[nobe-l] Therapy Dogs

[Judy Jones]

My experience as a guide dog user, I would let inquiring personnel know that
your dog is your responsibility, and that you have parameters your dog is
expected to obey.  They might be concerned about control of the dog.

You can't control how their therapy dog is handled, but you can control
yours.  I would play it by ear, and if the school is open to the dogs being
introduced, that could be a good thing all around.

Officially, your dog is not a pet, but a working dog.  I do not know the
official classification of therapy dogs.  Friends of ours have had one of
their pet dogs go through the therapy dog certification in our area, but the
training is brief before the certification, and I am not sure what is all
involved, but certainly nowhere near the training and certification guide
dogs go through.

Let us know how everything goes.

Judy


-----Original Message-----
From: NOBE-L [mailto:nobe-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tara Abella via
NOBE-L
Sent: Thursday, June 1, 2017 5:22 PM
To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
Cc: taranabella0 at gmail.com
Subject: [nobe-l] Therapy Dogs

Hello all,

I've been to several interviews now where principals have told me that they
have a therapy dog either with the counselor or the special education
teacher. I am a little concerned because I have a guide dog and comments
have been made about how the dog would probably be very excited around my
dog. I reassure them that my dog is well-trained and behaves well around
other dogs, but I worry about the therapy dog's reaction to my guide. Almost
every school I have interviewed with has mentioned a therapy dog and I was
wondering if anyone had any experience with this. If I were hired, should I
set up a time where the dogs can meet? Should I request the dog be kept in a
specific room or area of the school where I will not be traveling with a
group of students? Any advice on how to better answer this question during
an interview and how to make sure distractions are not an issue on day one
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tara Abella

   

Sent from my iPhone
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