Pets Are Wonderful Support PAWS
To get on the list for our next orientation please download and mail/email the reservation form below.
Join us! Our pet-assisted therapy program has openings for volunteers and their dogs to visit hospitals, nursing homes, and children’s homes throughout Orange County. To join the program, you must attend orientation (without your dog), visit a site with team members (without your dog), and successfully complete an evaluation of your dog’s behavior. When your dog passes the evaluation there will be a $30 ($50 family) membership fee, which includes a program manual, t-shirt(s) and a bandana for your dog.
PAWS is a pet assisted therapy program sponsored by the Orange County SPCA to bring smiles and encouragement to the disabled, frail, and bedridden residents of nursing homes and hospitals, and others in need of the stimulation that pets can provide. The program gives satisfaction to volunteers and patients alike, and helps to foster a better understanding and appreciation of the human/animal bond. Results are not measured in miraculous recoveries but in smiles where there were frowns, in comprehension where none existed, and in awakened response brought about by the touch of fur or lick of a warm tongue. It is these small triumphs that make the PAWS program an enriching and rewarding experience for all concerned.
PAWS volunteers who visit Huntington Terrace pose with their people after their December visit.
Who can participate in PAWS?
If you are 18 or over, have a few hours per month to spare on a regular basis, and have a compatible pet, you are a candidate for the PAWS program.
Prior to enrollment, volunteers attend three orientation sessions: Classroom, site visit; and pet evaluation. Dogs are tested for basic obedience, appearance, and their reactions to other dogs, to strangers, wheelchairs and other distractions. Upon graduation, dogs are awarded an AKC Canine Good Citizenship (CGC) certificate and a bandanna to match their owner’s PAWS T-shirt.
When the required three-visit probation is completed, volunteer/pet teams become eligible to participate in the PAWS, Kindness Kids and Canine Literacy projects.
For more information on Pet Assisted Therapy, call us at 714-374-7738 or email ocspca@verizon.net. To be added to the list for our next orientation please send an email or download and mail the attached form.
