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A therapy dog is a dog who visits places like schools, hospitals and nursing homes. Therapy dog training in Fort Worth teaches dogs to provide comfort, support, and affection to the people they meet, particularly vulnerable people like children, seniors, patients in hospitals, and so on.
Therapy dogs are not service dogs. Service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks to help a person who has a disability. This distinction is important because therapy dogs do not have the same access to public places like service dogs do. For example, service dogs can go into restaurants, but therapy dogs cannot. Therapy dogs still provide a valuable service and should receive therapy dog certification.
Not all training packages may be available at our Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth location, please reference our pricing page for complete information on services offered.
Who Do Therapy Dogs Help?
Therapy dogs may be regular visitors to a variety of people and places, with hospitals and rehabilitation centers being among the most common. Children, in particular, respond positively to therapy dogs.
Seniors in assisted living or people with mental disabilities who live in facilities and experience feelings of isolation also see a lot of benefits from visiting with a therapy dog.
Besides providing valuable social opportunities and relieving anxiety, therapy dogs may even help lower blood pressure and heart rate in patients and the other people they visit.
Why Are Therapy Dogs Important?
Therapy dogs offer unconditional love, non-judgmental interaction, reduce stress, anxiety and loneliness, and provide an overall positive distraction to ailments. Research shows therapy dogs can have a positive effect on a patient’s mood, stress and pain levels during facility stays.
Young patients — children — seem to benefit most from working with therapy dogs. They are more motivated to participate in treatments, feel optimistic about the future, and experience an overall sense of calm when a certified therapy dog is present.
For people who may have a hard time socializing due to mental disabilities or their living situation, therapy dogs can promote social interaction within their community and help them to connect.
We help your dog become a valued companion and beloved member of the family. Read what our customers have to say and then give us a call!
Felicity and Kyler were great! Our fiesty Doberman Bonnie has a whole lot of attitude and is too smart for her own good. We got the platinum training and started when she was about 4 months old. She is almost 1 and still doing wonderful! We had Felicity for most sessions, which was nice to have that consistency! Bonnie learned so much, and does so well in public. Teaching Bonnie all of her tricks at home alongside a trainer allowed us to be involved and learn how to reestablish behaviors/tricks as needed. Our golden retriever has also been able to pick up many of the skills and that has been a lifesaver. I love being able to walk them both around Scheels and other busy places while they’re in a focused heel. Everyone around us is always so impressed! We are excited to try the group training sessions with Bonnie soon!— Caitlin Goodman
Posted September 20th 2024
The trainers here are so knowledgeable and can read a dogs body language so fast. They taught my dog commands in 5 minutes or less and showed me how to instill those. Highly recommend this place worth every penny. Felicity really knew my dog and went the extra mile with information to help Winnie the Pooh.— Elinor Albin
Posted July 23rd 2024
We love our dog, but he has always been a constant source of stress in our family because of his aggression, his inability to go on walks without creating havoc, and his propensity to run out of the house whenever the door opened up. We finally decided we had to get rid of the dog or get him trained. So we decided to give Dog Training Elite a call. Looking back, it was such a wonderful choice. After six individual training sessions, our dog is extremely well-behaved. He sits on command, he will “place” wherever we tell him to, he’s enjoyable to walk on a leash, he doesn’t attack other dogs or people, and he doesn’t run out of the house. We couldn’t be more pleased with the training staff of Tra, Felicity, and Yuni. The highlight of our experience was when we decided to take our dog with us to a hotel, and then out to dinner. Our son - who was back home from college and wasn’t a part of the training experience -thought we were crazy to even try to take our dog to a hotel and restaurant. But our dog did wonderfully and our son was very impressed with how well behaved the dog was. If you are at your ropes end and want to get your dog under control, give Elite a try… you will start to see immediate and dramatic results!— Jeff Domen
Posted July 19th 2024
The company is great with communication and customer service! Felicity has been an incredible teacher and has helped me and my dog learn so much!— phoebe james
Posted July 18th 2024
Incredible trainers! Felicity did a great job helping my dogs— grant wiseman
Posted July 15th 2024
They have been very understanding and patien I love the system they do the process They really are doing the best job they can Felicity is one of the trainers that we have met she is so amazing she has taught my dog the basics and she did with such patience and I could understand everything she said I'm very excited to see what more they are going to teach my puppy and us They have been clear on everything which I like Overall I give them an amazing review for these reasons— Carol L
Posted July 15th 2024
We were Very satisfied with Dog Training Elite! Our Labrador puppy had the very best training and is now a trained service animal by Dog Training Elite. Most favorite trainer, Felicity, is a True Puppy Whisperer! A rare and greatly appreciated find for our boy! He worships her too! She is always smart, kind and gentle. And extremely effective!— Diana Enty
Posted July 15th 2024
Felicity, is an amazing trainer. She was able to train me so I could better train my boys.She was able to work with both of my boys personalities to bring them to their highest level of training. Thank you Dog Training Elite Dallas, for having the best dog trainers! Mr. Tre, I appreciate your work and service to us VETs and our Service Dogs. I will be forever grateful.— AliDrea Arismendez-Garza
Posted July 15th 2024
The team at Dog Training Elite have absolutely changed our lives. Felicity, Tre, and Kyler are incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and kind. On days when I thought my little rescue, Olive, couldn’t possibly learn a new command, they assured me she absolutely would… and she always did. Olive is a completely different dog from when we first started training. Her confidence has grown exponentially and we’re living a really happy life together. I cant recommend or thank Felicity, Tre, and Kyler enough.— kb B
Posted July 15th 2024
