Feel the Love through a Pet Therapy Event!
FAQs
WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM US TO MAKE THE EVENT A SUCCESS?
Depending on the nature of the visit, we ask for a dedicated contact to coordinate the event, a completed event form and understanding of Planning Your Event With Us.
WHAT TYPE OF SPACE IS NEEDED?
Pets and Friends has worked with small and large rooms, and foyers that use stanchions to create a safe space for the pet therapy event. Note that each pet therapy team requires a minimum of 6’ of space to work away from one another. The reason for this is that we want to ensure the dogs are focusing their attention on participants and are not distracted by other furry friends.
HOW IS AN EVENT RUN?
Hosts may wish to have participants pre-book for the time slot that best suits their schedule or simply host a drop-in session where participants line up to get some puppy love! Depending on the number of participants that sign up and/or line up, groups of participants may need to be rotated every so often to ensure everyone gets to spend quality time with therapy dogs.
HOW CAN WE MARKET THE EVENT?
Marketing is collaborative between your organization and ours, and can take on various forms leading up to the event: posters, social media posts, newsletter announcements, email reminders, calendar invites, advertising the day of the event (mall stanchions), and more!
WHY DO YOU OFFER A MAXIMUM 90-MINUTE SHIFT?
Pets and Friends has a time limit in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants (furry friends included!), which is always our top priority. For therapy pets, sharing the love (i.e.: wagging tails, friendly paws, magical fibers of joy) and feeling the love (i.e.: pats, cuddles and pawsitive comments) can be exhausting. Knowing this, Pets and Friends may make a recommendation to the length of your event based on the number of anticipated participants.
WHAT HAPPENS AT THESE EVENTS?
Pet Therapy Teams often draw people towards them where participants pet, cuddle and talk to the dog. If they don’t draw a crowd, our teams are happy to roam around and engage with participants if requested in the event form
HOW MANY THERAPY DOGS DO I NEED FOR MY EVENT?
Pets and Friends will determine the best number of therapy dog teams for your event after evaluating your Event Request Form. Factors that help make this decision include but are not limited to: the size of your venue and projected number of participants expected to attend your event.
HOW WILL WE IDENTIFY A PET THERAPY TEAM?
Pet Therapy Teams will be easily identifiable by their uniform: the handler will be wearing a gray vest with the Pets and Friends logo on the front and ‘Pet Therapy Team’ on the back, the pet will be wearing a purple bandana with the Pets and Friends logo, and both handler and pet will have separate name tags with the Pets and Friends logo. In addition, we aim to provide the names of pet therapy teams that will be attending your event in advance.
HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DO WE NEED TO REQUEST A PET THERAPY VISIT?
Due to the high volume of event requests, Pets and Friends requires a minimum of 6 weeks’ notice for event requests. If your requested day/time is unavailable, we will get back to you as soon as possible to find a mutually agreeable alternative. Note that all requests must be approved by Pets and Friends based on whether the event is in line with our overall purpose: Pets and Friends is a registered charity that provides and promotes the healing comfort and companionship of animals through pet therapy visitations
WHAT IF A PET THERAPY TEAM IS NOT AVAILABLE?
As our pet therapy teams are volunteers, our ability to fulfill your request is based on the availability and interest of our pet therapy teams. The request for pet therapy teams occurs after all event details have been confirmed. PET THERAPY TEAM ARRIVAL Volunteers do their best to be on time and arrive earlier (10-15 minutes minimum) than the event start time to navigate parking, find the exact room and settle in. Note that volunteers are coming from anywhere in the lower mainland, so may not be familiar with your area. Anything you can share with us ahead of time to make your location more visible / noticeable and easily accessible for volunteers is helpful
IS THERE A MANDATORY DONATION?
Please refer to our website for the differences between Community Pet Therapy Visits and Corporate Pet Therapy Visits. If you are unsure which visit you fall under, email us today.
WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?
Please email us at info@petandfriends.org or if you are ready to book a pet therapy event, click here
