Tips from Pet Partners’ Patti Anderson

Bringing your pet to a nursing home is a great way to bring smiles to the elderly population, but the practice can be dangerous, even with a well-trained dog. As a certified professional dog trainer (CPDT), an evaluator for Pet Partners, and a therapy animal trainer at the Animal Humane Society, this is where Patti Anderson comes in. “What all that means is, there’s not one degree to do all of this,” Anderson, a longtime Plymouth resident, says of the pet training she provides. “It’s a self-made [profession].”

It also isn’t just for the dogs. With Pet Partners, Anderson trains guinea pigs, rabbits and more. It might seem like a hassle to go through training for your pet, not to mention an added expense, but it can be even more expensive if a well-intentioned volunteering trip turns into an accident, like someone tripping on a leash or being knocked off balance by a tail, and when an elderly person falls, it often means a broken bone (or worse). Bringing smiles to your local nursing home is always great, but being safe while doing so is critical.

While Anderson works with animal training because she loves animals and wants to help people, she says one of the best outcomes of formal pet training is proper insurance coverage. “When I go out, I have $2 million worth of liability insurance per incident,” Anderson says. “Homeowner’s [insurance] doesn’t cover this.”

Pet Partners (petpartners.org) and Therapy Dogs International (tdi-dog.org) can help clear up questions and get the training started, but it can be overwhelming to muddle through the information between two different websites, so Anderson runs a free informational program at the Animal Humane Society called Intro to Therapy Animals. There’s also the benefit of having a trained professional meet your dog before you spend money on training.

“A lot of people think their dog would be a good therapy dog—maybe he’s really good with people, but a little food-motivated,” she says. “Well, what happens when down the hall comes a kid holding a snack?” And puppies should never be allowed. “There are too many diseases that could be contracted from puppies,” Anderson says, along with sharp teeth and claws. She recommends typical obedience training for a puppy through age 2, even though dogs can be registered after age 1. Special training is required to be invited to some nursing homes and hospitals. Locally, most hospitals and nursing homes in the Twin Cities metro require Pet Partners registration.

Anderson says that the best way to know what is right for you and your pet is to know in advance what you want to do. Here in Plymouth, Mission Nursing Home is one place to take your registered therapy animal. Residents benefit from the visits, as often they don’t have family visiting, so a calm, well-trained pooch can make their day, week or month. Also in the city, the Plymouth Library’s Paws to Read program and Sunset Hills Elementary either allow registered animals or have programs where animals are welcome or involved. In all situations, you should call ahead and check for requirements and schedules. //

How do you know your dog would make a good therapy animal?

1. Likes people
2. Isn’t reactive to other animals
3. Controllable
4. Proven reliable
5. Predictable
6. Is under good verbal control, even on a leash

Ready to start? Sign up for Patti Anderson’s introductory classes in the Behavior and Training section at animalhumanesociety.org.