How do I go about establishing my beagle puppy as a therapy dog?

My 5 month old male beagle puppy is pretty special in my opinion, and although I do not know much about it, I think he has the potential to be a great therapy dog. He is incredibly calm, loves people, loves affection and responds very well to reward based training. Does anyone own a therapy dog? Or know of how I might go about training my beagle to become one?Jazzie, I'd love an answer from you!Thank you!

I would start by having him taking the Canine Good Citizen Test. Any hospital administrator or nursing home administrator should be able to tell you where to go from there. But by taking the test first you can show them you have a well behaved dog.

In the US, there are many therapy dog groups. The most famous is probably TDI (link below). On their website you will see all the tests the dog needs to successfully do to be a therapy dog with TDI. Your dog must be 1 year old to be registered with TDI.Other pet therapy groups include Pets On Wheels and Therapy Dogs Inc (no to be confused with the more prominant and longer existing Therapy Dogs International, which is above).All groups require a stable temper, as well as basic training of some sort. I'd start by calling nursing homes and hospitals in your area, ask for the "activities director" and tell them you're working on having a therapy dog and what do they require. Depending on the facility, some already have groups you can join, others will welcome you with just a CGC. Each place has it's own specific rules. Because I like to make my own schedule and just walk around from room to room, I contacted nursing homes until I found one that would allow me to do that. Therapy dog work is some of the most rewarding work you can do with your dog. Good Luck!

Annie gave you an excellent answer. The facilities in my small town, only require that they have their certificate of Canine Good citizen, and that males are neutered.Here is the info for getting started on your CGC:http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/index.cfm

I think you would be great at it.......and your beagle sounds like a perfect candidate to do this....a little young yet.type in and go to this linkwww.dogtherapygroups.comfrom there, go down to #@8, dog therapy organizationsit will land you on a great site, wait till you see, I am on this site all the time and there is so much to learn on there, and not just dog therapy groups.it will give you each and every organization and who to contact.......good luckI just checked out a few of them, they will give you al the testing and whom to contact in your area to get this done.You do know a bagel a day, helps keep the doctors away.tee hee...or is that an apple a day keeps the doctors away.