ANNIE YAMSON
Daily Reporter
Columbus is filled with opportunities for people who like to volunteer.
However, many working adults find it hard to balance their professional responsibilities and family commitments with their philanthropic endeavors.
And, like so many people in the city and surrounding areas already know, having a dog can be an extra time commitment that prevents spending long hours away from home.
But those pet owners feeling the pull of community service will be happy to learn that their furry friend can be a volunteer too.
Registering a dog as a therapy pet allows owners to spend time with their dogs while getting them out of the house and doing some good for the local community.
Often, the process is as simple as basic obedience training and taking a test.
And the programs are so popular that some, like Nationwide Children’s Hospital, had to stop accepting volunteers and put them on a wait list. Then, they had to close the wait list.
“They’re always well-received and the kids and families appreciate interacting with the dogs,” said Donna Trentel, lead coordinator for the hospital’s family and volunteer services. “Some of them are kids who have pets at home or wish they had a pet.”
Angie Jones, founder of Angie’s Therapy Dog Class in Grove City and director of Doctors Hospital’s therapy dog program, said therapy dogs tend to brighten the mood anywhere they visit.
At hospitals, she said the dogs aren’t just for the patients.
“They are for everybody,” said Jones. “It’s for the people who walk in the door to see their loved ones, it’s for the kids that come to the hospital, it’s for the doctors, the nurses, the staff, just everybody.”
Therapy dogs can visit hospitals, assisted living facilities and even schools to teach children how to read.
“I’ve done children’s reading programs at schools,” said Jones. “The kids just love it. They read books and they’ll go and get another book and read more and more just so they can sit there and read to that dog.”
To become a therapy pet team, dogs and handlers need to complete basic obedience classes.
Technically, the team can then take a test to get registered and start visiting facilities.
Many organizations in town, however, offer more services to help the team deal with things they may encounter on an ordinary volunteer visit before they get tested.
Jones, for instance, requires that all of the dogs enrolled in her class have completed basic obedience before they start therapy dog training.
“What my class provides is pre-education an pre-training so they can have all the stuff they need up front before they go out into the real world after they get their dogs registered,” said Jones.
In her classes, dogs and handlers complete a visit to a facility, they learn proper elevator etiquette and commands like “leave it” to prevent dogs from potentially dangerous objects in hospital environments.
When they complete her course, Jones gives therapy teams information on where and how to get tested and registered as well as places they can volunteer.
Angel Paws, an affiliate of Pet Partners, is an organization that also works to assist pet owners in getting their furry friends registered to be a therapy pet.
Patti Shanaberg, executive director of Angel Paws, said that her organization recommends trainers that teach dogs basic obedience and they help the teams practice to pass their test.
“It’s very important to find a trainer who uses true positive reinforcement training,” said Shanaberg. “For therapy dogs in particular, it’s very important to keep their perception of learning, people and new experiences very positive.”
Going into hospitals and schools, Shanaberg said the dogs meet and greet new people on a regular basis, so it is essential to socialize them from a young age.
The dogs need to be at least one year old before they can be tested and registered, but they are encouraged to begin training while they are still puppies.
One thing that organizations like Angel Paws provide that obedience classes may not offer is handler training.
In a two-day required workshop without their pets, handlers learn to recognize stress signals in their pets, how to interact with hospital staff, how to facilitate safe and responsible visits and infection control.
With Pet Partners, therapy teams can take the test to register as many times as they need to get it right. They are then placed in facilities where they are required to visit once every other week.
“We implement a program in the facilities we work with so we can place people in these facilities,” said Shanaberg. “We can work with people if they want to visit more often, but not too much because we want to make sure the dog is fresh. Or, if their schedule doesn’t allow them to visit so often, we can work with them on that.”
The program can be a great family activity too. Children as young as 10 years old can register with their dog to be a therapy team, though anyone younger then 16 must be accompanied with a parent or guardian.
For those with a busy schedule and a pet to look after, the consensus is that registering to be a therapy team is a good option that simultaneously teaches the dog good behavior, allows the owner to volunteer and brings joy to the local community.
“For the few minutes that the dog is in the room, a huge smile comes across the people’s faces,” said Jones. “It takes their minds off of what they’re up against.”
To find out more about how to register your dog to be a therapy pet, visit angelpawstherapy.org or therapydogclass.com.