Your dog should know and reliably follow basic obedience commands, be controllable, reliable, inspire confidence in the clients they visit and enjoy interacting with and being touched by people. Basic obedience commands include ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘stay’, ‘heel’, ‘come’ when called and ‘leave it’.
Although many dogs have good manners at home, your dog must also behave in varied situations, around distractions, loud noises and around different people. These things are illustrated in the TAU Fur-Real Hands-On Handler Practicum (Step 2). |
After you complete the online Pet Partners training course and the Fur-Real Hands-on Handler Practicum, and you feel your dog is ready, sign up for a team evaluation. This is an assessment of the handler and animal partners in various situations common to what therapy teams will encounter. The evaluation takes 30-45 minutes and are scheduled throughout the year. TAU charges $30.00 for the team evaluation – the fee is good for three attempts should the team be deemed ‘not ready’ in one or more areas of the skills and aptitudes outlined by Pet Partners. Should you be deemed ‘not ready’, the evaluator will give feedback on what needs to be improved before you and your pet return at no additional cost. Team evaluations are scheduled monthly. Please see our website calendar and events page if you’d like to schedule an evaluation.
|