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St. Andrew's Dog Program

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The St. Andrew's Church Therapy Dog Program is a volunteer therapy dog outreach ministry of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. This program offers free guidance and instruction in therapy dog volunteering as established by the national registry group Alliance of Therapy Dogs (ATD), formerly Therapy Dogs Inc.

Friendly, healthy and loveable dogs who are at least one year of age and have basic manners and skills are eligible to join this ministry, providing their owners agree to follow the guidelines outlined by ATD.

We do not require our teams to register with ATD, but some of our clients require registered teams. When that is the case, we offer ATD examination for registration.

We offer our volunteers an online network of visitation opportunities which in turn allows us to provide a coordinated and dependable schedule of visitation to our clients.

Our 25 therapy dogs and their owners, who are known as teams, logged an amazing 442 visits in our first year.

Our clients include:

  • Brookdale Senior Living

  • Adult Life Day Center

  • Primrose Retirement Living

  • Renaissance Assisted Living & Memory Care Unit

  • Golden Oaks Village

  • St. Andrew's Reading Buddies

  • Stillwater Public Library Secondary Exam Study Sessions

  • Stillwater Public Schools

  • Wings of Hope

  • JK Hospice

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We're Accepting Applications!

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We are looking for loveable dogs with basic leash and manner skills and owners who have time during the day to spend with people in need of a soft, furry friend.

​Mandatory Requirements For Participation:

1)    Orientation & evaluation.

  • The ATD packet will be thoroughly reviewed, all guidelines and examination requirements will be discussed.

  • Trainee required to complete ATD questions within 7 days.

  • Trainees are shown two commands that must be achieved with their dogs, “Leave it” & “Watch me”.

  • Trainee must provide vaccine records, fill out an enrollment form, and signed release.

  • Teams must demonstrate ability to loose leash walk.

  • Dogs must be non-human and non-canine reactive or aggressive.

  • Dogs must be accepting of friendly stranger, willing to be petted all over.


2) Trainee must observe a visit without their dog. They will receive commentary, advice, explanations.

3) Trainee must attend a second group class; a wheelchair is present, kids are present, treats are present. Trainees must demonstrate walking past each other, kids, treats while on loose leash using “leave it” and “watch me”.

4) Trainee will select multiple visits with their dog as a team where they will be observed.

5) Trainee becomes eligible for Sign-Up Genius and non-registered activities. Registration potential reviewed.

 If you are interested in scheduling visits or obtaining more information about training for this program please contact us.

Contact: Pat Dohman, (405) 269-8690

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