The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

Hey,
I am the parent of two cocker kids. They are 9 years old now and turning 10 in Oct. A wonderful trainer started a therapy dog group in our area this past winter and one of my dogs, Madison, and I got certified with them in the Spring. It's called Canine Caregivers. So far, Madison & I have been visited one of the local nursing homes. Others in our group visit the local Veterans Hospital, and also the Hospice House and Kids Camp. I love it. Maidson, a black and white parti boy, is really laid back and I'm so proud of him making people happy. I didn't see many comments about other Cocker Spaniel Therapy dogs on here, and I'd love to hear from others out there doing this to help us. Tips, stories, anything. I want to get my other dog certified. My dream ,hope, is we can visit with children in the future and add some smiles to their day. Madison is alot older than the other dogs in our therapy group who have more energy, but so far he's doing fine and he enjoys visiting. Our group were recently approved by the AKC as one of there recognized therapy groups. There are 5 dog/people teams in our group and they all are different breeds. Madison is doing a good job so far representing all of the Cockers out there, showing them all the best. The AKC also recently started a program that a dog can earn the therapy dog title by 50 visits, or 50 hours of service time. Hope to hear from y'all soon.
Thanks.
Lora
Spencer and Madison's girl

Hi,
Thanks or the encouragement. I can't wait to share you with. I told my friends that when I left the nursing home on Monday after we visit, my heart was so happy. The older people and their families appreciate us stopping by. So many of them used to have pets before they moved to this home so they tell us about their dogs and just rub and pet Madison. He loves it. He doesn't let all the compliements go to his head! They tell him how pretty a dog he is. He is like a celebrity there. :)
In our group, our leader is a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. Madison has always been a good dog, but he hadn't had any classes, not like a robot, you know as far as obedienece. We practiced with our group for an hour or two on Sundays from like Mid-Jan to March or April, it was in the Spring anyway. Then she gave us the test. The Canine Good Citizen Test has 10 things that test for good manners. Madison's thing was he'd do anything for a treat, but you can't use treats during the test. His biggest stumpers were down (lay down), stay when I walked away, and walking on a loose leash. So we worked more on those things. It wasn't stressful and the biggest thing was the leader teaching me. We also have to visit the home with her and also went out in a public place and watched his behavior. He has always been going with us bye bye in the car, to events where dogs were allowed so he was pretty social already.
I'll be sure to send some pics soon. It was nice talking to you.
Have a great day.

Lora kudos in getting certified with Madison. I work in a hospital/rehab/nursing home as a therapist and since Holly was a young Cocker I have bring her to work with me to visit the patients. She is not certified but the patients enjoy seen her. Unfortunately is been almost 8 months since I dont take her as she has some leg problems. If you are visiting nursing homes/or pediatric a laid back dog is more appropriate as it will not threaten with high energy. A story I like to share is in one of my visits with Holly there was a patient with dementia that I swear I never heard her talked. The day I brought holly with me to visit the patients, this patient immediately start asking me all kind of questions about Holly like name, age and so on. I also worked in a facility where the speech therapists will use certified dogs during the therapy sessions.

How do you train your dog to be a therapy dog? Do they have training for this?

There is a class they have to take and a test they have to pass.

Bailey is a therapy dog also and he goes with my husband every Sunday morning to visit the patients in a local hospital. It is funny how he seems to know he has to behave when he gets there. My husband tells him, " Lets go, we have to go to work" and he just gets so excited. It was something I had wanted to do with him but honestly, they are both enjoying it so much that I think I will just wait and take the test in the summer so Bailey and I can do it also.

Hello! I am new to the site and I am a cocker named Adam. I'm not 1010% sure of his breeding as he was a rescue. I am sure he was one of the no-no breeds between a parti and a solid because of his white markings on his nose and throat, but he is a very interesting coloring with tan on his face and feet and he is black and white everywhere else (i have now looked at the colorings and wonder if he might be the blue roan tri, or have that somewhere in him). I do believe he is all cocker though!

Adam and i were just certified as a therapy dog team last saturday! Adam received his AKC Canine Good Citizen certification and his Therapy Dogs International certification! And to top if off, Adam is ONLY 1!!! He is an amazing dog! Adam and I are going to our first visit next thursday at an elementary school! We will be visiting special needs children during their field day! He will also be working at a summer camp for autistic kids and another summer camp for physically handicapped kids! He LOVES kids and this will be a great program for him! We are both really excited!

Adam is brilliant! I have never met a smarter dog! I am thinking about training him for Obedience trials with AKC and possibly Rally Trials! I also think he will perform well in agility so we may begin that a little this summer as well!!!

We are going after the AKC Therapy Dog certification right now! Need our 50 visits and hours! Cant wait to get started!!!

Mary and Adam

Congrats Mary and Adam - I hope you enjoy therapy work as much as my girl Grace and I do!

Congrats! @Mary - I sent you a PM.

Mary and Adam. Congratulations! Adam sounds like a wonderful boy and very, very smart. You will have fun making therapy visits. I feel like when we go, my dog is like a "rock star" bec. he makes people happy and they light up. Besides nursing homes, we have visited a day care and a next week are going to go try to visit a high school class of developmentally challenge students. The teacher wants us to talk about compassion for animals. How can they not love our babies when they see them next week. Wonderful what area you are in? I was fortunate to be able to join a local group Canine Caregivers. Check out our web page http://caninecaregiversnc.com/home.html what's nice about our group is we get together regular to let the dogs play, and we support each other. We have done some community service meals, and visited the local college to talk to students about therapy dogs. one of our members teaches at the college and took her dog to study breaks to allow the students to pet the dog during exam time to help them relieve stress. all kinds of ways a therapy dog can work. it makes me feel good to be a part of this. Congrats again. Love hearing stories about other therapy dogs, bec. we've only done this about a year.