Increased demand for therapy dogs

25-people or 25-percent capacity.

More people are focusing on their mental health due to the pandemic.

Many businesses are getting therapy dogs... and there's been an increase in people wanting service dogs as well.

News 10's bri shackelford lets us know what one service dog training business is seeing right here in the wabash valley.

Bri intr} the pandemic has led to an increased demands for service and therapy dogs.

But..

Like most businesses a wabash valley training facility had to adapt to offer services under covid-19 restrictions.

Pk} "so during the time we were closed down we tried to make the best out of a very hard situation, and we actually created virtual dog training classes."

Founder mariah peroni says the virtual classes still certify the animals and in turn help unlimited pawsabilities deal with the increase in people who are looking for a service or therapy dog.

She says that going virtual also helps the business grow.

"and during that time we were actually able to reach people outside of the local area.

We've had several students from ohio, and tennessee, and washington state that were able to participate virtually with us."

Now she tells me that there is a difference between service dogs and therapy dogs.

The major difference...service dogs are granted full public access rights and help one individual while therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort, love, and support to people in facilities.

But peroni says to get a service dog...you don't have to have a physical disability.

"anxiety is a big one with people, and we have a dog right now that's going through training to become an allergen detection dog so that's pretty awesome that they can help with that."

Both service and therapy dogs require lots of training.

Bri/outr} if you'd like to train your pet to be a service or therapy dog or if you'd like to learn how to get a therapy dog for your facility..

You can go to the unlimited pawsibilities website.

We have that information linked on w-t-h-i tv dot com.

In the studio im new