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[lemurchaser]

Oscar took his therapy dog test today. He did so good. He missed the highest rating (complex) by one exercise-he needed me to stop him from licking one of the testers, one or two licks is barely okay, and he wanted to lick her up and down. He listened beautifully, except on the leave-it, in which he really thought about grabbing that toy. I was

Comments

[sayga]

Hooray! You should throw him a celebration party!

[voyageofbeagle]

Hi- I saw your DITL and congrats on Oscar getting his therapy dog certification! Sorry to barge into your LJ, but I have been thinking about working towards getting my dog certified for therapy. How old is Oscar? My beagle is currently six months- is the standard for a dog to be at least a year for certification?

From googling some info, it seems like your dog has to pass the canine good citizen test, but what level of training and obedience do you feel they have to be at to successfully qualify? Scout is currently in a novice training class- and the place I take her also has intermediate & advanced.

Any info you could pass along would be appreciated! Thanks so much- your dogs are gorgeous! My beagle loves any kind of pit/staffy mixes- there are lots of them at our dog park :-)

[lemurchaser]

Oscar is 1.5 yrs. I forget how old they need to be to be tested, I think its 1. Your dog should be good at the canine good citizen skills as well as a few other. Delta Society is the national organization, and they have good info on the test. See if there is a therapy group in your area (there is a list on the delta society website) and they often have therapy dog training classes or workshops. A lot of dogs need to grow up before they can pass the test, but some dogs are just naturals at it. The test is basic obedience in a distracting setting with lots going on. They want to see that your dog can handle the unpredictability and odd things that may happen during a visit.

Good Luck. Its lots of fun once you get started.