We call our dogs care dogs, although the common misused description is therapy dogs.

What we at Canine Concern do is called ‘animal assisted activity’ or ‘animal assisted therapy’. This is different to a proper ‘therapy’ dog, who would need years of training to give ‘therapy’ rather than ‘care and comfort’

Most charities offering people’s own dogs to visit places to give pleasure are actually care dogs, but again they often commonly misuse the term therapy dogs.

This is again different from being a ‘service’ or ‘assistance’ dog, which requires years of training for a dog to learn to assist their owner, whether in physically doing things or warning of an impending illness. Assistance/service dogs are also allowed to accompany their owners in more places than Canine Concern care dogs (although we are allowed in more places than a normal pet dog).

Canine Concern care dogs are privately owned by people who are prepared to put in some time and effort to teach their dog the essential skills that they will need.

Your dog’s bond and trust in you is, perhaps, the most important factor for a safe enjoyable experience. This is why we say you must have owned your dog for at least 6 months, so you can get to know each other and trust each other.

They must also be well trained, highly obedient and able to keep their heads and respond to commands when a lot of stimulus is competing for their attention!

The Kennel Club Bronze Good Citizen Award is the minimum standard we expect, but don’t feel you have to actually go on that course and pass it. These are just the acceptable standards to be expected of a well-behaved and polite dog.

A happy Canine Concern care dog is also forgiving of people who do things that are rude in dog language; this cannot be learnt just by training, but it helps.

You can read more about our assessment process here.

For the safety of the dog and patient/person being visited, all dogs must be very patient and respond to your commands regardless of any distracting environmental stimuli. Other essential behaviours include:

• Exceptional tolerance of handling by strangers
• No sensitivity to rough stroking or petting
• Excellent obedience levels
• The ability to walk on the lead without pulling
• Tolerance of unusual smells and sites, such as wheelchairs and medical devices
• Physically calm and content in the midst of both exciting and possibly anxiety-producing distractions. In addition, they must be able to have self control and ignore those distractions and focus on the client
• Confident in an environment that is different from home. Visiting environments (healthcare settings, prisons, schools, etc.) contain dynamics that are quite different from home in sounds, sights, smells, energy level, and activity level. A happy care dog is confident and feels at home in a variety of environments.
• No fear of unsteady movement in humans. They must have ease around people acting differently than people might do at home. People who are ill or stressed might act differently than people who are feeling well and relaxed. A dog who is worried about people who act differently to what he considers ‘normal’ will not be happy working in animal-assisted interactions
• A calm disposition
• Docility
• Complete lack of food or toy aggression and guarding behaviours
• Is psychologically sound and mature.  It can be challenging to visit people who are physically or mentally ill or enclosed in school classrooms or rooms.  Just like we feel tired after a day’s work, a care dog can feel tired after interacting with strangers.  Some dogs, like some humans, have a tendency to bring the woes of others home with them; a happy care dog should let clients’ woes roll off their backs.  A happy human or dog leaves work at work.
• Even pups with disabilities themselves are welcome, in fact they may actually offer even more inspiration to people with similar challenges. We have had a 3-legged dog visit a place for injured service people. She was a great success

Some dogs are just not suited to be care dogs; they may not have the temperament or may have an unknown health condition which precludes them from the job.

If your dog is nervous around strangers, it will be necessary to socialise them better before applying to join. But even the most responsive, affectionate pet may never develop the knack for being a Canine Concern care dog. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the dog, we are all different and with different skills, and so are our dogs

It is important for you, the owner, to become brilliant at interpreting visual signals of discomfort in your dog and learn to act on them immediately. That’s not always so easy to do as we might be so intent on doing this work with our dogs, but we must put their health and wellbeing before our wishes of helping others. A Canine Concern care dog must be happy, healthy and calm, yet confident.

We welcome any breed, cross breed, large, small, hairy or short hair. Each individual dog has its own merits depending on the visiting establishment’s requirements.

A large dog can be reached easier by a patient in bed or sitting on a chair without bending, however, if there are small enclosed spaces with lots of equipment, a large dog can be awkward. A small dog can be placed on chairs and even laps if on a blanket. A cuddly, fluffy dog can be lovely to hug, but not so good if someone has an allergy.
Some people will enjoy seeing a breed they have owned, whilst others enjoy seeing different dogs.

The important requirement for a Canine Concern care dog is that they have the right temperament and obedience.

The youngest a puppy should be is 9 months, although this can sometimes still be too young for the puppy to cope with the demands.

A puppy goes through several fear periods, which can last two to four weeks. During this time a puppy can react to unusual situations and this can even give behavioural problems. This happens at about six to 14 months, although it varies for individual dogs.

So please ensure your dog has gone through this, sometimes you might not notice it as some dogs show just mild fear, but please be aware of the age.

