How can my dog become a hospital/therapy dog?

He’s a Staffy cross with a wonderful temperament – affectionate, intelligent, etc. I’m interested in him becoming one of those dogs that are taken around hospitals to cheer patients up. He’d love the attention and I’d feel good that my dog is helping people in need?
How do I go about getting involved? Do the only take certain breeds of dogs like they do with guide dogs and hearing dogs?

In the UK it is known as pets as therapy (P.A.T. dogs), their website explains the procedure to you, they will take any suitable dog, the breed is not important it is the individual dog who is assessed, I think they explain more about the assessment on their website, I think it is a very good thing to do if you have a suitable dog and are willing to make regular visits to the organisations wanting a P.A.T dog, some elderly people really look forward to the visit from their P.A.T dog as in some cases they get very few visitors and they miss having pets around, you would be making a real difference to peoples lives taking your dog to visit

http://www.petsastherapy.org/

Guide Dog Training : Intro to Guide Dog Training

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