Top 5 therapy dogs is a list of dog breeds that serves in special needs circumstances. Do you know a therapy dog provides assistance in several situations? These services are often an in-hospital rehabilitation program. Additionally, they also provide services as blind assistance and children care. Yeah, they are the true pinnacle of private and personal service dogs. You will be surprised to know the wide range of duties that they can perform.
In this post, we will consider the widely used breeds as blind assistant, Physically impaired assistant, children nanny dogs and dogs usually serving in hospitals. I personally owe to 4 of my dogs to have walked with me during a depressing episode of my life. Do look at the conclusion, it is the most important thing I want to say regarding this topic. So, let’s start.
Top 5 therapy dogs: The best of the best.
Labradors are very intelligent. They are working on several walks of life. You may see them as sniffer dogs on airports, hotels and industrial compounds. Additionally, they are serving in various police forces, paramilitary forces and military forces. Apart from all these, they are one of the top-selling dogs in pet circuit. In fact, they make it to the top of registered household dogs.
Do you know they can solve medium difficulty level puzzles? Yes, literally they are one of the most intelligent dog breeds around. With their superintelligence, they are also very kind and social-able. In addition, they have a kind heart. Secondly, they are very trainable.
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Everyone loves a large tail wagging and cuddling dog. This serves as emotional support to lift anyone’s spirit up. This is the reason several child day care homes, blind assistance services, hospitals across the USA employ Labrador. Apart from their intelligence, their emotional understanding is also high. That is why they are loved all over the world as the best therapy dog.
Labrador’s Cousin: Golden retriever.
It will be a little injustice to this magnificent breed to call it second to the Labrador retriever. But here we are taking into account the number of dogs of one breed. Surely, Labrador is the highest employed serving dog but golden retriever not lesser in what is the need of the job. In fact, both of these breeds are often interbred to produce pups expected to be better than both.
Golden retrievers are absolutely best at loving their family. They love humans in general. They are very careful around the children. Additional to this they are very good at sensing emotional distress. You might have often stumble upon YouTube videos which show this breed trying to comfort their crying owners. They are also very protective of family children. All this emotional excellence coupled with high intelligence makes them perfect prospect for therapy dogs.
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In fact, they are widely employed by hospitals, rehabilitation services, recovery assistance, symptom alarm dogs and blind assistance dogs.
The gentle Giant of top 5 therapy dogs: St. Bernard.
This behemoth fluff of a dog is a pure delight to be around. They are once served as nanny dogs across Europe, especially in well to do families. You might remember peter pan. The nursemaid caretaker of the children in the story was a St. Bernard named ‘Nana’.
Apart from cultural reference, St. Bernard served as the rescue dog in Swiss Alps for ages. Remember the tiny barrel tied to the neck of St. Bernard dog. It is said that this barrel carried brandy for lost mountaineers who might be in need of some immediate heat. With their keen sense of smell, they are able to sniff people buried even 20 feet below the snow. This giant then used to dig them out, wrapped them in its fur by cuddling and provided them with an emergency hot drink. In the form of brandy of course.
The famous and loved Hollywood flick ‘Beethoven’, brought this breed back into the general public’s notice.
Apart from that, St. Bernard is a very kind and easy-going dog. They are very good with children. One of the best choice for emotional support for a distressed person. I would say even better than the above two in taking care of small children if affordability is ignored to some extent.
Newfie.
Newfie as the Newfoundland in lovingly called is also one of the best dogs to have for therapy services. They are very tolerant and kind towards small children. Additionally, they are very easy to go around seniors. Oh, I would love to have one around my kids if the weather was not a constraint. I actually live in a desert environment that would not be well suited for this furry breed. But surely if you can get one then this breed is one of the best if you have small children growing in your home.
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Apart from being emotionally available, they are very intelligent and strong. In fact, this breed was developed to assist fishermen. If fishermen lost a net in cold waters of Canadian coast they will take a dive and will retrieve it. They have huge swimming stamina. Also, their coat is a little oily that makes them quick dry in a few shakes.
Most abused of the top 5 therapy dogs: American Pitbull.
Yeah, you read it right, the pit-bull. Despite the popular belief and ill promotion of the illegal dog fight scumbags, this is one of the original nanny dogs. This breed got its bad name because of the reputation it gained in illegal dog fight circuits. Poor darling has not yet recovered from the bad rep low life humans gave to it.
There are several reputed breeders, pitbull activists, dog lovers and professionals that are trying hard to bring this breed back to homes, where it belongs. There is absolutely no aggression issues with this breed. Actually, conditions in which irresponsible owners keep this breed in are so devastating that any dog can become ill-tempered. The famous lockjaw bite of this breed is the result of the very strong jaw muscle.
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Looking past bad owners will make you realize the true heart of this breed. Absolutely love bursting. This dog, if given the right environment to grow from the start will melt your heart with love. The hope that this breed carries with itself is beyond belief. There are so many incidences of abused and abandoned pit bulls to have recovered and now are the life of their forever family.
This breed deserves a second chance. I really appreciate what Dog Dynasty is doing with their star Hulk. Keep up the good work sir.
Conclusion; Top 5 therapy dogs.
Therapy dogs are not limited to just some breeds. Actually, every person is unique so is every dog. Some times very unlikely individuals shine brighter than the rest. You may find a Great Dane working as a therapy dog. Even greyhound, cane Corso, mastiff, Akita are used as therapy dogs. Depending upon the temperament of one dog and acceptance of its human makes the difference.
You may witness a very aggressive dog bond with a very troublesome young man, sometimes a discarded afraid pooch clicks with an introvert girl. As I said earlier it depends on person to person and dog to dog. For my troubled times a Doberman, a St. Bernard and two German Shepherds served as a family. I was in acute depression, had these dogs not been there I do not know what I would have become or where I would have ended.
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