northtechnical.org

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
  • default color
  • black color
Home

Service Dogs Visit Veterinary Assistant Program

Australian Shepherd_Houston.png
On Thursday, April 15 the North Technical Veterinary Assistant program was visited by a group of especially talented dogs.  Daisy (Border Collie), Babe (English Cocker Spaniel), Heather (Australian Shepherd), Houston (Australian Shepherd), Margo (Samoyed), and their respective owner/trainers are members of the North St. Louis County Obedience Training Club and are registered with Therapy Dogs International.  More than just a dog that does some neat tricks, a “therapy dog” is a specially trained support dog with an outstanding temperament towards people and other animals.  These dogs can often be found visiting hospitals, care centers, schools, and nursing homes; bringing cheer to all people whether they be young or old.  Of course, not every dog can become a “therapy dog”.  A therapy support dog must enjoy being around people, be extensively trained, and have solid obedience skills like those outlined in the Canine Good Citizen Test offered by the American Kennel Club (AKC). The Canine Good Citizen Certification test is a skills test for both the handler and dog.  Owners must demonstrate that they are conscientious and responsible pet handlers, while dogs must complete a series of assessment tests that demonstrate friendly good manners including; readily accepting strangers, sitting politely and staying in place, walking graciously through pedestrian traffic, responding to handler’ calls, and behaving well around other dogs. On this day, the visiting dogs demonstrated their talents to the North Technical Veterinary Assistant students by performing common Canine Good Citizen training routines that are required of therapy support dogs.  In the short video clip above you will see Babe, an English Cocker Spaniel, and Houston an Australian Shepherd that holds 28 canine titles, demonstrate some of the more advanced AKC Canine Good Citizen exercises for North Technical students.