School Therapy Dogs
School Therapy Dogs
Books
Inside of a Dog - What Dogs See, Smell and Know written by Alexandra Horowitz. This book helped me read my dogs' body language and take his actions into consideration towards our overall goals and work at school. Highly recommended.
Animal Assisted Therapy Activities To Motivate and Inspire by Nancy Lind. This book contains numerous different activites tied to specific benefits or goals. The activites were developed by the author for working with a special needs population, however many of the activities can be used with other populations.
Play Therapy With Kids & Canines - Benefits for Children's Devleopmental and Psychosocial Health written by Dr. Rise VanFleet. This book sits by my nightstand. It is especially beneficial for AAT work specifically with kids and dogs. Even if you are not certified to use play therapy this book provides a wealth of information that can be applied outside of play therapy. Highly recommended.
Good Dog! by evelyn Pang and Hilary Louie. This book is written and illustrated by children. I've used it as a supplement to presentations on dog safety. It has also been useful when students are interested in working with their own dogs. There is a strong section on clicker training that I review with kids at school before we use the clicker for training.
Animal Assisted Therapy in Counseling by Cynthia K. Chandler. This is the first book I found that had a short chapter with a discussion on using AAT in a school. It also has a chapter dedicated to crisis response. There is also a significant portion of the book dedicated to risk management considerations. Recommended reading.
Handbook on Animal Assited Therapy - Theoretical Foundations and Guidelines for Practice written by Aubrey H. Fine. If you want to develop an Animal Assisted Therapy program and you want to do it the right way - read this book. Highly recommended. Look for the 5th edition. Dr. Fine's texts change substantially with each addition. I think I read that 40% of the content is updated or new.
Reading Education Assistance Dogs Team Training Manual- A Program of Intermountain Therapy Animals This manual lays the groundwork for a successful reading program. A must read if you are going to build reading goals into our AAT program.
Delta Society Animal-Assisted Therapy - Standards of Practice This workbook, sponsored by Delta Society, provides checklists of action items that need to occur in the development of an AAT program. If you are starting from the beginning or want checklists to ensure you've dotted your "i"s and crossed your "t"s this is it.
Therapy and Facility Dog Training / Registration Organizations
Therapy and Facility Dog Training / Registration Organizations
Training: Copper and I were trained through Canine Community Heroes www.cchdogs.org
Please be award of the method of training in the program you choose. Some of the therapy dog registries will NOT accept you as a team if you choke chains, shock collars or other negative types of training. Please ALWAYS use positive training models with your dog.
Workshop / Certificate Programs in Animal Assisted Therapy
Workshop / Certificate Programs in Animal Assisted Therapy
University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work - IHAC, Institue for Human Animal Connection. Certificate and 35 CEUs in Animals and Human Health: Animal-Assisted Therapy Activities and Learning. This in-depth, on-line program offers a co-hort type learning environment. An excellent opportunity for those that want a solid foundation to build their own programs.
IHAC is also offering a Canine-Assisted Intervention Specialist Certificate!
Green Chimneys School
Green Chimneys School
I had the amazing opportunity to visit Green Chimneys School www.greenchimneys.org This amazing non-profit school located in New York state offers kids a unique learning enviornment that integrates the use of animal-assisted therapy. The school opened in the 1940s and has become an international model for others to study and apply to their own work. They offer tours every weekend. If you ever happen to find yourself in Brewster, New York you must stop and take a look. I left my brief stay full of inspiration, admiration and visions of what my own program could become. The website doesn't even begin to really capture the essence of the work that hundreds of staff members and 300 animals can have on the kids that live and attend school there.
News Articles
News Articles