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Textbook recommendations
Hello everyone, I have mentioned before that I am an adjunct Instructor at a four year college degree program in Canine Training and management. I have just been tasked to teach the Therapy Dog Classes. Can anyone recommend a textbook that I could use for lecture. Thanks Bruce
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13 Replies
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What fun, @bmacwatt – what’s the scope of the course? What’s the learning objective? What may be covered in other courses that doesn’t need to be in this one?
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Hi Catherine. Basically ii can set the curriculum up the way I want. The students are Seniors I have 28 Students. There is a 1 hour lecture each week and a two hour lab. I have to assign each student a dog and teach them all aspects as to what’s involved I getting dogs ready for certification. The previous professor used TDI as the certification. I was looking for a textbook on Therapy dog training. The previous person used “The other end of the leash”. It’s a great book but not specific toward therapy dog work.
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Oh, great – this is helpful. I’d check out Ann Howie’s book. She’s an absolute ICON in the therapy dog world, and a positive reinforcement trainer. (In therapy dogs, as in all niches, you’ll find a mix of training styles.) Ann is a lovely human and a compassionate trainer and was a key part of developing the Delta Pet Partners training courses decades ago.
I used to teach people to use their dogs as therapy dogs, and I helped start a group many years ago. A common misconception is that this kind of work is just another dog “sport” or activity. It is not. It is mostly about making a connection with the humans you are visiting. And so I would expect any course to cover some of the human connection aspects as much as taking care of your own dog during them. Ann’s book will cover that, whereas other materials may focus solely on the dog skills. It looks like she also may have some videos on Youtube that may be worth a look.
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Also, if I’m not mistaken, TDI is just using AKC CGC for certification – is that right? You may want to have a look at the Pet Partner test, as it tests the team, not just the dog.
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As part of your labs, you may want to have the students make some visits to a few different types of facilities, at first, without dogs, and have them brainstorm about handling strategies and concerns to keep in mind as they are training. For example, a daycare offering a T-dog visit is very different from a rehab hospital. And if you are in a geriatric setting, there are other things to consider… Then at the end of the class, they can visit with the dogs, and see how it all plays out.
I have lots more ideas… but I’ll close with this: The #1 strategy for helping a new therapy dog succeed is to make their first trip into the new facility very short – 5 or 10 minutes, tops. Then, outside for a 10 min sniff break, then back in… that second round will always be so much better than the first. 😉
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What a great project, @bmacwatt ! I used to do evaluations, classes, and recertifications for a TD org in my area. Will you be covering the topic of how they’ll know if a dog is appropriate for the task of becoming a TD, and body language so they know if the dog is comfortable in whatever settings and during their interactions with people?
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This is sooo important. It’s certainly not “plug n play”, is it!? I retired my golden retriever after his first year of t-dog work because he didn’t love it. He just wanted to play with me and he did not want to visit other people. It just wasn’t his jam. Bliss on the other hand, should totally be doing t-dog work. I keep saying I’m going to get her out there… somebody give me a push! 😉
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Thank you so much. Those are fantastic ideas. I’m so glad I reached out I am also doing the service dog curriculums. So much for part time professor. They also added a 3 hour lecture for me to do once a week for all incoming Freshman. It’s on canine care and modern uses in todays society. I also am trying something new for the area I live in. I am offering a leash reactivity seminar for the community. It filled up in 20 mins after I posted it. I now have a waiting list. If any new trainers want to specialize in something leash reactivity is a gold mine. I got flooded with emails. Maybe that’s a topic we can talk about in DD
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@bmacwatt congrats on all the success! That’s so amazing.
Re: leash reactivity seminar… I love @bernerlabreclectus Paula’s idea to chat about this in DD – Bruce do you want to open a new discussion for that? I’m eager to hear how you plan to roll that out.
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Yes I will open up discussion on leash reactivity seminar.
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Therapy Dog Training class…WOW!!! I wish I could be a student there…
I love your ideas, @catherine !
How cool that you’re teaching at that level, @bmacwatt ! I bet you’ll be an awesome professor to teach this class.
I also LOVE the ideas about Leash Reactivity community class. Let’s talk more about that. Such an amazing idea.
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Thanks Paula for the kind words. It’s so nice to be in a community that’s positive and not arguing about who’s right or who is wrong.
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It’s true – you all are contributing to our great culture here – THANKS for making DD a special place. ????
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