Could your dog become a therapy dog?

Enzo, Tazz and Primrose. Photo credit: Julie Ritson

Pets As Therapy looking for volunteers to take their dogs into hospitals, schools and care homes

Pets As Therapy is looking for more volunteers to take their dogs into hospitals, schools and care homes, and you can meet the charity at the Chiswick Dog Show this Sunday (20 September)

Do you have a calm, well behaved dog that could make a difference to someone else’s day?

Pets As Therapy already has local dogs visiting patients at Evelina London Children’s Hospital and is looking for more volunteers.

If you are interested in finding out more, the charity will have a stall at the Chiswick Dog Show this Sunday on the cricket pitch at Chiswick House, from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm.

It is a chance to meet the charity, find out how the volunteering works and see whether your dog might be suitable for the role.

Pets As Therapy volunteers and their dogs support people in a range of settings, including schools, care homes and hospitals. The dogs need to be calm and well behaved, and owners register with the charity before arranging an assessment.

Three local dogs, Enzo, Tazz and Primrose, also known as Rosie, are already volunteering at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, next to St Thomas’ Hospital.

Their visits involve spending time with children and their families, offering the sort of simple interaction that can provide a welcome distraction from being in hospital. For the volunteers and their dogs, it can be an interesting, enjoyable, moving and rewarding experience.

Ruth Todd is one of the volunteers involved at Evelina. Her visits with the dogs show how the scheme works in practice, with the dogs meeting patients and bringing some warmth and normality into the hospital environment.

And it is not just the people who get something from the visits. The experience is rewarding for the dogs too, making it a volunteering role where the whole team gets to play a part.

If you have a dog who is calm, well behaved and enjoys meeting people, you can register with Pets As Therapy and arrange an assessment.