A therapy dog must be at least 1-year old.
Any dog of any breed or mix of breeds can be a therapy dog.
A therapy dog doesn’t have to perform any tricks or know any special commands such as “fetch.” However, therapy dogs must listen to their handlers.
Therapy dogs need to have a calm and gentle disposition. They must be good around other dogs, calm when strangers pet them all over, not jump on others, walk on a leash without pulling, and not startled by things such as strange noises, smells, and medical equipment.
A therapy dog must be current on all vaccines required by the local laws, have a negative fecal test every 12 months, and be clean and well groomed for each visit.
No. ATD doesn’t restrict Member’s choices regarding what they feed to their canine team partners.
No. Therapy dogs do not have the legal access rights that service or assistance dogs have. NOTE: If a Member misrepresents that their therapy dog is a service or assistance dog, they’ve violated ATD’s Rules and Regulations and they’ve put their membership and the integrity of ATD at risk.
