Get Involved

How To Get Involved

Thank you for your interest in our group and therapy dog work. Visit PetPartners.org to learn more about becoming a therapy team.

We recommend that you and your pet successfully complete a certified basic obedience course as a first step. For example, Spot & Co. in Iowa City. Best Friend’s Dog Academy is also a great resource for training opportunities.

Pet Partners certification requires that teams go through a two-part process:

The handler needs to successfully complete the handler course online. The pet and handler then need to pass a physical evaluation by a certified Pet Partner evaluator.

Therapy Dogs of Johnson County offers tries to offer an evaluation within a month of the online class. The evaluation class is $25 per team. Pet Partners requires that teams re-evaluate every two years but once you have taken the class you don’t have to take it again unless you want to.

We post classes and evaluations as soon as we get them scheduled. If you are interested in becoming a Pet Partners team, contact BJ at [email protected].