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How to Register Your Dog as a Therapy Dog?
Humans are lucky to have dogs as our companions. Dogs used to help us watch livestock or help us hunt. Now, they are here to provide us with much-needed support. Unfortunately, people often get assistance animal regulations wrong. We are here to help clear things up. The first step is to understand the rules and regulations around assistance animals.
Can I Register my Dog as a Therapy Dog?
There are three types of assistance animals. Each performs a specific function and has special access rights.
- Service Animal – trained to perform a specific task for their handler’s disability. Service Dogs have full access to all public places, including restaurants, hotels, and no-pet housing. A fee cannot be a charge for granting access to Service Dogs. A service dog is considered a medical device and not a pet.
- Emotional Support Animal – does not require special training and provides comfort to their handler. Emotional Support Dogs have access to no-pet housing, and the landlord cannot charge a fee for an ESA as well.
- Therapy Animal – does not require special training and provides comfort to others. Therapy Dogs do not have special access and must be invited in. A fee can be charged for granting access to a therapy dog.
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You can register your dog as a therapy dog by following the links below!
Therapy Animals are often confused with Emotional Support Animals. A quick way to discover which assistance animal you need is to ask yourself a simple question.
Is my dog here to support my emotional needs or is my dog her to support other’s emotional needs?
- If the answer is yourself, you require an ESA Letter from a therapist.
- If your answer is others, your require a Therapy Dog Certification.
Train and register your dog as a Therapy Dog in 3 Easy Steps –
- First – Adopt and train a dog with a calm and kind temperament and can pass a Canine Good Citizen Test.
- Second – Train your dog to be well-behaved in public places such as a hospital or school. When they go to a hospital or school, they need to be well-behaved as to not hurt others or themselves.
- Third – Certify your Therapy Dog by registering them with Service Dog Certifications
Your Therapy Dog can also act as your Emotional Support Dog. To qualify your Therapy Dog as your ESA, you will need an ESA letter from a therapist. If your current therapist understands ESA laws and can help you write an ESA letter, this is your best route. If you do not have access to an ESA Doctor or ESA therapist, we recommend seeking support for a legitimate ESA resource.
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Hi I live in the UK I wish to register or some sort of paperwork as my dog is two & helps me & calms with as I have severe anxiety, depression & BPD how can I go about doing that please?
This site is based on US law and regulations. Unless you’re planning to live in the US, you would need to look for the applicable laws in your country to make further arrangements. Good luck!
I recently became the owner of a beagle who was cast out from his breeders for not being interested in hunting for sport as he is an exceptionally calm and clingy. They wanted him to be aggressive and to hunt and kill small animals but he didn’t want to hunt with his brother and sister so the breeders decided to get rid of him as he was useless to them. That’s when “Shmoo” came into my life and yes that is the new name I gave him as his breeders wanted to call him ‘Brutus’ which is just plain silly as he is like 14lbs soaking wet and about as scary as a teddy bear and he will attack you with kisses. He would also not respond to Brutus but if you muttered “shmoo” he came running….and also it is fun for my 2 year old niece to say.
As the weeks went on, I noticed that Shmoo was abnormally attached to me even though I live with a lot of family in a tenement house with young nieces and children that he could play with and my sister has a dog as well but he shows little to no interest with them and will stick by my side like glue, but he will also sit near other members of my family and is not completely anti-social with them, in fact he likes my dad a lot. I began taking Shmoo for walks at the park and the local reservations and we both love spending the day together out in the woods and it makes me happy to watch him taking in all the new scents and scenery and I would smile when he would stop what he was doing and look up to see where I was.
Recently however, while on my way to work, I have been getting this overwhelming sensation that Shmoo is in the car with me and I will even turn around to check the back seat because I am certain that he is there, but he isn’t. When I get home from work sometimes I get stuck there for 10-16-20hrs because of staffing issues and me being a supervisor am required to cover gaps in the shift if no staff are available. This leaves Shmoo afraid and confused as to why I am not taking him with me and I can tell because when I come home, he whimpers and sometimes barks at me because he can’t contain his excitement and he shivers and jitters till he calms down and this makes me sad that he misses me that much to have a full body meltdown because he loves me so much.
After 3 months with Shmoo I can say that the love is mutual and he is helping me deal with stress and depression better than the medical marijuana I am using to treat my stress/depression is. It dawned on me the other day when I went to the bank and he couldn’t come inside with me and although I was only inside for literally 5minutes, when I returned he had a mini meltdown and layed across my lap for the entire rest of the ride to the park (20+min) and didn’t even look out the window. I realized that I am helping Shmoo with his anxiety and rejection he is feeling from being mistreated by his former breeders as he is helping me overcome my issues.
I want to have him registered so that he can accompany me wherever I go and will have him trained if needed, but honestly he is so calm he doesn’t need any public safety training, as people at the parks we go to walk up and pet him all the time and he doesn’t mind the extra attention and has never shown aggression to anyone even when my nieces pull on his super oversized droopy ears.
Shmoo??? That’s the cutest name I’ve ever heard. Thank you
Hey I have a German Shepard very well behaved and tempered well , grew up with my 3 year old neice so is very gentle around smaller people.
I was just wondering if I register him through a emotional support dog as I suffer from bad anxiety and depression. If I register him through your company does it past Australia ln guidelines for 100% of having them registered through your system
Registrations and certifications on this website are based around US laws and regulations. You would need to consult your country’s regulations for ESA registration requirements.
Im interested in learning what I need to do to get a license for my dog to be a therapy dog. I am willing to take her to classes and I desire to take her to convalescent homes. What are the necessary steps to begin with? How long does the process take and where do I get the certification that it’s a therapy dog?
My dog rescued me, I am a cancer survivor and looked everyday in the shelter for a year for her. As soon as our eyes met, we both knew, we rescued each other.
I don’t know how to add her photos or I would.
If my dog became therapy dog can she fly with us
Unfortunately, no. Therapy dogs do not have the same access rights as service dogs. Their rights are limited to select establishments and would be handled as normal pets on planes. You may find this article on the difference between therapy dogs, emotional support dogs, and service dogs interesting https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/difference-service-dog-emotional-support-animal/
Can a dog be registered as a therapy dog AND an emotional support dog?
Yes, your dog can help you as an ESA, and can also work as a therapy dog. As long as his duty as ESA doesn’t suffer from being a therapy dog. You may find these two articles helpful on the subject –
https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/how-to-certify-a-therapy-dog/
https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/how-to-qualify-for-an-emotional-support-animal/