Boston Dog Guide

Find What Your Fido Loves in and around Boston.
Cynthia Hinckley and her Bright Spot Certified Therapy Dogs

Starting Certified Therapy Dog Training

Become a Therapy Dog Team

By Cynthia J Hinckley

Do you enjoy volunteering and helping others? Are you looking for an activity to do with your sweet, friendly canine companion? The two of you might enjoy becoming a certified Therapy Dog Team and visiting folks in healthcare facilities or helping out in a school classroom or children’s reading program at a public library.    

What makes a good therapy dog? Clearly, not every dog can be a therapy dog….. Sometimes, even the friendliest family pet doesn’t pass an evaluation to qualify for the job. So, what does one look for in a therapy dog? Your dog shows potential for becoming a therapy dog if you can answer NO to this question: Has your dog ever shown aggression toward a person of any age? And, YES to this question: Is your dog completely predictable? If you come up with the correct answers to these two questions, you move onto your dog’s controllability. While your dog is visiting, he/she must be completely under your control. Excellent manners are a must – like walking at your side on a loose leash (not pulling at the end of a 6’ leash and running down a long corridor, knocking over someone with a walker or a cane). Your dog must know the commands of: sit, stay, down, come, and leave it. No jumping up on people, no barking, and absolutely no “accidents.”

Controllability is all about training. As long as you have a non-aggressive dog that is predictable, you can work on training skills. Classes are great, if you have the time to attend them. A basic obedience class will go over the necessary skills that you can build on. Rally is a fun class to do with your dog. It incorporates all the basic skills going through a course that’s set up with various maneuvers. Recall class, Tricks, Agility – they’re all great at building upon the basic skills and developing a bonding relationship between you and your dog. Training should be incorporated in everything you do, all day long. Not isolated into “training time” for 20 minutes.

When you feel confident in your dog’s controllability, his/her predictability, and he/she, to the best of your knowledge, as never shown aggression to anyone, your dog is ready for a therapy dog evaluation. The evaluator will check for all of these things through temperament testing and asking you to perform the various obedience commands. In addition, and most important, the evaluator should be checking to see if the dog appears to be enjoying the visit. Dogs should not be timid, dragging and hiding behind you, or panting excessively. Dogs should be happy while visiting!

“Why do this?” you may ask. Imagine for a moment…. a child’s face lighting up as she finishes reading a book to her canine reading pal… a hospice patient opening his eyes, smiling, and extending a weary hand to pet his furry visitor who is lying beside him on his bed… a psychiatric patient seated next to his quiet canine listener speaking softly to him without fear of criticism or confrontation… These and many more are the simple joys witnessed visit after visit by our volunteers, facility and program staff, and family members of those receiving the visit from a certified therapy dog team. You will always feel that you have done something good when you leave a facility. It’s a wonderful feeling to observe the magical connection between humans and canines at work.

About Cynthia Hinckley

Cynthia J Hinckley is a fulltime real estate agent in Northampton Massachusetts. Along with serving the real estate needs of her clients, she believes in a strong commitment to community service by bringing comfort to those who need it most with visits from her Bright Spot therapy dogs. She makes weekly visits to hospice patients and residents in a nursing home and has been working with therapy dogs since 1992. In 2004, Cynthia founded Bright Spot Therapy Dogs, Inc. a 501(c)3 non-profit organization to provide well-trained, certified therapy dog teams to the growing number of facilities and programs that recognize the benefits derived from the human-canine bond. You can learn more about Bright Spot Therapy Dogs, Inc.

11 Comments

  1. I would like to thank Cynthia for writing this article on Therapy Dogs. Cynthia has been a lifelong contributer to the dog world through dog shows, the MSPCA and her therapy dog organization Bright Spot Inc.

    When visiting, her dogs are always a complete joy to be around….

    Thank you very much,
    Jay

  2. Jay – thank you very much for posting my article on therapy dogs. I’m sure there are a lot of great dogs in Boston that would enjoy doing this with their owners. I’d be happy to answer any questions.

    I love the new photo of Moose on point.

    Keep your terrific articles coming. I really enjoy checking in on fidoloves and reading them.

    Reach for Success,
    Cynthia

  3. Thanks for this information and useful blog. My dog (18-mo pug/JRT rescue dog) recently passed her AKC CGC tests. I’ve also been through a training program for volunteering with a local hospice organization. In preparation for eventual hospice visits, we’re looking for a therapy dog instructor who offers a class or individual training and who’s reasonably local to us (Merrimack Valley/North Shore). Can you point me in a direction or provide a contact?

    Thanks for any help,
    Gene

    • That’s great Gene, I passed your name on to Cynthia Hinckley who is a fantastic Therapy Dog instructor. She should be able to help you if not point you in the right direction. Make sure you take a look at her Bright Spot Therapy Dog website.

      Good Luck,
      Jay

  4. Thanks Jay! Cynthia wrote to me right away and we’re looking into schedules and logistics. I’ve visited the Bright Spot site and it’s clear she’s doing great work. I hope we can set something up to work together to get my dog certified.

    All the best,
    Gene

  5. I am the volunteer coordinator for Care Alternatives Hospice. I am always looking for pet therapist and wondering if I sent you info you would not mind sharing it with your clients. In additon if you have any clients who are looking for volunteer oppprtunities you wouldn’t mind refering them my way? Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you. You can also call me at 413.207.1030.

  6. i have a three year old great dane that is great with people and i would love to get her into being a theropy dog how do i go about this.

    thank you

  7. Would love info. on getting my dog certified. He’s a 5 year old pound dog. Very gentle and loving….

  8. Would like info on getting my dog certified. He’s a 5year old pound dog. Very loving and gentle…

  9. Hi! My name is Rachel! I am an animal care specialist whos dream is to become a dog trainer. I have a 3 year old beagle boxer mix and he is fantastic! Predictable and very non aggressive! I have been looking to volunteer for a good cause for awhile now! How would I go about getting into the therapy dog team? I am very interested. Thank you for your time!

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