-Dogs must be a minimum of one year old to be tested.

-The dog must be healthy. 

-The handler must be of good character.

-There is NO minimum age for handlers who pass the TDI Test without help. Condition: Handlers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult on visitations and the Registration Form must be signed by a parent or legal guardian.

-TDI Associate Members and their dog(s) may not visit, be registered by, or be active under the auspices of another Therapy Dog-related visitation program, organization, or group other than TDI. 

-TDI cannot register service dogs.*

-The Evaluation begins as soon as the Evaluator is able to observe you and your dog, not only when you are going through the test requirements as a dog/handler team.

-Potential applicants are NOT required to take any Therapy Dog classes. At the present time, TDI does not offer or sanction any Therapy Dog classes. Even though we do not require formal obedience classes, we recommend at least basic and intermediate obedience classes plus prep classes to expose the dog to working in various types of settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc.

-If a handler wants to visit with more than one dog at a time, all dogs visiting together must be tested at the same time (TDI allows a maximum of 2 dogs to visit together). The team must go through the entire test and work as one unit. All dogs tested together in a multiple dog test must have passed the TDI Test individually first.

*People with disabilities requiring a service dog cannot use the service dog as a therapy dog. However, they can be tested with another dog which is not a service dog. The service dog and the pet dog must go through the testing procedures at the same time.