Member Guidelines

GENERAL

Paws For Love is a non-profit, all volunteer organization. We do not accept monetary reimbursement for any of the services our members provide; however, donations may be accepted.
Dogs must be at least one year of age.
Dogs must have an annual physical examination by a veterinarian, including a stool check. Dogs must be current on all vaccinations, including rabies, DHLPP and Bordatella, or as advised by their veterinarian. An annual heartworm test and preventative medication are encouraged in areas where advised by their veterinarian. Titers are acceptable. You must certify annually with your Paws for Love membership renewal form that your dog is current in their vaccination records and have completed the annual stool examination with a negative result for parasites.
To maintain active member status, members must voluntarily work in some capacity not less than two hours per month, 12 months a year. This can be two hours visiting with the respective therapy dog at a designated facility, two hours of work in an administrative function, i.e., board member, executive committee member, team leader, project or special events coordinator or worker, or a combination of any of these functions. It is ultimately the member’s responsibility to ensure the Membership Coordinator has properly accounted for and documented all hours worked each month.
Dogs cannot be brought to the respective handler’s job site or business as a therapy dog or for any purpose associated with Paws For Love.
Once registered, dogs showing any signs of aggression at any time thereafter will immediately be removed from all Paws For Love activities until a thorough assessment of the situation has been conducted by the organization. Members will be removed from active member status if it is confirmed that the respective dog is aggressive in any way. If members have other registered dogs, they will retain their active member status and can continue working with those dogs. Also see Testing/Observation guidelines with regard to this subject.

VISITING FACILITIES

As a registered therapy team, you can visit any facility that will allow visitation. Teams do not have to function as members of Paws for Love or any other local group, nor does the respective facility have to be approved.
As a representative of Paws for Love, dogs and handlers must abide by Paws for Love guidelines and expectations when visiting facilities and notify the Facilities Coordinator of their commitment.
Visiting facilities' arbitrarily or on impulse shows poor manners. Familiarity with the facilities guidelines is necessary and contact with the facilities/activities director is a minimum requirement.
Team visits with family members/friends, as a personal favor, outside the purview of an assignment must still adhere to the guidelines of a facility.  Paws for Love will not play a role in these arrangements and will be held harmless for any aspect of such visits.
Participating dogs must be clean, parasite-free (internal & external), and in good overall health. Dogs that have recently had surgery, or any fresh wounds, etc. should be excused from doing pet therapy visits until rested and healed. Dogs must be well groomed, including trimmed, filed toenails, and clean teeth. Female dogs “in season” will not participate in therapy visits.
During visits, dogs must be readily identifiable as registered therapy dogs with the Therapy Dog, Inc. “heart” medallion or Delta designation attached to the collar and at a minimum wearing a red service dog shoulder vest with a Paws for Love patch attached on the back of the neck/shoulders.
Handlers must be clean, well groomed, and without influence of alcohol and/or drugs that may impair safety or judgment while participating in visits. You must inform all facilities that you visit if you have any medical conditions that would affect your ability to perform your volunteer duties.
Members must belong to a national therapy dog organization (such as Therapy Dogs Inc. or Delta Society) that provides insurance that protects the people you visit, in the event of injury or illness, as a result of contact with your dog. Refer to the national therapy dog organization’s literature regarding limitations and other requirements of their insurance policy. Paws for Love does NOT provide for liability or any other form of insurance while participating in visits or other activities under the name of Paws for Love.
Members, who would like to visit facilities currently not on the list of those served by PFL, may do so. The individual member is personally responsible for all coordination and administration pertaining to that facility. They are also responsible for knowing and adhering to all policies and procedures, rules and regulations of those facilities as they pertain to the dog therapy team’s work there. Paws for Love assumes no responsibility or liability in such cases.
PFL membership minimum age requirement is 16. Members under the age of 16 must be approved by a national therapy dog organization (such as Therapy Dogs Inc.) and follow the guidelines of the national therapy dog organization while participating in any visit. They must provide proof of exemption for the registration. Regardless of the national therapy dog organization requirements, any member under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult while on therapy dog visits representing Paws for Love.
Each handler may handle only one dog at a time while participating in any therapy dog visits and/or activities.
Advocating for your dog is a priority. Be aware that length of visit needs to be based on your dog's attention span and stress level. Visits can range from 30 minutes to no more than 2 hours. Generally larger breeds can handle longer visits than smaller dogs but it is up to you as the handler to recognize the limitations of your dog on any given visit.
Dogs must be kept on a 4-foot or shorter leash at all times when in any facility, except when doing formal obedience or trick demonstrations. We suggest using a traffic lead with larger dogs. Retractable and chain leads are not allowed. No pinch, prong, spiked or electronic collars are allowed. Only slip or buckle collars (chain, nylon or leather) or the use of a head halter are acceptable.
Handlers must carry a current national therapy dog organization card (such as Therapy Dogs Inc.) as proof of current membership in good standing. In addition, dogs must comply with any other identification requirements of the national therapy dog organization while on visits. For example, Therapy Dogs Inc. requires that dogs must wear the red heart-shaped Therapy Dogs Inc. identification tag while representing Therapy Dogs Inc.
Members must have written proof of dog’s vaccination readily available at each visit; in the car, or on your person, or on file at the facility you visit.
Therapy dog teams must strictly adhere to all rules and regulation in each facility. If these rules are unclear, ask a staff member or activities director to explain them to you.
Once a handler has committed to a visitation schedule, it is expected that the therapy team consistently maintains that schedule, arriving and departing respective facilities at the expected time, and ensuring the points of contact on the facility staffs are given sufficient prior notice of any circumstances precluding a visit from occurring or beginning at a later time. Facilities will be informed at least one month prior to any scheduled vacations or other justifiable long-term absences from scheduled visits. If at all possible, and in accordance with facility regulations, provide a suitable replacement.
Hours worked at a particular facility will be accounted for by the member and reported to the Paws for Love team leader for that facility by the end of each month.
Therapy dogs are not allowed to jump onto a bed of any patient / resident, nor should they be placed in an occupied chair or wheelchair unless that patient / resident and a facility staff member have given permission.
Handlers will not make or receive calls using a cell phone inside a facility. If you need to use a phone for any reason, please excuse yourself from your visit and go outside the facility. Pagers and cell phones shall be set on vibrate while inside a facility.
If an injury to an employee, resident, or attendee in the facility occurs during a therapy dog visit:

