Posted 2014-08-05 4:45 PM Subject: pet therapy services
Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493 Location: 31 lengths farms
Seriously would love to maybe start a business providing therapy animals to seniors who cannot take care of their own animals but would benefit from a dog or a cat visit, people in assisted living centers like my mom who used to love nothing more than coming out and watching me ride and petting a cat or dog, which ever jumped on her lap and claimed her first. Animals that could be taken to critically ill children or seniors in a hospital, something like that.
Does anyone know where I would be begin to research what you would need to get animals licensed for this or any education that might be needed to do this type of work?
Posted 2014-08-05 5:03 PM Subject: RE: pet therapy services
California Cowgirl
Posts: 14973 Location: California
Some senior assisted living facilities don't require a license or certification for canine visits. They just want to meet the dog prior and do a personal evaluation. I used to bring a former dog of mine to a friends grandmas assisted living home once a week and he would make his rounds in the community center while people watched TV or chatted on the sofas . He had no special certification, just a calm personality and desire to sit on someones lap all day and get pet and give kisses.
As far as the certification to be more involved in various community places I would start here: http://www.animalhumanesociety.org/training/therapy-animals
Posted 2014-08-05 5:16 PM Subject: RE: pet therapy services
Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493 Location: 31 lengths farms
Thank you F Bar. I go see my mom every day at noon. On weekends my sister brings her little dog with her and the usually non talkers immediately brighten up and you will even get a "hey boy..." and a smile from them, so beautiful to see. I'd love to bring that to them more often and with maybe enough animals that they could sit with them longer than the 30 seconds Smoke gives them as he looks for a dropped "treat" under their chair. I know recently the hospital near here that had a therapy dog lost him to old age. They had an article in a recent paper about how he helped people who had become wheelchair bound or had other accidents that in some way changed their lives often find a reason to come back out of their shell and live their life again.
And in truth, being around animals that could give that to people would in turn give that to me again too.
pet therapy services
