Potential therapy dogs should complete a comprehensive screening in three major areas: health, behavior/training and temperament.

Health screening, done by a veterinarian, determines if the dog is healthy and free from disease. This protects both the clients in a facility and your dog. As a responsible person, you would not want to put clients at risk by exposing them to an animal that is not healthy. Also, you would not want your dog to be working in a therapy setting if it had a health problem that could be worsened by increased activity or stress.

Dogs must also have appropriate behavior for therapy work. A beautiful, healthy dog is not a suitable therapy dog if it jumps on everyone it sees without an invitation.

Finally, an animal may pass the veterinary screening and be very well trained, but may not be a good candidate for therapy work due to temperament. Some dogs, while they may behave wonderfully and may be very loving toward their owners, they just aren’t ideal for doing therapy work. They may become stressed in unfamiliar settings or around people who may have unpredictable behavior.

What are the steps in the behavior test? Learn more