a)  Immediately contact the facility's supervisor on duty

b) Document the incident on all required forms for the facility,

c) Immediately contact your national therapy dog organization (such as Therapy Dogs Inc.) and report the incident under their guidelines, and

d) Contact your Paws for Love Team Leader, or if unavailable, the Facilities Program Coordinator to report the incident.

At the discretion of the Board of Directors of Paws for Love, a handler and dog may be asked to temporarily or permanently refrain from further visits as a member of Paws for Love if the above guidelines or the guidelines of their national therapy dog organization fail to be followed. Should this action be necessary, a handler shall immediately relinquish ownership of their Paws for Love membership card to the P.O. Box currently used by Paws for Love.

DOG VEST POLICY

As of January 2006, new members whose dogs have been registered will be responsible for buying PFL coats for their dogs. Vests can be ordered at: http://www.sitstay.com/store/clothing/service1.shtml or
http://www.therapydogs.com/ through their merchandise store. When purchasing the coat you will also need to purchase one “Therapy Dog” sew-on tab at the same time. Members will also need two PFL patches. New members will receive these at the new member orientation. If old members do not have the patches or are needed for additional registered dog(s), they can purchase them through Paws For Love. Large patches cost a flat fee of $6 (each) and small patches are $4.50 (each). Send a check with order size and quantity to PO Box 20925 Reno 89515.
Patches, tabs and service bones are to be sewn onto the coats in the manner shown on the third page below. The minimum setup requirement for the vest is one PFL patch sewn on each side of the vest and the Therapy Dog tab to be sewn on the center of the top or back area. Service bones and / or the embroidered name of the dog are acceptable additions to the setup, but are left up to the discretion of the handler. The picture below shows the vest with the service “bones option” included.
Paws dogs are required to wear their "I am a Therapy Dog" tag at all times when performing therapy or representing PFL in another capacity. Jackets are required except when dog is "dressed" for a special event, holiday or activity.