Understanding the Role of Assistance, Facility and Therapy Dogs in Society

Course overview

This seminar is designed for Counselors and health care providers and others who are interested in increasing their awareness of the variety of working dogs for people with mental and physical disabilities to assist their clients. The roles of assistance and therapy dogs as well as emotional support animals will be discussed. The laws regarding the use of these various types of working dogs will be reviewed. With the ever increasing use of fake service dogs and emotional support animals in our community, we are seeing a negative impact on the use of legitimate assistance dogs. Participants will learn how to identify persons appropriate for using an assistance dog or emotional support animal and how a therapy animal may improve the quality of health or life of individuals.