The 2021 National Dog Show Therapy Dog Symposium will be held this Tuesday, November 30, on the campus of Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey.
This will be the third National Dog Show Therapy Dog Symposium, so it can technically be referred to as an annual event going forward. Around 200 participants attended in the inaugural 2019 event.
Like the 2020 version, it will be all-virtual due to the pandemic, and registration is $25. (Students interested in attending, either in person or virtually, should email PetTherapy@rowan.edu for a discount code.)
The conference begins at 10 a.m. ET and runs until 4:30 p.m. ET., and as the event website states, it “brings together therapy dog handlers, health care experts, academics, those who want to get involved and people who simply love dogs, to share information, cutting edge research, insights from practical applications and best practices.”
The 2021 National Dog Show Therapy Dog Symposium will be this Thursday, again as a virtual event.
The 2021 National Dog Show Therapy Dog Symposium will be hosted by AKC judge David Frei, founder of the organization Angel on a Leash and author of the book of the same name, and Michelle Pich, assistant director of the Rowan University Shreiber Family Pet Therapy Program, and she is also a law professor at the school.
Colorado State University professor and author Dr. Temple Grandin will be one of the keynote speakers of the event with “Therapy Dogs and Their Handlers: How to Appreciate and Understand Each Other More Deeply, with Dr. Carlo Siracusa, a Penn Vet Med professor, as the other keynote speaker on “Lessons on Diversity and Inclusion I Learned Working with Dogs.”
Other speakers at the event include:
- Phillip Tedeschi, a University of Denver professor and founder of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection, will speak on the human-animal connection
- Dr. Georgitta Valiyamattam of India’s Gitam University, will speak on how animal-assisted intervention works in a multicultural environment
- osteopath Dr. Jennifer LeComte, medical director of the Rowan Integrated Special Needs Center and psychologist Dr. Wendy Alta, co-director of the Rowan Integrate Special Needs Center, together on how pet therapy can increase access to medical procedures for those with disabilities
- Rob Rose, vice president of programs and peer recovery specialist at New Leash on Life USA, on the pet-human bond in the prison system
- Michael Muldrow, police commissioner of the York City Police Department, will speak about police dogs
- Lynne Robinson, founder and executive director of the nonprofit PAWS for People, will sepak on transitioning therapy dogs back into the workplace
- Andrea Hering, co-founder and president of Crisis Response Canines, explaining what crisis response dogs are and do
- Michael Bober, president and CEO of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Committee, will speak on therapy pet legislation
This event promises to be very educational for attendees, and likely heartwarming as well as success stories are shared in between sessions.
We here at Dog O’Day are very pleased that this has become an annual event, and wish everyone involved the best in its production.