The Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs is a non-profit organization based in New Jersey which evaluates, tests, trains, qualifies and supports therapy dogs for the purpose of giving loving and empathetic support in nursing homes, hospitals, psychiatric wards and other facilities where emotional service dogs are indispensable.
Caring Canines Visiting Therapy Dogs, Inc., www.caringcanines.org, is an all-volunteer, non-profit canine pet therapy program serving the Boston area. Established in 2001, it has over 100 volunteer dog/handler teams and serves over 50 facilities on a regular basis.
Pet Partners, www.petpartners.org, is the new name of the Delta Society, a national program established in 1990. This program has established standards and guidelines for facilities and people wanting to become involved with pet therapy. Animal Assisted Activity (AAA) provides educational and/or recreational benefits. Animals are used for petting and routine visits to patients. This is the most common type of visit. In Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), the animal is actually part of the therapy process—the animal and handler work with a member of the health care team to attain measurable treatment goals.
The Good Dog Foundation, www.thegooddogfoundation.org, provides animal-assisted therapy in facilities throughout the metropolitan New York area as far as Kingston, NY and Fairfield County, CT. Adult volunteers are not only taught how to work with their dog, but also how to comfortably and confidently interact with all types of patient populations in a variety of situations.
Sit, Stay, Read, www.sitstayread.org, is one of many literacy programs for children. School-age children, grades 1-5, may sign up to read aloud to dog/handler teams. The program started in Chicago but other schools have initiated the program as well to improve reading and writing skills in struggling students.
Therapy Dogs International, Inc. (TDI), www.tdi-dog.org, is a national volunteer organization dedicated to the regulating, testing and registration of therapy dogs and their volunteer handlers for the purpose of visiting nursing homes, hospitals, other institutions and wherever else therapy dogs are needed. TDI was established in 1976, and over 14,000 dogs and 10,000 handlers are registered with this organization.
The Miami Valley Pet Therapy Association in Troy, OH educates and equip pets—and their owners—to provide animal assisted therapy services to over 95 facilities throughout the Greater Miami Valley area. Learn more by visiting MVPTA.
If anyone would like to share information about other therapy programs, please contact info@nationalpyr.org.
