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January 28, 2019

Incorporating Dogs into Animal Assisted Therapy with Karen Ni from Sun Dog Therapy

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Episode Summary

Dr. Karen Ni, OTD, MA, OTR/L, CPDT-KA is passionate about using animal assisted therapy as a meaningful and powerful therapeutic tool. She uses her dogs, Dottie and Tater, as her canine co-therapists to assist in her therapy sessions and provide a different perspective and aspect to therapy interventions. She has also opened her own private practice, Sun Dog Therapy, that offers occupational therapy services, dog training, and other types of services related to caring for and learning about dogs.

Show Notes

Clarifying and defining terms that pertain to Animal Assisted Therapy.
Understanding the animal’s well-being during therapy and thinking of them as co-therapists.
The need for certification and training for animal assisted therapy.
Designing your schooling to emphasize your interests.
How dogs are incorporated into a variety of therapy sessions.
The difference in training for therapy rather than obedience.
Empowering the client by allowing them to train the dog and show others their results.
Transitioning skills from individual skills to generalized skills.
Starting SunDog Therapy as a private therapy practice
Lessons learned while starting a new business
Becoming involved with service dogs through other facets than specifically OT