Do You Know the Difference between a Therapy and a Service Dog? Register for your dog for scheduled visits during the 2024-2025 School Year! Also Please Take Our Service Dog Survey, Thank You!

Greetings,

My name is Devlyn Stubbs. I am a Dog Behavior Therapist at Stubsdale Dog Care Center.  In this email I will, 

1. Present on our current Therapy Dog Appointment Offerings. 

2. Explain and define the major types of service dogs.

Please Complete This Service Dog Demand Survey

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Overview

The foundation of a good service dog is a blend of the dog’s genetics, and having a good obedience trainer that knows how to identify and enhance a dog's talents while developing complex behaviors specific to their service assignment. My Dog training  experience extends  well over 25 years, and I have been training professionally for 15 years. I received a B.A. in Philosophy from St. John's University Collegeville Mn, in 2004, and Pet Trainer I Certification at Top Tier k9, Madison FL in 2017.

Our Therapy dog program is called Potcake Assisted Therapy and our dogs are available to all members of the society.  We began regular classroom visits at Stapledon School during the 2022/2023 & 2023/24 school years.

In The Bahamas, therapy dogs can be of use at Public & Private Institutions such as schools, ministry offices, hospitals, clinics, corporate offices, group homes, prisons, detention centers, halfway houses and more. At Stapledon School our clients are students with special needs. Our program goals are to improve a client’s social, emotional, and cognitive intelligence, to assist in bringing about greater independence.

In The Classroom: Potcake Assisted Therapy utilizes the benefits of dog interactions in our sessions to enhance learning objectives for students. Using students' Individual Education Program (IEP) goals established by the school, our trainers monitor students' progress. Students have demonstrated increased confidence, independence, proficiency in understanding the lesson and completing assignments.

Hi, How Well Do you know the difference Between A Therapy & a Service Dog?

Therapy dogs

Are well socialized beginner or advanced trained obedience dogs. They are usually required to have passed their Canine Good Citizen and Public access Tests. They are utilized as motivational aids in achieving better outcomes such as lesson plans and social independence goals. Therapy dogs can be useful in a wide variety of settings such as classrooms, hospitals, Group homes.

Service Dogs

usually are specific to a particular special need such as blindness, seizures, or hearing impaired. Oftentimes they are selected and paired with an individual from beginner obedience until their service training is complete. Training a service dog can take from months to years.

Emotional Support Dogs:

This classification has gained disdain over the years due to misuse as many self trained dogs were prematurely ushered onto airlines around the globe. This led to the distinction being made that only PTSD dogs were allowed on airlines going forward.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Dogs (PTSD)

These dogs assist their humans with anxiety, depression, hypertension and high blood pressure and emotional needs.