There are a few key steps:
- Create an account at Pet Partners and register your team. You, as the handler, and your pet, as the animal, will always be referred to as the team.
- Complete our local Therapy Animal Handler Workshop, or take the Therapy Animal Handler Course online.
- Complete your Team Evaluation.
We’ll walk you through the process when you’re ready to Get Started.
No. Although dogs, of all breeds and sizes, are the most common therapy animals, cats, Guinea pigs, rabbits, domesticated rats, horses, goats, llamas, donkeys, potbellied pigs, cockatoos and African gray parrots have all been therapy pets. Wild or exotic animals (e.g., snakes, ferrets, lizards) may not be therapy pets.
The most important characteristic of a therapy animal is its temperament. A good therapy animal must be friendly, patient, confident, gentle, and at ease in all situations. Therapy animals must enjoy human contact and be content to be petted and handled, sometimes clumsily.
No. Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
A therapy dog is a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas. A therapy dog’s primary job is to allow unfamiliar people to make physical contact with it and to enjoy that contact. Children in particular enjoy hugging animals; adults usually enjoy simply petting the dog. The dog might need to be lifted onto, or climb onto, an individual’s lap or bed and sit or lie comfortably there. Many dogs contribute to the visiting experience by performing small tricks for their audience or by playing carefully structured games.
We’ll walk you through the steps to joining us. Your first step is to complete a registration at petpartners.org where you can then sign up for the Therapy Animal Handler Workshop. Whether you’re interested in becoming a team, volunteering as an individual, having a team visit your facility, or supporting us financially, we’d love to hear from you!
If you still have questions, please visit our Pet Partner Volunteer FAQs
Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati FAQs
501(c)(3) refers to the Internal Revenue Service's tax code that allows a corporation to operate as a nonprofit and accept contributions from the public without paying taxes. This designation also allows you to count your contribution as a tax deduction.
Yes, you can get involved and assist at any of the many events Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati attends each year or be a volunteer for evaluations. Please contact info@ppgctherapy.org for more information.
No, Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati is a volunteer organization. Members donate their time to bring happiness to others. Any expenses you incur providing therapy, including mileage, uniform, and extra expenses for grooming, may be tax deductible.
Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati members volunteer their time and do not charge for any pet therapy visit.
General FAQs
Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) are the casual "meet-and-greet" activities that involve pets visiting people. The same activity can be repeated with many people, unlike a therapy program that is tailored to a particular person or medical condition.
Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) is goal-directed intervention in which an animal that meets specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process. Goals can be physical, educational, motivational or mental health oriented. In addition to goals, AAT programs measure the individual's progress.
Service animals are legally defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and are trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places.
Federal law does not legally define therapy animals, but some states have laws defining therapy animals. They provide people with contact to animals, but are not limited to working with people who have disabilities. They are usually the personal pets of their handlers, and work with their handlers to provide services to others. Federal laws have no provisions for people to be accompanied by therapy animals in places of public accommodation that have "no pets" policies. Therapy animals usually are not service animals.
Companion animal is not legally defined, but is accepted as another term for pet. "Social/therapy" animals likewise have no legal definition. They often are animals that did not complete service animal or service dog training due to health, disposition, trainability, or other factors, and are made available as pets for people who have disabilities. These animals might or might not meet the definition of service animals.