Getting your dog certified to visit nursing homes involves a few clear steps: basic obedience training, a handler education course, a team evaluation with a national therapy organization, and registration that includes liability insurance. The full process typically takes a few months and costs under $250 through most organizations.
The certification isn’t just for your dog. You and your dog are evaluated as a team, because how you read and guide your dog matters just as much as how your dog behaves. Here’s what the process looks like from start to finish.
Start With Basic Obedience
Before pursuing therapy-specific certification, your dog needs a solid foundation of basic manners. The AKC’s Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test is widely recognized as the baseline standard, and some healthcare facilities require it specifically. The test covers 10 skills:
- Accepting a friendly stranger
- Sitting politely for petting
- Allowing grooming and handling
- Walking on a loose lead
- Walking calmly through a crowd
- Sitting, lying down, and staying in place on cue
- Coming when called
- Reacting calmly to another dog
- Reacting calmly to distractions
- Staying calm during a brief supervised separation from you
Many local dog training classes build toward the CGC test and offer it at the end of a course. Even if you don’t formally take the CGC, these 10 skills are essentially the prerequisites for therapy work. If your dog can’t reliably perform them, they’re not ready for an evaluation.
Age and Health Requirements
Your dog must be at least one year old at the time of evaluation through Pet Partners, the largest therapy animal organization in the U.S. Some individual facilities set the bar higher. Bronson Healthcare, for example, requires dogs to be at least two years old. Your dog also needs to have lived in your home for at least six months.
On the health side, your dog needs current vaccinations for rabies, distemper, and parvovirus. Some facilities also require a negative fecal exam for roundworms and hookworms, plus a letter from your veterinarian commenting on overall health and temperament. Plan on an annual vet checkup to keep everything current.
One requirement that catches some owners off guard: certain facilities won’t allow dogs that eat a raw diet. Raw beef, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, or other uncooked animal protein can be disqualifying because of the infection risk to vulnerable residents.
Complete a Handler Training Course
You’ll need to complete a handler education course before your team evaluation. Through Pet Partners, this is an online course that costs $80. It covers how to read your dog’s body language, recognize signs of stress, redirect behavior gently without force, and manage interactions with residents who may be unpredictable in their movements or reactions.
The training also focuses on skills that are easy to overlook: how to interact warmly with the people you’re visiting while simultaneously monitoring your dog, how to advocate for your dog’s wellbeing if a situation becomes overwhelming, and how to guide visits in a patient, professional way. You’ll need to pass a criminal background check as well. In the U.S., you must be at least 18 to volunteer.
What Happens During the Evaluation
The team evaluation is where you and your dog demonstrate that you can work together in the kinds of situations you’ll encounter in a nursing home. A trained evaluator watches your dog’s reactions to a series of scenarios designed to mimic real visit conditions.
Your dog will need to greet a friendly stranger calmly, without jumping, cowering, or showing aggression. They’ll be petted and handled, including having their ears and feet touched, the way a curious resident might reach for them. They’ll need to walk politely beside you through a group of people without pulling or getting spooked.
Then things get more realistic. Your dog will experience enthusiastic petting from multiple people at once, surprising sounds and sudden gestures like staggering movements or raised voices, and gentle hugs or light restraint similar to what a child or someone with limited mobility might do. They’ll also encounter another dog to see how they react in shared spaces, and face a “leave it” exercise where they need to ignore a tempting item on the ground.
The evaluator isn’t looking for robotic obedience. They’re looking for a dog that stays relaxed, recovers quickly from surprises, and trusts you to guide them. They’re also watching you: can you anticipate your dog’s reactions and step in before a situation escalates?
Evaluation fees typically run $15 to $30.
Registration, Insurance, and Costs
Once you pass the evaluation, you’ll register with the certifying organization. Pet Partners charges $95 for first-time registration, which covers two full years of volunteering. That fee includes a criminal background check and, critically, liability insurance coverage.
Liability insurance is essential because nursing homes and other healthcare facilities almost universally require it. National therapy organizations include coverage as part of membership, which is one of the main reasons facilities prefer handlers who are registered with a recognized organization rather than going it alone. Without that coverage, most facilities won’t let you through the door.
All in, expect to spend roughly $190 to $210 for the handler course, evaluation, and registration through Pet Partners. Add in any obedience classes or a CGC test fee, and you’re generally under $300 total.
Getting Into a Specific Nursing Home
Certification alone doesn’t automatically open doors. Each facility has its own volunteer onboarding process. You may need to fill out a separate volunteer application, go through an interview, complete a facility-specific orientation, and in some cases undergo a health screening that includes immunization records or a TB test.
Some facilities will want to observe you and your dog in their specific environment before approving regular visits. This makes sense: a dog that does fine in a quiet evaluation room might react differently to wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen equipment, or the sounds of a busy nursing home hallway.
If the facility doesn’t already have a therapy dog program, contact their volunteer coordinator or activities director. Many are receptive but may not have established protocols, so being registered with a national organization and carrying liability insurance makes their decision much easier.
Preparing for Each Visit
Certification is a one-time process (renewed every two years), but preparation before each visit is ongoing. Your dog must be bathed no more than 24 hours before a visit, with extra attention to their eyes, ears, nose, feet, and under the tail. Nails need to be trimmed short enough that they won’t scratch fragile skin. A flea and tick check before every visit is standard practice.
Infection control is a serious concern in nursing homes, where residents often have weakened immune systems. Petting a dog triggers the release of feel-good brain chemicals like oxytocin and serotonin, which is exactly why these visits are so valuable. But that benefit disappears if a visit introduces a health risk. If your dog is having an off day, seems stressed, or is showing any signs of illness, skip the visit. And if your dog misbehaves during a visit, the right move is to notify the staff and leave immediately.
Is Your Dog the Right Fit?
Not every friendly dog is suited for therapy work. The dogs that thrive in nursing homes are calm without being disengaged, affectionate without being pushy, and resilient enough to handle unpredictable environments without shutting down or getting overstimulated. Breed doesn’t matter nearly as much as individual temperament.
Watch how your dog reacts to new people, sudden noises, and unfamiliar settings. A dog that hides behind your legs at the vet’s office or lunges excitedly at every new person may need more socialization before they’re ready. A dog that naturally gravitates toward people, stays loose-bodied when touched by strangers, and recovers quickly when startled is a strong candidate. If you’re unsure, a professional trainer who works with therapy dogs can give you an honest assessment before you invest time and money in the certification process.