| It probably depends on the individual dog. I'd venture to guess if your dog doesn't react to strange looking things she sees for the first time at the flea market, then she'll probably be okay with the medical equipment. Strange and different looking things and people never bothered my dog much before she took her therapy test so didn't bother her in the test. She did kind of look sideways at a crutch coming straight at her, but that was it.
In our organization, the things that will deny you the opportunity to retest are if your dog relieves itself indoors or if it shows aggression toward any other dog or person. If the dog isn't comfortable around some of the equipment, you're able to retest at a later date after you've worked on the problem.
2rotties2luv, that's horrible about the evaluator not liking Rottweilers. I would say that a Rott who gets his toes pinched and reacts by looking away is an excellent candidate for a therapy dog, as was obviously proved by Jazz as he went on to be a great therapy dog!
In our organization, the evaluators are very well qualified. All potential evaluators must do an "apprenticeship" with a qualified evaluator for at least a year. They are then observed conducting an evaluation by our Chief Provincial evaluator before they are allowed to test on their own. The same test is used across all of Canada and there are pretty clear guidelines on what is a failure and what is a pass. All of our tests are applied equally, with no regard to the dog's breed. This tends to weed out anyone with prejudices.
Miabella, good luck on your evaluation. Let us know how it goes.:)  |