Stay! Basic Commands for Therapy Dogs Two very important commands to teach your dog are "Stay" and "Wait." "Stay" means that your dog stays in a position, like "Sit" or "Down," until you give a release command. A release command is a word that tells your dog that they no longer have to obey a command. Words like "free," "go," "ok," etc are all good words to use to … [Read more...]
READING EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE DOGS (R.E.A.D.)
Reading Educational Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.) R.E.A.D. stands for Reading Education Assistance Dogs and is a program launched in 1999 by a non-profit organization, Intermountain Therapy Animals, to help children learn to read by reading to a dog. So, why read to a dog? Sometimes children don't want to read or have difficulty reading because they are afraid. Fear makes … [Read more...]
THERAPY DOGS
THERAPY DOGS Interested in therapy dogs? Interested in training your dog to be a therapy dog? Interested in joining a group of therapy dogs and their handlers? Or are you interested in having therapy dogs visit your facility or organization? Those are some great questions!! Here are some guidelines for becoming a therapy dog team. Let's start with what therapy dogs are and … [Read more...]
AKC CANINE GOOD CITIZEN CERTIFICATE
AKC Canine Good Citizen Certificate The AKC Canine Good Citizen Certificate, as described on the AKC (American Kennel Club) website, "is recognized as the gold standard for dog behavior." It's a really big deal to get this. And it's not just the canines who get this award that are well-behaved. Their owners must prove that they are responsible and must promise, in writing, to … [Read more...]
PAWSITIVE READING
Pawsitive Reading Today's blog post is about pawsitive reading. What is pawsitive reading? Pawsitive reading is what we aim to achieve by participating in R.E.A.D. (Reading Educational Assistant Dog) programs. R.E.A.D. programs are aimed towards children who have difficulty reading. In R.E.A.D. programs, a child reads to a R.E.A.D. team member's dog, who creates a … [Read more...]