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Our owner-trained therapy dog program begins with a comprehensive temperament evaluation and initial assessment of your dog. This step ensures that your dog possesses the confidence, focus, and temperament needed to succeed in volunteer therapy work. Once your dog passes this evaluation, we develop a customized training plan tailored to their personality, age, and the specific volunteer environments they will serve in. This foundational assessment ensures that training is safe, effective, and aligned with both the dog’s abilities and the needs of the program or handler.

Training progresses in phased, developmentally appropriate stages. We start by reinforcing basic obedience, impulse control, and handler communication, ensuring your dog responds reliably in everyday situations. From there, we introduce exercises designed to build confidence, adaptability, and professionalism in public environments. Continued socialization, exposure to real-world settings, and structured enrichment help your dog remain calm, attentive, and prepared for volunteer visits in schools, hospitals, care facilities, and community programs.

Once your dog is ready, they enter advanced, environment-specific training focused on reliability, consistency, and proper behavior during volunteer work. Their progress is carefully monitored to ensure they meet the standards required for certification. Throughout the program, we emphasize mental stimulation, emotional balance, and positive reinforcement, producing dogs who are skilled, resilient, and confident in public settings.

By the end of the program, your dog will have completed all three CGC levels and passed a 25-step volunteer access test, demonstrating readiness to work professionally in therapy settings. This structured, phased approach ensures that your dog transitions smoothly into their role, providing calm, dependable, and professional support while strengthening the bond between handler and dog.

Our training program is built on consistent communication and well-rounded learning opportunities for both dogs and their handlers. To ensure every team receives the best possible foundation, we require a minimum of one group class attendance each month at a local training location. Group classes provide valuable exposure to different environments, people, and other dogs, which helps strengthen obedience, social skills, and focus around distractions. They also allow handlers to practice in a supportive community setting while learning from others working toward similar goals.

In addition to group work, we require at least two virtual update sessions each month. These sessions are designed to maintain steady progress between in-person meetings, provide ongoing feedback, and allow us to address any challenges quickly. Virtual updates keep training consistent and flexible, ensuring the handler always has professional guidance no matter their schedule or location. They also give us an opportunity to track the dog’s progress closely and adjust training plans as needed.

To round out the program, we require a minimum of one individual in-person training session per month. These sessions provide the focused one-on-one time needed to refine skills, address specific behaviors, and customize training to the dog and handler’s unique needs. By combining group classes, virtual updates, and private sessions, our program ensures a balanced and effective training approach that maximizes success for every dog and handler team.

All of our owner therapy dogs complete the full spectrum of Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certifications, including CGC, CGCA, and CGCU. This structured progression ensures that each dog demonstrates foundational obedience, advanced public behavior, and the ability to maintain focus and composure in complex, real-world environments. By adhering to this documented standard, we guarantee that your dogs possess the temperament, reliability, and adaptability required for professional therapy work.

Achieving all three CGC levels reflects our commitment to highly consistent training practices. Dogs that meet these standards have been systematically evaluated and reinforced under controlled conditions, providing handlers with the assurance that their service dog is socially competent, mentally resilient, and fully prepared to perform reliably in daily life. This level of preparation sets our dogs apart as professional, dependable partners capable of supporting a wide range of peoples needs.

All of our owner therapy dogs undergo a rigorous 25-step volunteer access test, designed to ensure they perform reliably in a variety of real-world volunteer environments. This comprehensive evaluation covers obedience, social behavior, and the dog’s ability to remain calm, focused, and professional amid distractions. By requiring our dogs to successfully complete this structured test, we ensure that every therapy dog is prepared to navigate schools, hospitals, care facilities, and community programs safely, confidently, and consistently.

To maintain the highest standards of reliability, the volunteer access test is administered annually. This retesting ensures that each dog’s skills remain sharp and dependable over time, and that their behavior continues to meet professional volunteer therapy standards. By integrating this ongoing evaluation into our program, we provide handlers and organizations with the assurance that their therapy dog is not only highly trained but also consistently capable of performing effectively in any setting, distinguishing our dogs as dependable, professional partners for volunteer work.

All dogs considered for our owner therapy dog program undergo a thorough and multi-faceted evaluation to assess temperament, behavior, and existing training. This assessment examines traits such as confidence, focus, adaptability, impulse control, and socialization skills, ensuring that each dog demonstrates the emotional stability and resilience necessary to succeed in volunteer therapy work. We also evaluate obedience, responsiveness to cues, and the ability to remain calm in a variety of controlled environments. Only dogs that meet our high standards for temperament and training are accepted, guaranteeing they have the potential to develop into reliable, professional therapy partners.

