Are there universal standards for therapy dogs?

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Pearlsasinger said:
However I would think that the student teacher is risking bringing the school into disrepute by setting up a GFM begging page. I don't know who she is and I have absolutely no intention of trying to find out but if one person on here can identify her, I bet others can. I'm glad the page has been taken down.
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The GFM page is still live. It is just the two threads on HHO asking for contributions which have been taken down.

The target figure is £9000.
 
The pups done too much too young and is broken.
If it has this surgery I’d put money on it being riddled by arthritis by 5 at the latest.
It’s a disaster all round and I’m really sorry, cute or not, if it were mine it would be pts. I appreciate others take less of a hard line.
 
We had a Mastiff pup in the school I taught at as a ‘reading dog’. The kids read to her and took her for walks around the grounds.

She was actually just one of the SLT members dogs, I don’t think she was a registered therapy dog.

I groom a dog whose owner works in a school for kids who have been expelled or removed from other schools. He goes to work with her for the kids to play with.

It definitely seems to be a thing around here.
 
I’ve not seen the post in question , but definitely pup is too young for such interaction with a lot of children . I have a friend who is a SN teacher , she takes her very well trained (competed at working trials ) dog into school once a week for reading sessions . Seems to really help the children settle but this is totally different to a pup . I hate go fund mes for things like private vet bills , but if anyone would like to contribute to our horse’s £3k plus vets bill feel free to messsge me 😏
 
There are Registered "Assistance Dogs" such as Guide Dogs & Hearing Dogs, and there are people who for their own good reasons decide to slap a tabard on their Fido marked "Therapy Dog" who then believe they can take their dog into places where dogs wouldn't normally be allowed to go, such as supermarkets and some indoor shopping malls.

I have a Deaf friend who has a Hearing Dog; and their dogs (like Guide Dogs) are properly registered, so if H. my friend is in a supermarket, say, and she is challenged, she can show her dog's registration documents and all will be well. It is also a contravention of the DDA if anyone refuses her dog entrance to a facility, from recollection I believe it was a fine of about £6000 for this.

There are I believe other agencies which train dogs as "Therapy Dogs". The training is not cheap! I believe they do though furnish some kind of formal registration so the handler can take the dog into places like residential homes & schools. The owner would require relevant DBS.

I am really quite concerned about unregistered "Therapy Dogs". There's a guy at my local supermarket who goes around with his dog on a lead. It is obvious (to me anyway) that he's just had a tabard with the right words printed on it and put on the dog, and yet no-one ever seems to check whether this dog is properly registered or not, he's just allowed to take the dog in and wander around.

I find it very concerning indeed that a puppy is being taken into a school. This just would not happen with a properly affiliated organisation who train dogs for "working". Things could go wrong very quickly indeed - children don't always understand that dogs (and particularly puppies) might be feeling insecure at the level of attention they are getting, and could react, with the result that someone is bitten. It could so easily happen - and because the dog would be uninsured then there would be one heck of a difficult situation thus created.

Whatever is the school thinking of to allow this?
 
As a student teacher the owner the gfm puppy will have had to have an enhanced DBS check done already.

They would need at least third party liability insurance for the dog though you'd think and it's not likely to be one of those things covered as standard by their home insurance.
 
Clodagh said:
The pups done too much too young and is broken.
If it has this surgery I’d put money on it being riddled by arthritis by 5 at the latest.
It’s a disaster all round and I’m really sorry, cute or not, if it were mine it would be pts. I appreciate others take less of a hard line.
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Exercise wise? (Genuinely interested) I can't remember anything on the original post about exercise.
 
Clodagh/CorvusCorax/skippydipper'any of the other dog folk --
how much of the dog's issues is likely to be down to doing too much to young, versus congenital issues? Or is it a case of a genetically susceptible animal has been exposed to the right environmental triggers?
I can't really see how school therapy visits would be physically taxing on the dog, at least not to the degree that they'd be mentally taxing, as it would surely be on a lead, not rampaging about playing.
 
OCD is genetic or environmental (it's hard, but possible to damage genetically good hips/elbows).

High impact exercise, repetitive movement on hard surfaces, erratic movement on slippy floors, jumping on and off furniture, in and out of cars, up and down stairs are all best avoided in susceptible breeds/crosses until maturity/they can be x-rayed at 12 months, which IMO, all working/sport/active pet dogs should be.
 
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I’ve seen a “therapy dog” in the gym I go to a few times. It’s been decently well behaved but it did look stressed and only looked happy when it disobeyed orders to sit and snuck off to have a cuddle with a big lad doing weights. I felt sorry for the dog as I don’t think it was comfortable being there.

I don’t think it’s fair to expect your pet to deal with situations if you aren’t and I don’t like the emotional toll it could have on them using them as a sponge for your emotions. I try to make my interactions with my animals about them, not me.

And I’ve never donated to a GFM for someone’s pet and can’t see me paying up anytime soon either.
 
CorvusCorax said:
OCD is genetic or environmental (it's hard, but possible to damage genetically good hips/elbows).

High impact exercise, repetitive movement on hard surfaces, erratic movement on slippy floors, jumping on and off furniture, in and out of cars, up and down stairs are all best avoided in susceptible breeds/crosses until maturity/they can be x-rayed at 12 months, which IMO, all working/sport/active pet dogs should be.
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Thank you.

Huge tangent (sorry) but my dog is now 14 months old and i'd like to start canicross/see if she likes it at 2. I've tried very hard to avoid all the things you mention but would you suggest x-raying her before we start on the canicross adventure?
 
