Therapy Dogs

May 4

Canine Companions believes in the joyful, transformative power of the human-canine partnership – in every form!  More than one-third of dogs released from service dog training have gone on to serve as therapy dogs in their communities. We think that’s incredible, and we are proud that through our therapy dog certification program, we can continue to support and engage these volunteers while providing suitable released dogs with impactful jobs.

While our mission is to provide highly trained service dogs to people with disabilities, we believe the dogs released from our program can still have an incredible ripple effect in the world through their work as therapy dogs. With this goal in mind, we have created this program to certify our amazing dogs to provide support and comfort to members of their community.

A therapy dog is a pet that accompanies their owner into specific settings for the benefit of the residents or clients in the setting and/or as part of a therapeutic intervention. Studies have shown that interacting with therapy dogs as part of an animal-assisted intervention approach yields both physical and psychological benefits to humans and the dog. Our therapy dog program will provide formal therapy dog certification and ongoing support for eligible teams across our footprint.

All Canine Companions dogs receive extensive temperamental and medical evaluations, and dogs selected for this program must be approved by our expert staff in both our national veterinary and training departments. Only a small number of dogs that qualify for the program will be available to those that were not the dog’s volunteer puppy raiser.

The Canine Companions Therapy Dog Certification Program is an American Kennel Club (AKC) recognized program. Teams that are certified through this program are eligible to receive AKC Therapy Dog titles.

Learn more about Canine Companions’ Therapy Dogs at Canine.org.