Teaming With Your Therapy Dog

Todays therapy dog handlers recognize the need to be teammates with their dogs, not just supervisors. Teaming with ones dog involves unobtrusively providing physical and emotional support as well as respectful guidance in what to do. Being a teammate requires attention to the handlers behavior, not just the dogs. This book reminds all handlers that being conscious of what they do with their dogs increases the effectiveness of therapy visits as well as providing a more rewarding experience for all involved.Written by a nationally famous practitioner with decades of real-world experience, the book introduces the STEPs of Teamwork and how those STEPs fit with a Therapy Dogs Bill of Rights. These general principles free handlers to apply them in their own way to their therapy dogs individual personality and work. As the author writes, The book explores a way of being conscious of what you do with and to your therapy dog to support him in his work. It describes functional principles of behavior you can learn and use immediately, either together as a package or independently. Using an exciting new methodology, the author guides readers to deepen their relationship with their dogs by acting consciously and respectfully.