Love on a Leash brings emotional support through pet visits to people in need of a little bit of sunshine. The North Central Indiana Chapter visits, among other places, skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities, universities, libraries and hospices and conducts one-on-one visits. The chapter focuses on the counties north of Indianapolis, including Boone County.
Pets can have a relaxing and therapeutic effect. Researchers observe that all people need to touch and be touched in a caring way. Therapy dogs create an opportunity for that touch and showing that caring.
For those interested in participating with their dogs, the process of qualifying a pet as a therapy pet is different from being a service dog, for example, for a blind person. A therapy pet needs to be able to follow basic obedience commands like sit and come and be well-behaved around other pets. They can be any size, breed, color, shape, sex or age (older than 12 months). Primarily, the ideal therapy pet should enjoy being around people.
For more, visit loveonaleashnci.org/index.html.
