By Amy Tokic

If your dog is calm, friendly and good with strangers, they may already have what it takes to become a therapy animal. Dogs of any breed or size can be trained to visit hospitals, nursing homes and care facilities, bringing comfort to the people who need it most.

What therapy dogs do

When you and your dog visit a hospital or nursing home, you’re offering something simple but hard to replicate: calm, companionship and a reason to smile. Therapy dogs work in schools, care facilities and hospitals, sitting with terminally ill patients, keeping lonely seniors company and helping children manage anxiety and depression.

Therapy dog vs. service dog

If you’re new to this world, it’s worth knowing the difference. A service dog is trained to perform specific tasks for one person — guiding someone with vision loss, for example, or responding to a seizure — and is legally permitted in nearly all public spaces. A therapy dog works differently: visiting facilities by invitation, with access granted by each individual organization or venue, not protected by law.

Enroll in the AKC Good Citizen Program

Start with the American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification. It tests basic obedience and social behaviour, and most therapy dog programs require it before a dog can move forward — so it’s worth doing early.

You don’t have to be your dog’s handler. If your dog has the right temperament but you can’t commit to regular visits, someone else can fill that role and take them through the program.

Take a therapy dog training program

With the Canine Good Citizen certification in hand, your dog is ready for therapy-specific training. In hospitals and care facilities, dogs encounter unpredictable environments — unfamiliar smells, sudden sounds, medical equipment and people in distress. Your dog needs to handle all of it calmly.

That means being able to:

  • Remain relaxed around strangers and unfamiliar surroundings
  • Tolerate sudden noise and movement without startling
  • Stay focused on you despite distractions
  • Respond reliably to key commands, including: watch me, leave it, go through, follow, under, get drink and quiet

Look for a therapy dog registration program

Don’t wait until training is finished to look into therapy organizations. Start researching while your dog is still working toward certification. Requirements differ from one group to the next — standards, required courses and testing all vary — so give yourself time to find the right fit for you and your dog.

Complete the final evaluation process

Once you’ve met all the requirements, you and your dog will complete a final evaluation — or a series of them, depending on the organization — to become a certified therapy team. It’s the last step before the real work begins.

Schedule your first visit

Certification is where the work pays off. You and your dog will be scheduled for facility visits through your organization — and those visits are where everything comes together. The training, the evaluations, the hours of practice — all of it shows up in the room when your dog settles beside someone who needs exactly that.

It’s a significant investment of time. But consider what’s on the other side: a certified partner and a standing invitation to be the best part of someone’s day