Hi Just wondering if anyone has or knows someone who uses their Berner as a therapy dog? We want to get Memphis started as soon as reasonably possible in a program so when he is of age we can start taking him into hospitals to visit patients. If read a bit online about delta and tdi.... And I'm curious if anyone has used either of those groups for certification. Thanks a bunch
Factors in Dog Training Fundamentally, dog training is about communication. From the human perspective, the handler is communicating to the dog what behaviors are correct, desired, or preferred in different circumstances and what behaviors are undesirable. A handler must understand communication from the dog.
I understand the fundamentals of dog training. The training is going well. My question was about the groups that do the certification and what fundamentals they are more focued on for certification for dog therapy. Thanks
I know scores of Berners who participate in therapy work, but ever since Delta disavowed raw fed dogs from being certifiable, most every Berner I know has dropped out and refuses that org. Raw fed Berners are the largest raw fed breed there is so this accounts for numerous dogs. Vaccine requirement are another big hurdle as most of these group locations require excessive vaccines - something else that is highly and widely avoided in the Berner community given the sensitive and fragile immune system that does not handle vaccines well. As a result, most Berners I know of do not get certified by these large orgs....they find other good therapy training methods and do therapy that does not require such certification etc. or they get certified by other, smaller and more flexible orgs. If you don't feed raw, then no big deal, but definitely investigate all vaccine requirements beforehand and avoid over vaccinating this fragile breed. Combo shots especially are detrimental. Hope that helps!
