What is your opinon?? *Therapy dog experts*

[K9soul]

I watched it but he's not a service dog, he's a therapy dog. Those are two different things. A service dog has a specific job to do for its owner that it has been specifically trained to do. A therapy dog just is basically a dog that is very good with people and kind of a canine good citizen so to speak. They go in to be petted and play or whatever may make a patient smile and feel better. I don't think the rottie looked out of control. The boy was laughing and playing with him and the dog was responding, which is what he is there for. A lot of therapy dogs are even trained and encouraged to jump up, either front paws or even all the way, on patient's beds so patients can touch and see them and interact with them. In my personal opinion, as a therapy dog he wasn't doing anything inappropriate. If the owner had asked him to sit or lie down he should do so, but it seemed to me the boy and dog were playing and having fun together and I didn't get the feeling the dog was out of control or being overly rough. Just how I saw it

[critter crazy]

My applogize for calling him a service dog, My bad. Anyways, I guess being a mom, I just saw it as being a bit too rough. But I guess it is just me.

[Giselle]

In this case, the kid seemed to be enjoying the 'roughhousing' immensely and I don't think it was too rough. I do think that it seemed a bit more rough than normal because the dog was so big and the child so small. In general, therapy teams are told to err on the side of caution because we generally visit people who aren't as healthy and, due to liability reasons, we *must* be safe rather than sorry. Additionally, most (not all but most) therapy teams visit elderly people who are much more susceptible to small nicks, scratches, and bumps. It is imperative, thus, that we keep our dogs on a tight lead - literally. But I think because this child has known the dog for so long and is initiating the play, it's okay.

It all just depends on the dog, the facility, the organization, and, most importantly, the human