The evaluation process identifies both strengths and areas for growth, allowing us to create a customized training plan that addresses the dog’s individual needs while maximizing their potential. By understanding each dog’s personality, learning style, and behavioral tendencies from the outset, we can implement a structured, phased approach that prepares them for volunteer environments, public interactions, and long-term partnerships with their handler. This careful screening also ensures safety, effectiveness, and consistency within the program.

By rigorously assessing temperament and training level before enrollment, we provide owners with confidence and clarity that their dog is ready to embark on a structured, professional therapy training journey. This initial evaluation lays the foundation for transforming a beloved pet into a dependable, skilled therapy dog capable of providing comfort, companionship, and positive impact in schools, hospitals, care facilities, and community programs.

The training timeline for dogs in our owner therapy dog program can average between 6 and 24 months, depending on the dog’s existing training, temperament, and experience. Dogs with a strong foundation in obedience and socialization may progress more quickly, while others may require additional time to master advanced skills and general readiness. This time frame reflects the extensive care, guidance, and structured training required to ensure each dog becomes a reliable, confident, and fully capable support partner.

Throughout the training process, our team provides regular updates and guidance to owners, offering transparency and support at every stage. This allows handlers to follow their dog’s progress, celebrate milestones, and understand the steps being taken to prepare their dog for volunteer-based responsibilities. By investing this time and attention, we ensure that every dog entering service is professionally trained, dependable, and ready to provide long-term support to their handler.

Once a therapy dog has graduated from our program, our commitment to the handler and their partner continues for life. We provide lifetime support, ensuring handlers have access to guidance, advice, and training assistance whenever questions or challenges arise. To maintain the highest standards of public performance, teams are required to retake the public access test annually, ensuring the dog’s skills and reliability remain consistent in real-world environments.

In addition to yearly evaluations, we schedule check-ins every six months to review progress, reinforce training, and provide support tailored to the team’s evolving needs. These structured follow-ups allow us to monitor the partnership, address any issues early, and ensure that both handler and dog continue to thrive together. By combining ongoing guidance with mandatory annual assessments, we help maintain long-term success, confidence, and safety for every team that graduates from our program.

Our therapy dog program is designed to create partnerships that last, which is why we offer continuous training and support well beyond initial certification. Graduates are invited to join ongoing classes, workshops, and refresher sessions that strengthen skills, provide exposure to new environments, and keep dogs confident in their volunteer work. These opportunities ensure that each team remains adaptable, reliable, and ready for the unique challenges of therapy visits.

As teams grow, we recognize that new situations may require additional skills. That’s why we offer customized retraining options, whether it’s refining calm greetings, practicing focus in stimulating settings, or preparing for specialized volunteer opportunities. Our trainers work closely with handlers to keep each therapy dog’s skills polished while supporting a strong, positive bond.

Beyond scheduled classes, handlers also have access to professional support whenever questions arise. This ongoing guidance provides reassurance and resources to ensure therapy dog teams continue to meet the highest standards of safety, consistency, and compassion. By offering ongoing education, retraining, and dedicated support, we help therapy dog teams make a lasting, positive impact in the communities they serve.

All handlers of our owner trained therapy dogs are required to retake the public access test each year to ensure that both dog and handler maintain the highest standards of performance in public settings. This annual evaluation verifies that the team continues to demonstrate reliability, composure, and appropriate public behavior, reflecting the rigorous training and professional expectations of our program.

The tests are held locally four times per year, providing multiple opportunities for handlers to schedule their evaluation within a convenient timeframe. Participation in the test requires travel to our location, allowing our trainers to personally assess the team in a controlled and standardized environment.

Completing the public access test annually is mandatory for all handlers, reinforcing accountability, consistency, and skill retention. By maintaining this requirement, we ensure that every service dog and handler team remains confident, capable, and fully prepared to navigate public spaces safely and effectively, upholding the professional standards of our program.

When a therapy dog reaches the end of their working career, we provide guidance for a smooth and respectful retirement process. Retired dogs have earned a life of comfort and care. This ensures the dog’s well-being while honoring the handler’s unique bond and long-term needs.

Once the dog is retired, we require that the therapy vest and any other identifying equipment be returned. This helps maintain the integrity of the program and ensures that retired dogs are no longer presented as active therapy animals, keeping public safety and professional standards intact.

Our retirement policies are designed to provide both the handler and the dog with clarity, support, and a smooth transition. By planning for retirement proactively, we ensure that every dog completes their career with dignity, while handlers receive guidance on continuing to enjoy their partnership safely or welcoming a retired dog into their home as a pet.