April 30 is National Therapy Animal Day, a day to recognize the amazing work of therapy animals. And promote public education about the role of therapy animals in the well-being of humans and other animals. We also honor the thousands of compassionate handlers who volunteer their time. Together, these dedicated teams bring sunshine into the lives of people in their communities.
Meeting Biscuit
Back in 2019, I traveled to Minnesota for a meeting. At the airport, in the middle of the bustling crowd, I saw a dog. I was excited to meet Biscuit, a lovely therapy dog, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi.
The volunteer said that Biscuit works at the airport to calm nervous travelers. Biscuit calmly waited for people to stop by for a pet – she wanted to make people smile.
It worked for me! The volunteer gave me a North Star Therapy Animals business card with a picture of Biscuit. And for some reason, I kept it all this time…
In celebration of all therapy animals and meeting Biscuit, I’m happy to share my interview with a North Star Therapy Animals (NSTA) volunteer. Denise Cochran is a volunteer, Biscuit’s dog mom, and dog trainer.
NSTA is an all-volunteer non-profit organization providing therapy animal teams and services in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan areas. With more than 200 NSTA members, 90% are team members and 10% are individual members with one or more therapy animal partners.
Denise is an individual member and trainer of several therapy animals. Enjoy her interview below!
How did animals influence you to start a training your pets for therapy service?
Dogs have always played an important role in my life. My dad died young and our Boston Terrier (Snoopy) was a big comfort.
Please tell our readers how you became interested training your pet as a therapy dog.
I am a retired school counselor and sometimes I would take Biscuit and Sonny to work with me if I needed to take them to the vet right from work. I noticed how extremely agitated, angry or sad students would calm down quickly just petting a dog.
Service or Therapy Animals?
What’s the difference between service animals and therapy animals?
Service animals have highly specialized training for medical issues like blindness or diabetes, where they can help their owners live a normal life with their support skills.
“Emotional support” animals you will sometimes also see on planes where the owners have some kind of mental health issue like anxiety where their doctor requests they have a support animal. They are not necessarily trained.
How did you get involved in volunteering for North Star Therapy Animals?
I’ve been volunteering since 2017. I’m not training any dogs currently.
Do you work with animals as a business or as a hobby?
Just a hobby! I do hospice too, and since Biscuit died, I still visit people but do singing with them instead of pet therapy.
I’m sorry to hear about Biscuit. She inspired me to keep the NSTA card with her picture – she was very special. How long does it take to train a dog as a therapy dog?
Biscuit was fast and easy. Sonny still has not passed the test and it’s been a couple of years I’ve worked with him.
Sonny will be five years old. He was purchased from the same breeder where we got Biscuit. He was supposed to be a show dog but his testicle never dropped properly!
What kind of pets do you have?
Cardigan Welsh Corgi dogs.
Challenges and Rewards
What are some of the challenges in training a pet to work as a therapy dog?
Therapy dogs can get spooked around wild children or people with dementia who at times will be too rough with them.
What are some of the rewards in training a pet to work as a therapy dog?
Oh, to see a person’s face light up when they see a dog walking toward them. And my one client in hospice always told me seeing Biscuit was the highlight of her day.
Do you find a growing demand for pet therapy service?
For sure…more requests than we can fill.
Tell us about some of the more interesting places you visited with your therapy dog.
Stillwater Prison…twice. Also a business in Bloomington was having some personnel issues and the management decided to throw a happy hour and have beverages and a therapy dog.
I’d like to bring my dog to places that do alcohol treatment but haven’t been able to do that. Too confidential I guess.
What kind of training to you need to be a therapy pet professional?
Although you do not need to take any classes to train your pet, I found it helpful to take classes from certified handlers. They know what they are doing!
I took a class here in Tucson where we are vacationing, four sessions. (Sonny still didn’t pass the test though..)
Do you only train dogs for therapy service or do you train other animals as well?
For me only dogs but other people train cats, guinea pigs, horses…
Is there anything else you would like to share with our pet parenting community?
Just that pets can bring such joy and many people just can’t have their own anymore. Help spread the love!
Thanks for stopping by!
Dr. Pet Mom
“Sometimes the best medicine is a wagging tail.”
–Unknown