It is important that your dog is physically and emotionally healthy and mature, but not weak and old. Adult dogs are better able to deal with the challenges of this work than puppies.

Some people are overly eager to get their puppies involved in our work, yet puppies deserve to have a puppy-hood before they begin working. They need to have lots of fun first. This does not mean that you should delay training until a puppy is an adult. Proper, age-appropriate socialisation and training are essential for a well-mannered dog, whether a care dog or a companion.

A happy Canine Concern care dog is emotionally resilient and has a healthy, mature immune system.

Even if your dog has been enjoying this work for years, it is important to acknowledge when they are too old and need rest. They might even be too mature to start this work. We would not expect a retired person to suddenly enjoy working after they have had time to relax and enjoy more sedentary days.

We might think our dog loves the work, dogs are stoic and always want to please us, except the dog’s body language might suggest otherwise. They might look miserable, with a stiff body, mouth closed, ears back, tail down and head turned away from the clients.

We ourselves might be so overwhelmed with oxytocin and pleasure gained from helping people that we don’t see that our dog is extremely uncomfortable. Maybe they have always loved their work, but maybe that was then, and this is now.

This work can be the highlight of a dog’s week, but it can also be stressful, and it’s common for dogs to enjoy it for a few years and then be ready for retirement. Please be conscious of your individual dog’s needs. A happy Canine Concern care dog enjoys and copes with ALL the demands of their important work.

Canine Concern welcomes rescue dogs. The dog must be with the owner at least 6 months before applying. This is to ensure that you have forged a bond and trust in each other.

A rescue dog may come with issues that need to be worked through, or be very subdued and fearful, with issues which start once they feel settled in your home, after about 6 months.

Once the dog becomes settled and the true temperament shines through, they can become some of the best care dogs. We have possibly just as many rescued dogs as breed dogs working for Canine Concern.

Our founder, Eve Waring, always rescued dogs and part of the ideals of Canine Concern was to prevent so many dogs becoming unwanted due to incorrect handling. She encouraged our members to demonstrate to children as well as adults how to treat dogs, with positive training methods and appropriate treatment.

The assessment process is essential for us to check that your dog is suitable for this work. If the temperament is not suitable, then it can be detrimental for the dog’s wellbeing and happiness as well as a possible accident waiting to happen to the people we visit. We want to give these people benefits and certainly not injuries, so this is important.

A dog is an animal, even though they are usually friendly and wouldn’t dream of hurting anyone. However, if they are hurt or feeling uncomfortable or fearful, they might snap quicker than usual and end up hurting someone. We would do the same.

The assessment starts as you approach the approved assessor. They will be watching to see if there is a bond between you and if you approach as a calm, happy team with no pulling from you or your dog. There must be no jumping up at the assessor or any passer-by.

If the assessor feels that the potential team are good so far, then they will go into an enclosed space where the assessor can quietly touch your dog all over, maybe a little inappropriately and roughly, to ascertain the tolerance of your dog. They are permitted to react but not bite or growl.

The assessor will chat to you to check that your dog will wait patiently, without pestering for attention. They will also check to see if your dog takes treats gently without the assessor feeling their teeth.

If the assessor is happy still, they will continue the assessment on to meeting the general public. This can be in a dog friendly pub, café or shop. Some assessors even manage to do the assessment in a care home willing to accommodate us.

The assessor will observe how your dog reacts with the people, the equipment and the noises and smells. They will also watch the way you both react to each other and how your dog might turn to you for support if feeling uncomfortable.

Many people say that they did not realise they were being assessed, they were just enjoying the experience. We all feel nervous when we are having a test, and our emotions will affect our dog as well as how they behave. The assessors are aware that you will both be nervous so will take that into consideration. If they have any concerns, they might suggest you work on certain issues, then return for another assessment at a later date.

The assessment process usually only lasts 30-40 minutes, but often longer if you and the assessor end up chatting! It can be a very social activity with hopefully a positive outcome. Remember, it is not an exam, just a relaxed meeting to ascertain if your dog will be happy with the work.

You can never fail an assessment; however, you might result in having a referral after the first assessment, with some issues to work through. It does not mean your dog is a bad dog, just that for safety reasons, there might be some little things to tweak.

For example, we often ask our dogs to ‘give a paw’ when offering food. This is a no no when visiting people, as the elderly could have thin skin which can be damaged, or a child might be scratched. It might take a few weeks to retrain this habit, but it is feasible.

You have not wasted the assessors time, or even your own, as you have learnt the next step to eventually become a lovely care dog team.

The only time you would ‘fail’ is if your dog is so unruly and uncontrollable, or skittish and scared by everything and anything, that they would never make a suitable care dog. The other main reasons would be they are not a suitable age or are not healthy.

On the whole, most of us would already know if our dog was not be able to cope with this type of work, and we would not put them through the assessment in the first place.