Preparing Your Young Dog for Therapy Work: Essential Steps

Any dog, apart from UK banned breeds, may be suitable for canine assisted therapy. Here are some pointers to help you prepare a young dog for success.

Start Training Early

Start basic training early on to build your dog’s confidence. Early training also helps in understanding and communicating effectively with your dog.

Socialisation is Key

Introduce your puppy to people, other dogs and new environments gently and slowly. Always keep a safe distance during these introductions.

If you hope to take your dog to work or visit a therapy setting, it’s crucial not to expose your puppy to a busy workplace or unfamiliar people too soon. Understanding your dog’s development stages and welfare needs is essential.

Our Therapy Dog Training UK online courses are a great starting point for those looking to introduce a new puppy to their home or teach basic training to older dogs in preparation for future canine assisted therapy work.

Understanding Canine Development

Learn as much as you can about canine puppy development phases and the characteristics of your dog’s breed. This knowledge will help you be aware of your dogs natural behaviours and understand the key stages your puppy will go through until maturity which for most dogs is around 18 months.

Keep It Short and Fun

Make training sessions short and enjoyable. Train for just a few minutes each day, and keep new experiences manageable. Don't expect too much from your puppy. Remember they have left their mother and litter mates and are trying to navigate a human world with lots of strange things they will not have experienced before. Keeps things fun and exciting for your puppy during playtimes but respect the need for lots of rest and quiet times too.

When considering setting up a Canine Assisted Therapy service or taking your dog to work, it's important to remember that not every dog has the right temperament for being in a busy 'working' environment away from home. Some dogs will naturally be far happier living quietly in the place they know well and where they feel safe with their family. This is the reason we always advocate undertaking a Temperament Assessment at the age of 18 months to be fair and kind to your dog.

To increase your chances of success, build your dogs confidence through gentle force free training and other enjoyable activities. Consider purchasing our Introduction to Training for Puppies and Older Dogs. This foundation course contains lots of valuable information to help you as well as video-based dog training tutorials to bring your dog to a good basic level of training.

Our UK wide network of Trusted Trainers can also offer live basic training classes for puppies and older dogs or 1:1 sessions to help supplement your online sessions as well as undertaking our Therapy Dog Training UK temperament assessments at the age of 18 months.

Ideal Course for New Puppies

If you're introducing a new puppy to your home with a focus on therapy dog work, then the Introduction to Training for Puppy & Older Dogs is the ideal way to start.

Benefits of Video-Based Tutorials

The video-based tutorials provided in the course will guide you step by step through essential commands, basic manners, and common behaviors. The training methods used are kind, reward-based, and force-free.

This course will help your young dog build self-confidence and learn essential skills, such as focus, sent to mat, stay, wait and loose lead walking. Additionally, the course will assist you in managing any unwanted behaviours your dog may display.

Accreditation and Course Details

This course is CPD Accredited for 24 hours.

Find out more about our Introduction to Training for Puppies and Older Dogs course. This course is an excellent opportunity to help prepare your dog for therapy work, ensuring you are both well-equipped to provide companionship and support to those in need.

Information on all our courses including our follow on course: Therapy Dog Training UK Workshops 1&2 can be found at:

www.therapydogtraining.co.uk