Serving the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania
Serving the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania
Pleasure of Your Company is always eager to add new volunteers to our team. Our volunteer program is open to the public, and all breeds of dogs — including mixes — are welcome to become therapy dogs. Help make a difference in our clients’ lives through the comfort of animal companionship.
To become a volunteer, potential volunteers must attend a general orientation that covers the basics on how to become a therapy dog team and a facility visit with other volunteers of POYC. After that, potential volunteers and their dogs are evaluated through a basic obedience and temperament test.
Dogs must be at least one year of age, up-to-date on all vaccinations and medications, properly licensed for their area of residence, and obedience trained. There is a $10 non-refundable fee for the testing and potential volunteers will be informed at the end of the test if they passed.
To help cover the expenses associated with this program, volunteers are asked to pay an annual fee of $30 after passing evaluation and becoming a trained volunteer.
The evaluation consists of a two-part test for temperament and obedience. The temperament portion of the test is an evaluation of how your dog handles new situations, visiting with strangers, and whether they’ll be afraid of standard equipment such as wheelchairs and walkers. For teams that will work in one of our reading programs, a reading situation is simulated for the team. The second part of the evaluation tests for basic obedience skills such as heeling on a loose leash, entering and exiting a room, along with basic skills such as off-lead recall, and a sit or down stay.