A therapy dog is usually used to provide comfort and company to those who are in need of attention especially hospitalized patients, people at psychological institutions, old homes and young child who feel neglected and need someone to talk to and trust. A therapy dog can be a good companion for such people to vent out their loneliness and aggression. Therefore, such a dog has to be really clam and gentle so that the person is easily able to talk to it, cuddle it and make it his friend – for this reason, therapy dog training is quite different from the training of any other service dog. Before you start training a dog, it is best to choose the breed wisely; go for a dog that has a calmer and friendly attitude in general. A ferocious dog may be very difficult to train – generally, Labradors are the most preferred breed for such kind of training. Once you have chosen the dog that, you are most comfortable working with; here are a couple of basic tips that you can follow to train your animal as a good therapy dog.

The basic thing about therapy dog training is to make him used to strangers; it can be very hard since it requires the trainer to completely mound the nature of the dog. If you are planning to train your dog as a therapy dog, you can start by taking him for a walk and giving him positive reinforcement about not barking at strangers. A regular walk to the park along with different people can make him realize that he does not have to bark on every passerby. In addition to this, you should also take your dog to the market, stadium and other noisy places so that he gets used to being around random people.

It is also very important to teach your dog the simple tricks of sitting down and standing up not only at your command but also at the command of others; at the same time, you will also have to make him get used to the fact that he is not allowed to lick anyone’s hands or feet. This is necessary because he will be visiting many patients with different diseases once he is fully trained and quality by the authorities. Along with this therapy dog training, you also need to maintain your dogs’ good health; make sure that you feed him well and take him for a regular checkup. In addition to this, keep a record of all this vaccinations and injections, as the people at GSC will be inquiring you about it once they come to check your dog to see if he really qualifies to become a good dog therapist.

Therapy dog training calls for a lot of patience and hard work with your pet; it may take months or even years to train your dog properly but once trained he can help so many people out there that you will feel that all your effort was totally worthwhile.