Links to External Resources
Ottawa Area Dog-Training Facilities
Best Friends Dog Training
Located in Ottawa’s Hunt Club East area, Best Friends offers a specialty program called “Therapy Dog School”. This course will help aspiring therapy dog teams to understand and function in a pet visitation role. Training exercises prepare dogs for Canine Good Citizen/Canine Good Neighbour testing, a common first step in therapy dog certification.
www.bfdogtraining.ca
The Training Hall
The Training Hall is located in Ottawa’s west end, just off Carp Road north of Stittsville. In addition to a number of dog training program options, the Training Hall offers mini-seminars on interesting dog-related topics on selected Friday evenings.
www.thetraininghall.com
Organizations Promoting the Human-Animal bond
Delta Society
Delta Society®, the Human-Animal Connection’s mission is to improve human health through service and therapy animals. The Society's goals are to expand awareness of the positive effect animals can have on human health and development; remove barriers that prevent involvement of animals in everyday life; and expand the therapeutic and service role of animals in human health, service, and education.
www.deltasociety.org
Other Therapy Dog Organizations: Canada
Pet Therapy Society of Northern Alberta
Started in 1994, Pet Therapy Society of Northern Alberta promotes pet therapy within the city of Edmonton and surrounding area. The Society acts as an advocacy group and a referral agency that helps connect volunteers and facilities, and also offers a number of educational and community service programs. www.pettherapysociety.com
Caring Canine: Dog Therapy Volunteering in Toronto
Caring Canine is a non-profit organization providing free dog-therapy service to communities in Toronto. All members at Caring Canine are pure volunteers who bring their therapy dogs (Dr. Dogs) to visit elders, patients, and people with disabilities at various healthcare facilities. Many volunteers are bilingual, which allows Caring Canine to serve elders who are not fluent in English as well as dementia patients who have forgotten all languages except for their native tongue.
www.caringcanine.ca
Société de zoothérapie de Drummondville
Société de zoothérapie is a non-profit organization active within the city of Drummondville and its outer suburbs where an active pet visiting program for residents of institutions for seniors, persons with disabilites, and young offenders has been in place since 1989. The Society promotes the importance of the human-animal bond through education, research and the publication (in French) of relevant documentation.
www.zootherapie.com
Other Therapy Dog Organizations: United States
Intermountain Therapy Animals
Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA) is Utah’s oldest and largest organization providing animal-assisted therapy. It is a non-profit organization bringing animal resources to human needs. ITA specializes in providing animal-assisted therapy in the areas of physical, occupational, speech and psychotherapies, as well as special education.
www.therapyanimals.org
Therapy Dogs of Vermont
Therapy Dogs of Vermont (TDV) is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization of highly-trained dogs and their handlers. The handler/canine teams work on the emotional health of patients in hospitals and residents of nursing and retirement homes. TDV has a large membership throughout the state of Vermont and in some areas of New Hampshire.
www.therapydogs.org









