Animal Assisted Therapy Dogs: What's the Difference?

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What's the Difference?

Many of you may be wondering, "What's the difference between a therapy dog and a service/ guide dog?" A therapy dog is used primarily for helping people to relax. They visit nursing homes, prisons, schools and hospitals. They are trained to interact with many people and receive advanced certifications.

Service/Guide dogs are specifically trained for assisting one person. They assist people in wheelchairs and people who are hearing and visually impaired. Service/guide dog are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This means that the dog is allowed to go in any public place that the owner goes. Therapy dogs do not have the same rights as service dogs.

Hawkeye is a therapy dog in training. His job will be to assist students within special programs.

Submitted by Jorge, Josh and Ben

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Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians:

The Arlington School District is pleased to share with you that we will begin an AAT (Animal Assisted Therapy) program this Spring, 2011. While the entire process can take up to two years to complete, the program will begin implementation immediately to best prepare students and the therapy dogs to the classroom environment.

Each therapy dog will be under the supervision of a handler, and all interactions with students will be supervised and monitored. Initially, the AAT program will be focused on specific populations of students, but all students will benefit from the presence of our newest team members.

These therapy dogs (goldendoodles) have been specifically chosen, based upon the hybrid’s intelligence and temperament, as well as, cross-breeding which translates into a virtually non-shedding, hypo-allergenic animal.

Should you have any questions and/or concerns regarding this program, please feel free to contact us.

We look forward to positive impact these team members will provide to all our students here at Haller Middle School.

Hawkeye ~ Haller Middle School ~ Mrs. Vidmore

360–618–6400 extension 4310.

Jazz ~ Post Middle School ~ Ms. Schamens