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Old February 23rd, 2011, 03:52 PM
Mina Mina is offline
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Location: Toronto
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Question Therapy Dog ???


I gather there are similarities from one organization to the next,
but does anyone have any first-hand experience
with St. John Ambulance regarding their
Therapy Dog programme?
(Not sure it makes any difference,
but this would be for the Toronto area.)

I'd like to find out everything possible,
but specifically about their actual testing procedures,
as well as exactly what is involved with the actual work.

Thanks, in advance.
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Old February 23rd, 2011, 03:58 PM
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Melinda Melinda is offline
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in cornwall I know you have to volunteer for at least one session a week at a hospital or school etc, each time is about 20-30 minutes with each patient or child, your dog has to be able to sit and stay on command, accept hugs, not flinch around wheelchairs or dropped trays, in other words, super bomb proof, has to accept other dogs, oh and has to be at least a year old, and be use to crowds. not sure if that is what you're looking for or not?
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Old February 23rd, 2011, 04:30 PM
Mina Mina is offline
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Location: Toronto
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Melinda View Post
in cornwall I know you have to volunteer for at least one session a week at a hospital or school etc, each time is about 20-30 minutes with each patient or child, your dog has to be able to sit and stay on command, accept hugs, not flinch around wheelchairs or dropped trays, in other words, super bomb proof, has to accept other dogs, oh and has to be at least a year old, and be use to crowds. not sure if that is what you're looking for or not?
Thank you for the reply, Melinda.

Therapeutic Paws of Canada outlines the actual testing procedure on their web site. I’m told that SJA (about which I can find little info) is a bit different?

I’m also trying to get a feel as the nature of the actual visits. Assuming we're looking at some sort of seniors' residence (as opposed to a hospital or school) :

- Do you pick the facility, or is it chosen for you?
- Do you go to the same facility every week or alternate?
- Are the rooms (people) to visit pre-determined?
- Do you visit the same people/rooms every visit? If not, how does the schedule work?
- What do you actually do in each room?
- Do the people visited generally talk about ... you, your dog, talk about themselves?
- What happens if someone has allergies, or is afraid of dogs (or just your dog)? Are you informed ahead of time, or do you find out “on the fly”.
- How long is each visit? Is there a maximum (or minimum) time allotted?
- What happens if you can’t make it one week? Are the people informed ahead of time, or do they eagerly await a visit which isn't coming?

I know these things will be covered in their “orientation meeting”, but that’s not for quite some time in our area.
I don’t like surprises and would like to know all I can beforehand !
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Old February 23rd, 2011, 04:34 PM
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Melinda Melinda is offline
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Posts: 5,247
the nursing home I volunteer at has a standing once a month visit from the sja dogs and its always the same 4 dogs. I know you can volunteer to go to different places, they usually post a listing of when and where and ask you to sign up. our seniors meet in the visitors lounge if they want to see/play with the dogs and if they are bed ridden and want to see the dogs, then the nurse will give sja members their names and room numbers and ask if you could stop in for a few minutes.
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