Therapy Dog

[MXRod]

I have been unofficially asked if I would like my dog to be a therapy dog in an SEN school nearby ,I think my dog could be beneficial to helping SEN students
A Google search shows this to be an expensive undertaking .
Is there a less expensive pathway to achieve this

[garythesign]

MXRod said:

I have been unofficially asked if I would like my dog to be a therapy dog in an SEN school nearby ,I think my dog could be beneficial to helping SEN students
A Google search shows this to be an expensive undertaking .
Is there a less expensive pathway to achieve this

I had two therapy dogs in the UK

They we assessed by Pets as Therapy and then visited the local cancer hospice for a couple of hours a week

The only expense I can remember is the collar and lead. I still have these for sentimental reasons.

Over a decade has passed since I finished so I don’t know if things have changed

SEN students may have different regulations.

It is an incredibly rewarding thing to do.

Good luck

[Paulsd]

Not sure if this is allowed but my wife owns a company that helps schools introduce a dog. It’s pretty big - over 450 schools, more than 1000 staff trained all over the UK incorporating nearly 550 dogs. She has many SEN schools as well as mainstream covering all ages.

Her and her team provide all the training, accreditation and ongoing support necessary to enable amazing outcomes for entire school communities. Training is for both dogs and humans - it’s important to understand correctly how to look after the welfare of your dog, run interventions in the best way while managing all the governance and risks involved.

It’s called The Dog Mentor.

The stories I’ve heard around impact and the positive outcomes are nothing short of amazing.

Happy to remove the name and take private messages if I’ve broken advertising rules.

Edited by Paulsd on Monday 15th January 23:15

[MXRod]

Thank you for those replies , I will certainly be following them up .But before I commit too deeply I need to be sure the dog will take to the role of being a therapy dog , to that end I intend contacting the SEN school principal to see if we could have an unofficial trial visit to assess how she will behave with the SEN students , they range from pre school to early teens , and have a range of needs from physical to learning difficulties .

[Paulsd]

MXRod said:

Thank you for those replies , I will certainly be following them up .But before I commit too deeply I need to be sure the dog will take to the role of being a therapy dog , to that end I intend contacting the SEN school principal to see if we could have an unofficial trial visit to assess how she will behave with the SEN students , they range from pre school to early teens , and have a range of needs from physical to learning difficulties .

No problem at all. If you google The Dog Mentor, you'll get the website and you can request a completely no commitment conversation to understand how the programme works.

It's a good idea to have a trial visit but don't put yourself off it it's not quite what you thought it might be. One of the things that my wife does is it go through those initial introductions to make them successul. SEN schools can be quite challenging as an environment, especially for a dog so doing it right is key and it's unlikely to be things you need to do with your dog, it'll be more than likely how the humans react to it.

Regulation is a key principle and that's all covered.

[garythesign]

What sort of dog do you have.

Having looked at the dog mentor site, most of the dogs in the photos are typical of therapy dogs.

Steadiness is probably the best quality.

Good luck

[Andy_mr2sc]

I’d like to get involved with this too. I’ve had the misfortune of spending a lot of time in my local hospitals haematology ward, where a therapy dog would make weekly visits. They also let my o/h bring our vizsla in to see me (separate rooms, not an open ward) and the staff would often take him off to see other patients. When I wasn’t staying in hospital I’d take him with me when I called in for blood tests too, which always cheered the ward up.
I’ve said it would be great to give a little back by taking him in regularly to put a smile on people’s faces.

[Paulsd]

garythesign said:

What sort of dog do you have.

Having looked at the dog mentor site, most of the dogs in the photos are typical of therapy dogs.

Steadiness is probably the best quality.

Good luck

That’s a really good point, thanks. I’ll speak to the boss about adding some more photos - she has a huge variety of breeds on the programme…

Mini Dacshunds to Rottweilers and everything in between.