FieldOrnaments said:
As a student teacher the owner the gfm puppy will have had to have an enhanced DBS check done already.

They would need at least third party liability insurance for the dog though you'd think and it's not likely to be one of those things covered as standard by their home insurance.
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The DBS check has nothing whatsoever to do with the dog!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
There are Registered "Assistance Dogs" such as Guide Dogs & Hearing Dogs, and there are people who for their own good reasons decide to slap a tabard on their Fido marked "Therapy Dog" who then believe they can take their dog into places where dogs wouldn't normally be allowed to go, such as supermarkets and some indoor shopping malls.
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There is no legal requirement for assistance dogs to be registered and any registration is purely voluntary.
Guide dogs have thier own registry, as do hearing dogs.
There is no registry for allergy dogs, cardiac alert digs or diabetic alert dogs.
 
Bellaboo18 said:
Thank you.

Huge tangent (sorry) but my dog is now 14 months old and i'd like to start canicross/see if she likes it at 2. I've tried very hard to avoid all the things you mention but would you suggest x-raying her before we start on the canicross adventure?
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I x-ray all mine after 12 months. Particularly if intending to train for high impact sport
 
MurphysMinder said:
So are they trying to raise funds for surgery to treat ocd ? Presume it’s not insured as that would be covered.
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If I remember reading it properly there was some confusion over when or if the insurance had been paid which resulted in said animal not being covered.

That's pretty accurate isn't it YCBM?

I'm pretty sure reading between the lines the owner wants to help the dog get better via surgery, and the info about the dog helping the children (giving examples of personal interaction and results to each child) is genuine.

Maybe the dog needs a chance??? If it develops arthritis in later life a decision may well need to be made at that point if it's quality of life is affected.

What would worry me is the owner not being guided by a 'therapy dogs organisation', being able to tell if the dog was feeling uncomfortable or overwhelmed with interaction as not every dog is. I know horses with physical issues can be quite guarded when others get too close, expect it's the same with other species.

I know our dog for instance would find such a situation incredibly hard, I've seen how she can react when certain strangers stroke her, she tends to dip down and twist her neck to look up at them a bit worried maybe??. She does it with me from time to time if I'm a bit too enthusiastic about greeting her. It's a very strange reaction. Never been in an abusive relationship or at least that we know but she was returned to the rehoming place twice before we had her as a rising 2 yr old was told children had teased her. I'm probably not explaining her reactioni so very well, most people will have never seen that reaction in their own dogs themselves.

Something in her demeanor tells me she's not entirely comfortable with the interaction. That said she has made friends with huge numbers of people over the years and most of those will walk or run over to happily, people on the yard, or from partners previous job for example and she's certainly never bitten anyone, or even come close, never growled or frozen but she gives the impression she's a little bit anxious if you pay attention to her body language so I often find myself saying "she's a bit shy" when people ask to stroke her. I never feel 100% comfortable.
 
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Clodagh said:
The pups done too much too young and is broken.
If it has this surgery I’d put money on it being riddled by arthritis by 5 at the latest.
It’s a disaster all round and I’m really sorry, cute or not, if it were mine it would be pts. I appreciate others take less of a hard line.
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The dog already has elbow arthritis whether he has surgery or not.

Should the decision to pts or not depend on the degree of pain and whether it can be satisfactorily controlled?
 
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Birker2020 said:
I know our dog for instance would find such a situation incredibly hard, I've seen how she can react when certain strangers stroke her, she tends to dip down and twist her neck to look up at them a bit worried maybe??. She does it with me from time to time if I'm a bit too enthusiastic about greeting her. It's a very strange reaction. Never been in an abusive relationship or at least that we know but she was returned to the rehoming place twice before we had her as a rising 2 yr old was told children had teased her. I'm probably not explaining her reactioni so very well, most people will have never seen that reaction in their own dogs themselves.

Something in her demeanor tells me she's not entirely comfortable with the interaction. That said she has made friends with huge numbers of people over the years and most of those will walk or run over to happily, people on the yard, or from partners previous job for example and she's certainly never bitten anyone, or even come close, never growled or frozen but she gives the impression she's a little bit anxious if you pay attention to her body language so I often find myself saying "she's a bit shy" when people ask to stroke her. I never feel 100% comfortable.
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Birker, if you know your dog is not happy to be stroked by strangers, for goodness sake don't let them do it. If you know she is not happy with the way you stroke her, don't do it.
 
Birker2020 said:
That's pretty accurate isn't it YCBM?
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I don't have any knowledge of the insurance situation, or of the dog. I only wanted to stop comments like the one accusing the poster of "dictating school policy" and head off the inevitable drift of "gofundme" discussions towards suggestions of fraud, especially when the poster has few posts. The original poster is a good person and a long term member of the forum who is one of the many who prefer not to post. I'm guessing that desperation to save this dog's life is what is drove her to do it this time.
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Bellaboo18 said:
Exercise wise? (Genuinely interested) I can't remember anything on the original post about exercise.
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I cannot imagine a 9 week old puppy sitting quietly next to a stressed or overstimulated 5 year old and there being no leaping/biting/pulling. So not exercise as much as just leaping about.(my assumption).
I do feel very sorry for the owner. And the dog. But if you don’t have £9000 to fix something that is going to have lifelong repercussions if fixed or not I can only see one outcome.
I would not keep alive a puppy that was going to be on medication and in some degree of pain its whole life.
 
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