Do you know the difference between being a therapy dog and companion dog?  Mom took me to the Delta Society training class a year ago. Mom learned things to teach me so I could pass the test. Mom had some tests to pass.  It has been a year of training for mom and I.  I am proud to be part of the Delta Society as a therapy dog.

The Delta Society has a training manual which explains everything we had to learn about becoming a therapy dog.  Mom learned about different types of hospital, nursing care facilities, and more.  They taught mom about how to identify folks with special needs and how to make sure I do not get stressed while we are on a visit.

At night mom would have me do training in the living room. She gave me string beans and pieces of chicken for treats. I had to learn to sit, stay, heel, come, and to avoid a treat that was offered to me.  Mom and I walked around and around two orange traffic cones in the middle of the living room.  I had to stay close to her and be part of a team while we trained.

Delta Society's Pet Partners Program trains volunteers and screens volunteers and their pets for visiting animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools and other facilities.

Pet Partners Program was established in 1990 to ensure that "both ends of the leash," people as well as animals, were well-prepared to participate in animal-assisted activity and animal-assisted therapy programs. Pet Partners is the only national registry that requires volunteer training and screening of animal/handler teams.

Delta's national network links volunteers with facilities in their own communities that request visiting pets and helps Pet Partners contact facilities to begin visits in new locations.

Over 10,000 Pet Partners teams now operate in all 50 states and 11 other countries, helping more than 1,000,000 people each year. See what Pet Partners are doing in your area!

Therapy Animals Are Not Service Animals.

Many people are under the mistaken impression that therapy animals and their handlers have the same rights of access as people with disabilities and their service animals. In some cases, people have their animals evaluated and registered as therapy animals with the intention of insisting on access to public spaces with their animals, as if the animal were a service animal. They may be trying to have their animals accompany them on airplanes, in stores, or in restaurants that have "no pets/animals" policies. Essentially, this is fraudulent and, in many areas, illegal. Unless the handler meets the definition of a person with a disability and the animal meets the definition of a service animal, the team has no more rights of access than a person with a companion animal or pet.

Delta Society will not tolerate Pet Partners who fraudulently pass off their therapy animals as service animals.

What Is a Service Dog?

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), a dog is considered a "service dog" if it has been "individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability."

Also according to the ADA, a "disability" is a "mental or physical condition which substantially limits a major life activity" such as:

• caring for one's self
• performing manual tasks
• walking
• seeing
• hearing
• speaking
• breathing
• learning
• working

Some disabilities may not be visible, such as:

• deafness 
• epilepsy
• psychiatric conditions

To be considered a service dog, the dog must be trained to perform tasks directly related to the person's disability.

Example: Chris has a hearing disability and can't hear sounds such as a smoke alarms, doorbells, sirens, or her name being called. Chris is otherwise able to function with no other assistance. Chris has a dog named Rusty.

If Rusty is trained to let Chris know when a sound occurs (e.g., smoke alarm, doorbell), Rusty is considered a service dog.

On the other hand, if Rusty is only trained to retrieve items around the house and does not know how to alert Chris to sounds, Rusty is not considered a service dog for Chris, because the task of retrieving is not directly related to Chris' disability.

Other Terms Used to Refer to Service Dogs

To be consistent with the legal definition in the ADA, Delta Society uses the following terms:

Service animal describes any animal that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.

Service dog, adapted from the term service animal, is a species-specific term to generically describe any dog in the role of service animal.

Because people are more familiar with dogs as service animals, this web site uses "service dog" instead of "service animal" to make it easier for people to find the information they're looking for. Most of the time, the information that refers to "service dogs" also applies to service animals.

While the term "service animal" is legally defined, some organizations use the term "assistance animal" or "assistance dog."

The terminology used to label specific types of work dogs perform for people with disabilities has not been standardized. For example, a dog trained to help a person walk might be referred to by different sources as a "mobility dog", a "walker dog", or a "support dog." In addition to the wide variety of terms used, many service dogs are cross-trained to perform more than one category of work (such as guide and mobility for a person who is blind and has severe arthritis) and labeling them by the work they do becomes cumbersome.

Many individuals choose to identify their service animal generically (as "service animals", "service dogs", "service cats," etc.) because it identifies the roles of the animals without disclosing the nature of the persons' disabilities, and it is consistent with the terminology of the laws that protect them.

The Difference between Service Animals, Therapy Animals, Companion Animals and "Social/therapy" Animals 

Service animals are legally defined (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990) and are trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers who have disabilities. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places. Service animals are not considered "pets."

Therapy animals are not legally defined by federal law, but some states have laws defining therapy animals. They provide people with contact to animals, but are not limited to working with people who have disabilities. They are usually the personal pets of their handlers, and work with their handlers to provide services to others. Federal laws have no provisions for people to be accompanied by therapy animals in places of public accommodation that have "no pets" policies. Therapy animals usually are not service animals.

Companion animal is not legally defined, but is accepted as another term for pet.

"Social/therapy" animals likewise have no legal definition. They often are animals that did not complete service animal or service dog training due to health, disposition, trainability, or other factors, and are made available as pets for people who have disabilities. These animals might or might not meet the definition of service animals.

Delta Society Mission

Improving human health through service and therapy animals.

Delta Society Goals

Expand awareness of the positive effect animals can have on human health and development.  Remove barriers that prevent involvement of animals in everyday life. Expand the therapeutic and service role of animals in human health, service, and education.

History 

The Delta Foundation was established in 1977 in Portland, Oregon, under the leadership of Michael McCulloch, MD. Delta's first president was Leo K. Bustad, DVM, PhD, dean of a veterinary college and a pioneer in human-animal bond theory and application. Delta's founders wanted to understand the quality of the relationship between pet owners, pets, and care givers, both human and veterinary, (hence the "delta" name based on this triangle). At that time, pets were widely considered luxury or throwaway items, not of central importance to individual health and well-being. Delta's early years focused on funding the first credible research on why animals are important to the general population and specifically how they affect health and well being. Early Delta members were primarily from the veterinary and human health professions and from university faculties.

Once the importance of animals in everyday lives was established from this research, Delta began to look at how animals can change the lives of people who are ill and disabled. In the late 1980s, Delta began creating educational materials to apply the scientific information in everyday life. Membership expanded to pet owners and a broader general public.

In the 1990's, Delta built on its scientific and educational base to provide direct services at the local level. This includes providing the first comprehensive training in animal-assisted activities and therapy to volunteers and health care professionals. A significant advance was the development of the Standards of Practice in Animal-Assisted Activities and Animal-Assisted Therapy, which provides guidance in the administrative structure of AAA/T programs, including animal selection, personnel training, treatment plan development, documentation and more. Use of the Standards of Practice in Animal-Assisted Activities and Animal-Assisted Therapy provides a sound base on which to build quality AAA/T programs.

One of Delta's strengths continues to be the development of standards-based training materials. They identify subject matter experts and work with them to create, rigorously pilot and revise, and then implement training. Using this process, they are creating a comprehensive service dog trainer curriculum. In 2001, they published Professional Standards for Dog Trainers: Effective, Humane Principles, that will provide guidelines for all dog training developed by Delta Society.

For more information contact the Delta Society: http://www.deltasociety.org/VolunteerAboutAbout.htm

As soon as mom and I get out ID badge we get to go on our first assignment.  If you need a therapy dog at your facility you can contact us.  Thanks for reading my column and remember to hug a dog a day.  Thanks to the Delta Society for all the information they provided and a special thanks to Cathy Bones.