3.Choose right venue to suit your dog’s personality.

A convalescent home, children’s playground at a shelter, a prison, and a psychiatric ward all require slightly different tolerances from dog. One dog may be sad at lack of contact in a convalescent home, while another might be over-stimulated by a group of active children.

4.Start with good obedience training.

Check with your vet or in yellow pages for training opportunities in your community.

5.Condition your dog to stimulating new environments, building her trust and confidence in you. (If you’re taking her there, it’s okay.)

6. Read some books on subject. There’s a list here: http://www.dog-play.com/books.html .

7.Join an organization that can help you learn and also direct you to opportunities.

The Bright & Beautiful Therapy Dogs, Inc., http://www.pet-therapist.com , Therapy Dogs International, Inc., http://www.tdi-dog.org , and Delta Society, http://deltasociety.org .

8.Obtain a Canine Good Citizenship Certificate, awarded under guidelines by American Kennel Club ( AKC).

It involves basic good behavior, following some commands, being able to stay alone briefly, not whine or bark, good grooming, and other things. You can read about it here: http://www.akc.org/love/cgc/program.cfm .

9. Once your dog has earned Canine Good Citizenship Certificate, you can register him or her in Canine Good Citizen Hall of Fame: http://home.earthlink.net/~dianebassett/dogtraining/CGC_hall_of_fame.html .

10.Don’t be afraid to set this up on an informal basis, from simply going to visit a home-bound neighbor, to calling volunteer director at local children’s shelter and asking if you can come by.

A good volunteer director is adept at working in various volunteer opportunities, and also always looking for enriching, fun and/or educational activities for clients.

Your visitation may be highly structured or not, involve one-on-one or group, you may visit residents’ rooms or meet in meeting room, and yours may be only animal there or one of many.

You can see various possibilities this can provide for a meaningful family or individual experience. There are both intellectual and emotional learning opportunities. With right animal companion, you’re on your way and someone’s going to be very happy to see you!

* Balloon Drop Who doesn’t love a good balloon game? Arrange players in a circle and have them number off. The player with highest number is “It”. “It” stands in center of circle, and calls out a number while dropping an inflated balloon. The player with that number must catch balloon before it reaches floor. If player catches balloon, “It” calls another number. But if balloon touches floor, then that player is “It” and game continues.