One of the most rewarding activities you can do with your Golden Retriever is therapy work.  Therapy dogs go with their owners to volunteer in setting such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes.  From working with a child who is learning to read to visiting a senior in assisted living, therapy dogs and their owners work together as a team to improve the lives of other people.

The purpose of the AKC Therapy Dog TM program is to recognize AKC dogs and their owners who have given their time and helped people by volunteering as a therapy dog and owner team.  this program awards official AKC titles to dogs who have worked to improve the lives of the people they have visited.  In order to earn a Therapy Dog title, the dog must be registered/certified with an AKC approved organization.  There are currently five of these organizations testing dogs in our area. 

They are:

Pet Partners (formerly Delta) http://www.petpartners.org/

Therapy Dogs, Inc.   

Therapy Dogs International http://www.tdi-dog.org

Canine Assisted Therapyhttp://www.catdogs.org

Share-A-Pet  http://shareapet.org

Please note that Pet Partners will not accept any dog who is being fed a raw diet, and that Share-A-Pet requires that all dogs be spayed or neutered.

When the program began there was only one AKC title, THD, which required 50 visits.  The program has now expanded so that there are 5 different titles based on the number of completed visits.  For further information about the program visit the AKC website http://www.akc.org/akctherapydog/