 |
Did you know that therapy dog
teams might be found in some very unusual places? Other than nursing homes,
rehab centers and hospitals, therapy dogs also visit schools and libraries
to help promote literacy. Children visiting libraries may read their favorite
stories to a very attentive therapy dog. Other places you may find unconditional love of a therapy dog is at family
shelters, various support groups, hospice care and at community disaster
centers or Red Cross shelters.
Many of the humans in our therapy dog teams work in the human service
arena as speech therapists, physical therapists, ministers, teachers and
counselors. When our dogs accompany us to work they may interact with
children, adolescents and adults who are our clients and our co-workers.
All of our therapy dog visits are free of charge. Facilities are strongly
encouraged to write a protocol for visits by therapy dogs and to share
these with our memebers.
Some suggestions for Facility Participation:
- When a match of a facility and volunteer has been made by Dog
B.O.N.E.S.sm you will receive
notification of the therapy dog handler's name and breed of dog.
- Dog B.O.N.E.S.sm will
contact the therapy dog team and ask them to contact you.
- During the initial phone contact it is recommended that you set up
a time for an initial meeting with the therapy dog team.
- Ask the therapy dog team to bring a copy of their Dog
B.O.N.E.S.smmembership card.
A current membership indicates that the dog is up to date on all shots,
etc. and is covered by insurance and cleared for visiting.
- Please let the therapy dog team know of any additional requirements
you may have, such as a current physical, TB test, etc.
- At your initial meeting you should talk about how you want to organize
the visits:
- Will the therapy dog team be greeted and escorted to areas?
- Will the therapy dog team primarily visit one area?
- Will clients who want a visit by a therapy dog be identified ahead
of time?
- What is the frequency of the visits? Who is the contact person for
the therapy dog team (should a change be necessary)?
For more information on requesting visits, please check out the information in the links below:
College Request for Visits
Facility Request for Visits
Home Visit and Other Requests for Visits
Most of All...Enjoy! And remember to contact Dog
B.O.N.E.S.sm if you require further information or assistance.
©
Copyright 2003
Web Design & Development
The Royalston Group
|
|
