FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Since 1992, Therapetics has providing Service Dogs to Oklahomans with disabilities to enhance their independence and quality of life. Therapetics also strives to increase awareness of the rights of Service Dogs and their handlers and advocating for them in the community we serve.

Therapetics is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We train exclusively in public areas to keep our dogs socialized properly to real-life situations.

Therapetics trains Service Dogs to assist with mobility issues and clients with military and first responder related PTSD. We do not train dogs to assist with seizures, autism, diabetes, blindness, deafness, or emotional support (as a primary condition).

Therapetics has a 2-3 year wait list for our trained dogs; however, we match dogs to individuals on our waiting list who can best benefit from a specific dog’s skillset. This means that although we try to place dogs on a first come, first served basis, it may take longer to make a successful pairing for certain individuals.

Visit our Apply for a Dog page for more information about our application process.

Therapetics provides Service Dogs to qualifying individuals at no cost. The cost to raise, train, place Service Dogs, and provide ongoing team support exceeds $10,000. Therapetics relies on funding from individual donations, local businesses, and the community. Visit our Donate page to find out how you can support our mission.

The dogs in our program are primarily donated to Therapetics by respected breeders in our community. We do occasionally adopt dogs out of local shelters and rescue groups. All dogs are brought into the program between 7-10 weeks of age after being evaluated by a Board Member for suitability to the program.

Therapetics gladly accepts puppies from respected breeders. Therapetics prefers to meet the parents of the puppies being considered for donation and conduct a temperament test at around 7 weeks old. We are open to many different breeds, but tend to select Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd, and Standard Poodle (and Doodle) puppies with a healthy lineage.

Therapetics tries to find another working career for our dogs who are not suited for a service dog career. Some dogs that have been placed from Therapetics’ program have become facility dogs and therapy dogs. If the dog is not suitable for any other career, it will be placed as a pet. You can see some of our career change pups on the Our Dogs page.

Therapetics does not train dogs that are not owned by Therapetics. See the answers above on how we obtain our dogs and dog donations.

Therapetics does not evaluate dogs outside of our program. Our trainers and puppies are evaluated on a regular basis over the course of 18 months to determine suitability for Service Dog work.

Therapetics Service Dogs are raised until they are approximately 18 months old before they are paired with a client. If a dog has matured and proved themselves ready for partnership earlier than that timeframe, Therapetics’ may choose to place a dog with a client when they are under 18 months old.

Therapetics Service Dogs are raised until approximately 18 months old by volunteer puppy raisers. Interested in raising a puppy? Visit our Get Involved page for more information.

Outside of our puppy raisers, Therapetics is always looking for volunteers to be temporary pet sitters, fundraising power members, administrative assistants, web/social media gurus, and Board members. Visit our Get Involved page for more information.

Volunteer trainers are the frontline trainers for our Service Dogs in Training (SDiT). From the time it is safe for a puppy to be in public, the trainers take the SDiT to as many places as possible in their daily life. They are required to attend group training in Tulsa once a week. Outside of group training, the volunteer trainer takes the SDiT to work or school, the grocery store, dental appointments, sports activities, etc. Our training staff will help guide volunteer trainers on how to accomplish this and ways to build a routine that works for both the volunteer and the SDiT.

Therapetics’ fundraising and management costs do not exist. Our program is run completely by unpaid volunteers allowing 100% of each dollar donated to go directly to our Service Dogs in Training.

Our most common expenses are veterinary costs, grooming, and nutrition (food and high quality treats). Want to help cover some of those costs, visit our Donate page for more information.