The Human Half of the Team: What Makes a Great Therapy Dog Handler?
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When you start dreaming about therapy animal work, it's really easy to focus almost entirely on the animal. Is my dog friendly enough? Can my cat stay calm around people? What skills do they need? Will they pass their therapy dog evaluation? Those are important questions. But if your goal is to become an excellent therapy animal-handler team, there's another half of the equation to prepare: YOU!
After all, you're not just going to walk into a visit, hand over the leash, and let your pet take it from there. You'll be reading your pet, talking with the people you meet, navigating unexpected situations, advocating for your teammate, and making decisions together.
That's part of what makes therapy animal work so special. You're building a team, and becoming the kind of handler your pet can confidently work alongside is part of the adventure.
Great Therapy Dog Handlers REALLY Know Their Animals
One of the most valuable skills you can bring to therapy animal work is knowing your own pet incredibly well.
You want to know what they look like when they're relaxed, excited, uncertain, overwhelmed, tired, frustrated, and ready to call it a day. That means paying attention to more than whether they're technically behaving.
A pet can sit quietly while someone pets them and still be uncomfortable. They can follow your cues while becoming increasingly stressed. Being able to recognize those little changes in body language gives you the opportunity to respond before your pet has to communicate more loudly.
Research into therapy dogs supports this emphasis on knowing your pet, finding that handlers need to recognize and respond to behavioral signs of stress or distress.¹ A study of therapy dog-handler teams at the Mayo Clinic also found a significant correlation between handlers' perceptions of their dogs' stress and the dogs' cortisol levels.²
Knowing your pet isn't only about spotting stress, you also want to know what JOY looks like! What does your pet look like when they realize where you're going and they couldn't be happier? What does their enthusiasm for meeting someone new look like? How do they ask for more interaction?
Ultimately, you don't want a pet who simply tolerates therapy animal work because they're well trained enough to do what you ask. You want to look at your teammate and know they're having just as much fun as you are.
Your Therapy Animal Needs You to Be Their Teammate
Knowing your pet well makes it much easier to help them navigate everything you'll encounter together. Sometimes you'll show someone how your pet prefers to be petted. Sometimes you'll recognize that your pet needs a break. You might decide that one particular interaction isn't a good fit or realize that your pet has had a wonderful visit and is ready to head home. You won't be able to predict every situation before it happens, and that's kind of the point.
Therapy animal work happens in the real world. The people you meet aren't actors following a training script, and the environments you visit won't always look exactly the way you expected. Your relationship gives you something to fall back on when things get weird.
A therapy animal visit is a three-way interaction: participant ↔ animal ↔ handler. Great therapy work isn't simply about having a dog who can pass a test; handler skill and the handler-therapy animal relationship continue to matter during the actual work. Research on university-based animal-assisted activities has even looked specifically at the handler-dog connection during visits and how those interactions can affect both the quality of the program and the animals' well-being.³
The more experiences you have together, the better you'll get at communicating, advocating, and facilitating through those moments. You'll learn when your pet can handle a situation beautifully on their own, when they need a little help from you, and when changing the plan is the best choice for your team. That's a pretty great feeling on both ends of the leash!
Great Therapy Animal Handlers Need People Skills Too
Here's something that can get overlooked when you're busy thinking about Sit, loose leash walking, Place, polite greetings, and all the other skills your pet needs:
Therapy animal work is VERY people-y.
You're going to meet strangers with different personalities, communication styles, abilities, backgrounds, and life experiences. Some people will want to tell you all about the pets they've loved. Some will want to talk about your pet's age, favorite things, and training. Some may not want to talk much at all. Learning how to connect with those people can make you a much better therapy animal handler.
That's one reason I think therapeutic communication is such a valuable area of continuing education for handlers. The concept comes from healthcare, but skills like active listening, openness, respectful language, self-awareness, and adapting your communication to the individual can be useful during ANY therapy animal visit. According to The National Library of Medicine, all of those are important components of effective therapeutic communication.⁴
You aren't there to diagnose anyone, counsel them, or take the place of a professional, but you are there to connect. Sometimes that means asking a question and really listening to the answer. Sometimes it's recognizing that someone would much rather talk to your dog than to you. You might hear a funny story about a childhood pet, learn someone's life story, or simply sit quietly while they enjoy having an animal nearby. Your pet may be the reason the interaction starts, but you're part of that interaction too.
The Best Therapy Animal-Handler Teams Keep Learning
Passing a therapy dog evaluation and becoming a certified therapy animal-handler team is a HUGE accomplishment. Celebrate it! And then? Keep going. Certification gives you a starting point for your work together, but there will always be more to learn.
Your pet will change as they gain experience and age. You'll encounter situations you never thought to practice. You'll probably discover that your pet absolutely loves certain types of visits and isn't as enthusiastic about others. You'll find training skills you want to strengthen and new environments you want to prepare for.
Your continuing education doesn't have to stop with therapy animal training, and it shouldn't stop when you pass that certification test! You can learn more about pet behavior and body language. You can learn about therapeutic communication. If your team regularly visits children, seniors, people with disabilities, college students, veterans, or another particular population, you can learn more about the people you're serving. Different facilities may also give you opportunities to learn about safety, infection prevention, confidentiality, or other topics relevant to the work you're doing there.
Major therapy animal organizations offer continuing education for both new and experienced handlers on topics ranging from pet body language to safe and effective visiting.⁵ There's a good reason for that: the more tools you add to your own toolbox, the better prepared you are for everything you and your pet will encounter together. You don't need to know everything before your first therapy animal visit. You should still be learning after your hundredth.
Want to Become a Therapy Animal-Handler Team?
When you picture becoming a therapy animal-handler team, it's fun to imagine your pet confidently walking into a facility, making new friends, and absolutely loving their job. Don't forget to picture yourself right there beside them!
You get to become the person who knows your pet inside and out, helps them navigate new situations, connects with the people you're serving, and keeps learning alongside them. That's the team you're working toward.
If you're wondering whether therapy animal work could be a good fit for you and your pet, download my free guide, How to Train Your Pet to Be a Therapy Animal (or Have a Blast Trying!). It'll help you start building the skills you'll both need to get out there, have some fun, and improve your community together.
Sources
Glenk, L. M., et al. Current Standards and Practices Within the Therapy Dog Industry: Results of a Representative Survey of United States Therapy Dog Organizations. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2020. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7020743/
Clark, S. D., Smidt, J. M., & Bauer, B. A. Therapy Dogs' and Handlers' Behavior and Salivary Cortisol During Initial Visits in a Complex Medical Institution: A Pilot Study. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2020. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7691227/
Kertes, D. A., et al. Exploring the Handler-Dog Connection within a University-Based Animal-Assisted Activity. Animals, 2019. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6680527/
Sharma, N. P., & Gupta, V. Therapeutic Communication. StatPearls. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK567775/
Courses & Education. Pet Partners. https://petpartners.org/volunteer/courses-education/
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