Certification Process –

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Caring Animal Partner. Our  mission is to enhance the pleasure and well being of our elder groups, assist  in the development of skills for living in our younger groups and to provide pet assisted therapy to those with special needs.

Prospective pet candidates need to be in good health, sociable, well controlled, able to demonstrate basic obedience commands, and of steady temperament. They need to be at least one year old and have been with the owner/handler for one year. Please read the General Test Information and fill out the Pet Partner Application and return to CAP to see if your pet may qualify for our program. 

Caring Animal Partners certifies Therapy Pets.  They need to have stable temperaments and friendly, easy-going personalities. Typically, they visit hospitals, schools, hospices, nursing homes and more. We do not certify Service Pets or Emotional Support Pets. Service Pets are trained to perform tasks and to do work that eases their handlers’ disabilities. Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are encouraged to interact with a variety of people while they are on-duty including petting the therapy pet.

CAP only insures volunteer Therapy Teams and cannot insure people who have a Therapy Pet as a part of their work assignment. Please contact your employer to make sure they have insurance coverage for you.

All Dogs must already have passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen Test.  We will administer our Pet Aptitude Test.  If you and your dog successfully complete this you will be asked to do some supervised visits at a site and time convenient to you. Then you will receive your official CAP ID and tag for your dog. We visit in area nursing homes, adult day care facilities, and schools. You need to have the time to commit to an hour visit at least once a month or more.

CAP evaluators only do evaluations; we do not offer any training classes.  If you feel your pet would make a great visitor but needs a little more training, please call an obedience instructor to take some classes and contact us at a later date.   If there is more then one owner that may want to take the pet visiting you both need to come to the evaluation.

The cost is $50 for the evaluation. Our yearly membership fee to cover insurance and mailings is $20 for an individual and $30 for a family.  To learn more about the evaluation process, review the certification documentation links on the right. Please fill out the Pet Partner Application and return to CAP. We also require copies of your latest vet records.

To learn about the next evaluation or to schedule an evaluation, contact Bob Moser at nhcap@tds.net or 603-927-4046.