Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program Handler Guide

by Pet Partners

You’ve felt it – the undeniable boost to your mood and spirit you feel when you’re with your pet. Every year, thousands of pet owners around the world choose to share this gift by becoming a member of Pet Partners. If you’ve considered becoming a therapy animal team with your pet, this book is your first step! Learn about the best practices for therapy animal work for you as a handler, and discover whether your animal is suitable for this kind of work. This book is the companion text for the Pet Partner Handler Course, available in-person or online through petpartners.org, and also covers current lexicon, the benefits of animal-assisted interventions, and the evaluation requirements. Pet Partners’ Therapy Animal Program represents the best that the field of animal-assisted interventions has to offer. Volunteers in the Therapy Animal Program interact with a wide variety of clients including veterans with PTSD, seniors living with Alzheimer’s, students with literacy challenges, patients in recovery, people with intellectual disabilities, and those approaching end of life. We believe that the human-animal bond is a mutually beneficial relationship that improves the physical, social, and emotional lives of those we serve. We are motivated by connection, compassion, and a commitment to sharing this meaningful bond with everyone who can benefit from time spent with an animal.

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2018

Reviews

[Liz Kerchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let’s hope it helps me pass my exam

[K.S. Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program Handler Guide is the companion guide to Pet Partners' Therapy Animal certification course. You may think that a pet therapy program is just taking your dog to a nursing home for the occasional visit, but there's a lot more involved. First, more than just dogs act as therapy animals. Therapy pets may be dogs, cats, horses, parrots, or one of many other animals. Second, therapy animals are used in many more settings than nursing homes. They make visits to hospitals, schools, and other institutions and settings.

This guide is chock full of information like health requirements, patient confidentiality requirements, and how to approach and work with institution staff as well as the residents. It's a well-organized, engaging, and clearly written book. Follow the guide to become an expert and welcomed pet therapy visitor.

[Amy Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was a surprising discovery for me, as both an animal-lover and a frequent medical patient, to find such a trove of wise words and useful advice, most of which was new to me. Anyone can use this book - you don't have to be an expert in the medical or animal industry, as everything is laid out very clearly and with explanation, so that pet therapy practitioners, advocates and newbies can understand what they're doing (and facing) and how to properly plan. I'm actually recommending this book to several of my regular in-patient medical clinics, as I know they get therapy dog requests, and just don't know where to start when people offer their help. But now they will! Practical, step-by-step guide, very well researched and incredibly useful.

[Denise Byer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference

This is a great reference manual for anyone interested in animal assisted activities/therapy. It's not just for dogs, but a variety of species. The chapter on visit best practices really breaks things down and teaches the handler how to actually visit. Pet Partners sets the bar high being the only therapy animal program, that I'm aware of, that trains the human end of the leash. This training is just one reason Pet Partners is considered the gold standard in the world of therapy animal programs.