Just completed our in-home sessions with DTE and have been so impressed with the individualized attention and customized approach that helped us meet our goals. All the trainers have been top notch and really helpful in assuring our newest family member (and us) are polished up on our manners so we can enjoy each other and life adventures. I must specifically mention Megan as a trainer whose passion and dedication did not go unnoticed and is deeply appreciated. Mufasa and I are looking forward to our group lessons!— brandi Ciufi
Posted July 1st 2024
We've been working with Dog Training Elite Frisco for almost a year. Kyler and the team have been fantastic to work with in helping train my mom's service dog. Esper is a GSD, and started training as a puppy. She learned her basic obedience quickly with positive reinforcement and the techniques and tools DTE recommended. Quickly moving into her Service and Task training. Now a year later (actually less time) She passed her task training and public access test and goes with us everywhere. She is welcomed at restaurants, grocery stores, department stores, due to her great behavior and provides an invaluable service to my Mom. I highly recommend Dog Training Elite Frisco, Kyler and the team there. Next up is our new 15 week old puppy who will be evaluated soon and start his puppy training.— Forrest Hart
Posted May 15th 2024
Just wanted to say thank you so much for the very kind lady called Kelly. She was really good and patient at teach me and my dog. awesome lady— Darwin araujo
Posted May 14th 2024
loved it. she was so sweet with my dog. this was really good training i definitely recommend!! kelly was such a good trainer my dog is so much better!!— Jalissa Martinez
Posted May 14th 2024
Jordan is patient and calm while training our dog and teaching us what to do. He is great to work with. Lulu learned respect quickly. I would highly recommend him. His dog Atlas was such a sweet dog and very well trained.— Juanita Ace-Bo
Posted July 3rd 2023
We worked with Jordan yesterday and my puppy responded Really well to him and we got lots of great help! Really looking forward to how Clark progresses and to see how the next sessions go.— Laura Riggs
Posted May 6th 2024
We contacted Dog Training Elite to help us with Bean, our not so mini mini dachshund who wasn’t great with new people coming into our home especially men. As we are relocating overseas & only had enough time for 4 sessions, the best we hoped for was great advice that we could take with us & put into practice. 4 sessions later we are delighted not just with the advice but the incredible change in Bean’s behaviour! All we can say is a huge thank you to the team at Dog Training Elite not only for accommodating us with so little time but for setting us up to succeed with Bean. A special thanks to our trainers Kyler & Tra. You guys are amazing! Thank you!!!— Tracey McAdam
Posted April 27th 2024
They staff is AMAZING. Very helpful, and really explains everything. Luke and cowboy has done an amazing job really building a bond!!! I would recommend!!!!— Dkota Gibbs
Posted December 21st 2023
I can’t speak highly enough of this group of trainers! They have been very professional and VERY helpful. Luke is my daughter’s favorite trainer and he does so well with my daughter and her dog. You WILL NOT regret hiring them to train your dog. Highly recommend!!— Tonya Gibbs
Posted December 21st 2023
All the trainers have been great but Luke and Cowboy are absolutely amazing! Our service dog has been very responsive! We have friends who have also utilized this service and love it just as much! Thank you Luke and the Elite team!— Stacey and Josh Glosson
Posted December 20th 2023
How Does a Dog Become a Therapy Dog?
If you have felt the benefits of owning a dog, you may feel inspired to help more people feel the unconditional love, joy and support your dog provides. However, having a friendly, loving personality isn’t enough for a dog to qualify as a therapy dog. Some other qualifications to consider are:
- The age of your dog. Puppies do not make good therapy animals.
- How obedient your dog is. It’s important your dog listens to you and obeys basic commands. Dogs that go through obedience training with Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth have the perfect foundation to go onto therapy dog training, as long as they are old enough.
- How social your dog is. Your dog may be affectionate with you — but are they affectionate with strangers? Do they like to receive attention from strangers, particularly petting?
Therapy Dog Handlers
As a dog owner, it’s important to reflect on whether you would like to become a therapy dog handler as well. If you enjoy connecting with people, becoming a therapy dog handler may be a great fit. You can also choose where to volunteer to better suit your interests — if you like kids, volunteer to visit schools or children’s hospitals. If you prefer to work with older people, then sign up to visit senior living centers.
Once you’ve determined that becoming a therapy dog handler and helping your dog become a therapy dog is the right move for the two of you, you’re ready to start therapy dog training. The trainers of Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth are experts in the behaviors needed in a therapy dog and will help you and your dog either brush up on or master behaviors such as “leave it,” “watch me,” loose-leash walking and not jumping on other people.
To help your dog become well socialized, you may consider also signing up for one of Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth’s group obedience classes. A group class environment is also beneficial because it helps your dog learn to be obedient when there are a lot of distractions around, a crucial skill for a therapy dog.
Once you’ve completed initial training, you’re ready to apply for therapy dog certification in Fort Worth. However, it is important to note that this certification is not the end. It’s important to stay on top of your dog’s training and continue to help them be the best therapy dog they can be.
Why do Therapy Dog Training with Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth?
The Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth training method stands out because of its emphasis on positive reinforcement. Dogs are never punished for bad behavior, instead they are rewarded for good behavior. This kind of training makes a huge difference in your relationship with your dog, and will make a difference in how your dog interacts with other people.
The balanced training method of Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth fosters a dog’s naturally loving and obedient nature. Focusing on positive reinforcement and rewarding good behavior helps build a strong bond between dog and owner built on love and trust. This foundation in turn becomes a great foundation for dog and owner to become a fabulous therapy team providing an invaluable service to the community.
If you feel therapy dog certification is right for you and your dog, get started by contacting Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth. Request your free training demo and in-home assessment today.
