Is There Specific Training My Dog Needs to Become a Therapy Dog?

Short Answer: No.

Long, ethical and less likely to get you in long-term trouble answer: Yes. You might be surprised to learn, there is no regulating body for therapy dogs. Same with service dogs. No one controls the training they "must" go through to be working dogs in the helping field. There are many websites out there claiming to register your dog and give it special identification. These websites are charging people to give them certificates and patches that are essentially useless outside of show. Yes, maybe you like the vest (I just ordered Franklin one from Chewy) but there is no requirement to register your dog or put your dog through a specific training.(Side note: The ADA does not require service dogs to be registered. Actually, mandatory registration of a service animal (as a service animal) is not legal under the ADA, and the ADA states clearly on their website that a service animal does not need any professional training (it still has to be trained to do one task that is not a typical dog task that assists with a diagnosed disability), nor does it need any sort of identification like cards, vests, or special leashes. If you have a service animal, it is illegal for someone to question you more than asking if “the dog is a service animal required because of a disability” and “what work or task the dog has been trained to perform.” That's it. Now, let me remind you that it is extremely unethical (and maybe even illegal) to misrepresent yourself as disabled just to bring a dog into a public place.)But this article is about therapy dogs, so I will try to stay focused for the rest of the time! The American Kennel Club is a highly regarded all breed dog registry but not a governing body over dog training. Interestingly enough (I'm distracted again), there is no governing body over yoga instructors either but the Yoga Alliance has taken steps to increase the credibility of yoga instructor training, just as the AKC has taken steps to increase the training of therapy dogs. And this is important! Training a dog is no easy task! It takes consistency, commitment, time and money. If every therapist out there just took their pet to work and called it a therapy animal, there would likely be a lot negative interactions between "therapy animals" and clients.

For my training with Franklin, after extensive research I chose to go by AKC standards. For the purpose of this article, the training needed I speak of will be based on their standards.The American Kennel Club has a Therapy Dog Program which they write they created to “recognize” therapy dogs and the work that they are doing as volunteers. Interesting, right? Recognizing not regulating. Anyway, to qualify you have to meet three qualifications: be certified/registered by an AKC recognized therapy dog organization, be registered with the AKC, and perform the number of visits for the title you are applying for (we’ll get to that).