Caring Canines Visiting Therapy Dogs, Inc.

How to Volunteer

Please note:
Caring Canines Visiting Therapy Dogs, Inc. is located in Massachusetts in the greater Boston area. We have no chapters or affiliations in any part of the country or in other parts of the world.

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Caring Canines volunteer. 

Here are the basic qualifications needed:

Your dog must:

            -  be at least a year old
            -  be healthy, parasite-free and up to date on all shots
            -  have basic obedience skills (sit,* down/stay, come)
            -  be friendly, gentle and have good visiting manners
            -  be able to retain his/her steadiness and good manners
               around wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and the noises
               and smells of a hospital or nursing facility environment
            -  be willing and able to tolerate clumsy, exuberant petting
            -  be able to work well around other dogs
            -  be spayed or neutered
            
            Greyhounds are not required to sit
            Obedience skills are NOT required for small dogs that will be held for visiting

Volunteers:

             - must be 18 years or older
            - must have private transportation
            - are requested to commit to a minimum of ten vists per year

We recommend reading the article, "Therapy Dog Work: Is This The Job for Your Dog?" to help determine whether your dog is likely to enjoy being a therapy dog.

The Application Process

        -  Submit an online application using the link at the bottom of this page.

       -  You will receive an immediate acknowledgement of your application via email.  Please be on the lookout for it.  As an all-volunteer program with over 100 volunteers, we rely on email as our primary way of communicating.  If it doesn't appear that you've heard from us, remember to check your spam folder as our reply may have ended up there.  For safety, please add the caringcanines.org domain name to your list of "not junk" in your address book.

Additional information about the application process and volunteering with our program may be found in our Frequently Asked Questions section.

 

 Click here to submit an online application to volunteer