Is your pet comfortable in a variety of settings?
(OR) Does your pet have difficulty recovering from some initial hesitancy in unfamiliar settings? |
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Does your pet seek out interactions with unfamiliar people?
(OR) Does your pet press against you, hide behind you? |
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Does your pet enjoy being petted and hugged by unfamiliar people?
(OR) Does your pet duck or sway away to avoid being touched? |
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Is your pet friendly around other animals?
(OR) Is your pet aggressive or overly fearful around other animals? |
Your pet must have basic obedience skills before they can be an effective member of a therapy pet team. For dogs
this means being able walk on loose lead, sit, stay, come, lie down, leave a toy or treat on command, and take
a treat gently in a consistent and reliable way. Your pet must demonstrate really good manners in public. The places
you visit will be very different from your home and the people you visit may not be sympathetic to some of your
pet's peculiar habits.
Yourself
Consider the following questions about yourself. You must be able to answer "yes"
to each of the following items. Again, if you are unsure, seek the opinion of an objective person and be willing
to accept their feedback.
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Are you friendly with other people and their pets (do you make eye contact, smile,
etc)? |
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Can you raise the skill level of your pet (do you have the time, energy and motivation
to be positive and consistent in training your pet)? |
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Do you have any health impairments that would limit your effectiveness as a Pet Partner
(including physical or mental health problems or chemical dependency)? |
The human half of a therapy pet team is the leader of the team and must be able to anticipate and/or recognize
interactions that may be overwhelming for your pet. Attending a therapy pet training course will help you to learn
how to safeguard your pet's and others' welfare as you work in therapeutic environments. While there are several
national organizations which supply guidelines and information, the one that provides the most comprehensive information
is the Delta Society Pet Partner program ( http://deltasociety.org/VolunteerAboutBecome.htm
).
- Jackie
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