Bella's Therapy Dog Training

Amber's companion and "older sister" Bella has now completed her therapy dog training. She is a born 'people dog', everyone is welcome and treated like a long lost friend. After having tried to mould her into my expectations and having failed, I started to ask myself what this dog was bred for and what did she do best. Well, what do Goldens do best… pretty easy to answer I'd say. They love people, water and apporting. OK, then we start from there, I thought. Somehow I got to know about therapy dog training in Verein Partner Hunde Schweiz and asked for more information. Before we noticed we were enrolled on a course in spring 2003.

The entrance test was divided into ten parts. Obedience was high on the agenda. It wasn't enough that Bella liked people, she had to be able to be calm, no whining, jumping or any extreme behaviour was acceptable. The purpose of this test was to see if she and I had the basic qualities for work in this field. Aggression toward people or other dogs was a definite reason not to be accepted. Well, there were no aggressive dogs in sight but one handler team was told to come back when the handler had her beautiful Golden under control. There were ten of us left. Bella passed all parts of the test with flying colours. She seemed to know every exercise and I loved it because she so obviously loved it!

So what did we do to see whether Bella was good for the job? She had to:

• Be able to walk heel on the left and right on a lead beside me and then beside to her unknown person
• Walk by a row of dogs without showing any aggression, growling or barking
• Be calm when I meet another dog and the handler. The dogs are on lead and the handler greets Bella. Calm behaviour is important (this kind of situations could become chaotic when Bella takes a liking to the handler or the other dog)
• Be able to lie down and sit by command and to wait in position when I go ten meters ahead and come back
• Be calm by surprising noises without barking or showing any more than a mild surprised reaction
• Behave calm when meeting a person on crutches or in a wheelchair. Bella is not allowed to show any aggression or defensive signs
• Be able to play intensively with me and to stop dead with one command
• Be able to walk beside a wheelchair, shopping trolley or baby buggy without pulling
• Stay with an unknown person for three minutes when I go out of sight. She is not allowed to pull or show signs of distress

The final test was similar to the entrance test except that now walking by a wheelchair, passing heavy doors with a handicapped person and using an alibi-lead was added to the program. After all the theory, practice and on-the-job training Bella proved to be a real talent. We are now visiting a handicapped boy once a week. He loves to take Bella for walks and very clearly our golden Golden enjoys it too! Amber might do the same training when she is a little older.