Animal Therapy

NDTC provides training for aspiring pet therapy teams in support of their registration for programs. These courses are designed to help the handler and dog acquire, and fine tune, skills needed to pass a pet therapy evaluation to become a registered pet therapy team.

NOTE: To be eligible for any pet therapy class, a dog should be mature and have a stable, friendly temperament; dogs that show any type of aggression or shyness are not appropriate for these classes.

All NDTC classes require proof of current rabies vaccination for dogs aged six months or older.

Pet Therapy

Prerequisites
In order to be eligible for the Pet Therapy class, a dog should be mature and have a stable, friendly temperament; dogs that show any type of aggression or shyness are not appropriate for this class. Teams must have taken the first three levels of obedience training and have earned their AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Certification (must provide a copy to the registrar).
Courses required: Beginner Obedience, Canine Good Citizen, and Beginner Competition Obedience.

Goals
This course is designed to help handler and dog acquire and fine tune the skills needed to pass a pet therapy evaluation and to be prepared for therapy visit challenges. It covers aspects of the dog/handler team handling therapy visits and preparing their evaluation skills.

Intermountain Therapy Animals Pet Therapy

(ITA Animal Therapy)

NDTC offers training Animal Therapy Teams for TPC-Therapy Patient Connections, an Affiliate of Intermountain Therapy Animals. This is a two-part course; Part 1 focuses on the human side of the team.

Part 2 focuses on the handler and dog as a team. This course is designed to help handler and dog acquire and fine tune the skills needed to pass the ITA assessment and registration, required to become a member of TPC.

We are currently combining both parts by splitting each session into lecture first followed by scenario practice. Animals will be crated during lecture portion of the class.

Prerequisites

Part I: In order to be eligible for Animal Therapy class, dogs must have earned their AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Certification (must provide a copy to the registrar) and be at least 18 months old and less than 10 years old prior to registration.

Part II: In addition to part 1 prerequisites, the handler should have either taken or is currently taking Animal Therapy Handler Skill class or have been a previous TPC Therapy Team.

Goals

Part I: This portion of the class is a lecture only format with instructor ZOOM interaction. It focuses on the human part of the team. It covers all aspects of the dog/handler team, how to handle therapy visits, and preparing for the test. This course requires handlers to own the TPC/ITA manual. Teams may purchase book on the first night of class for $45 (not included in the class fee) Dogs are not invited to the Handler Skills Training session(s)

Part II: This portion of the class is presented as mock scenarios for dog and handler to maneuver. The course is designed to help handler and dog acquire and fine tune the skills needed to pass the TPC Team Assessment & Registration and to be prepared for the varied challenges in therapy visits. It covers all aspects of the dog/handler team, how to handle therapy visits, and preparing for the test aspects.