love

"Love on a Leash" is our visitation program. You and your canine friend will make visits to retirement homes, private homes, schools, libraries, hospitals, and represent PAWS in public relations events.

Why visit retirement homes and hospitals? Visiting with your canine friend can help people feel less lonely and less depressed. Your visit will be entertainment for those that like a change in their routine. People will talk to you and your dog, sharing thoughts, memories, and feelings. Petting will encourage use of hands and arms, which may not have been stretched for a while. Stroking your dog will lower a person's blood pressure.

Why visit schools and libraries? What is more fun than seeing smiles on kid's faces! Educating school age children about proper pet care and responsibility will make them better pet owners as adults.

If you do not have a dog to participate in this program, no problem. We have stuffed PAWS pets! Especially preschool age or kids that are afraid of dogs can still feel relaxed and interact with our stuffed PAWS pets. You can also take stuffed PAWS pets with you and your dog. We want to make every visit fun and educational for every kid!

What dog makes a good therapy candidate? They come in any size, sex, breed or mix of breeds. They need to like adults and children, be controllable, be trained in good manners, and of the utmost stable personality. The dog's ability to calmly accept unusual or new circumstances if one of many keys to a good therapy dog. Not every dog enjoys this activity. It is so important that your dog loves this kind of work as these activities can create stress for you AND your canine friend AND you both must be able to handle it and enjoy it.

To join this program, you must first attend an introduction session with Allison, the founder of this program. Second, you and your dog MUST have some formal obedience training AND pass the Canine Citizen test given by an AKC CGC Approved Evaluator at Pawsitive Dog Training in River Falls or other training facility. Pawsitive also has Canine Citizen classes to get you and your dog familiar with the activities of visitations and the exercises of the test. You can email or call Allison or Pawsitive for schedules.