Therapy dogs could you kindly share your experiences please?

[DoubleShotEspresso]

Hello and apologies if this is the wrong topic section but figured perhaps this will attract better traffic...

Has anybody here got a therapy dog to assist a SEND child?
Mind sharing experiences?
What volume of cash would I need to have floating for emergencies/vet bills?
Are pet insurance policies as useless for cover as I've read?
What benefits has your dog brought your child?
Anything else I should consider?

Begun exploring this idea lately, but am keen not to bite off more than I can comfortably chew if you forgive the pun!

Many thanks to anybody willing to share their experiences

We have a Therapy dog. If you don't mond me asking, what is your child's particular need? Our Dog is insured by the charity for large issues but we pay for general food, flea and working care and low level bills. The dog is never actually yours until you retire so.you het a lot of support regarding their health and wellbeing. Rules around diet and lifestyle are very strict and could well impact you.much more than monthly cost. We pay about £60.00 a month. Not really more than a standard dog.

What do you mean by insurance being useless? Our dog had an accident when he was a puppy that required a very serious surgery at a specialist clinic. Thank goodness he was insured (with PetPlan). It would have otherwise cost us around £6K.

My DDog came along when I was suicidally depressed as I was undergoing tests for a suspected brain tumor while caring for a boisterous 3 year old and had loads of other stress going on with my housing situation.
DDog was no longer required by previous owners, so on the way to the dog pound (I know). We absolutely rescued each other and I don't know where I would be without her, she is so good for us all.

Hello and thanks so much for your response. Our child's needs are a quite complicated combo of both physical (not mobility related) and neurological.
Yes I suppose the plan we have been presented with is that any dog will never be "ours" to own... but that we would be 100% responsible for all vets bills etc. I'm just trying to gauge how big a sum is need to have available and what costs if routine checks etc might run to.
It seems like a wonderful therapy method for us but I'm so worried about being hit by big bills.

We have a few friends with various types/breeds of dogs.
They've all advised that it's better to just keep money aside as the pet insurance companies rarely pay out for major bills. Two of these friends both previously had (expensive) plans that proved useless when their dogs required scans/X-rays/surgery overnight care and bills ran into £1000's.
It's exactly this situation I'd want to guarantee myself we are fully prepared for in case-it woukd be unthinkable to have such an emergency and not be able to facilitate care.

What a wonderful endorsement! I am so glad to read this and so glad you & your dog found each other!

I got a puppy in the hope that it would be a therapy dog for my autistic ds. Whilst he loves her, she’s definitely not a therapy dog. She’s a nervous wreck and requires way more input than my ds. She’s cost me £1000’s in behaviourists and trainers and is on anxiety medication. I don’t regret her though.
oh insurance is a must, mine usually pay out within 24 hours.

But I don’t think this is what the OP means by a therapy dog - just getting a random puppy in the hope that it might prove therapeutic!

I think the OP is talking about dogs specially trained to fulfill this role, like a guide dog or a hearing dog.

No advice on the therapy dog side.

What volume of cash would I need to have floating for emergencies/vet bills?
Thousands from the start

Are pet insurance policies as useless for cover as I've read?

Only if you don't declare or understand pre existing conditions or don't understand the difference between life policy versus 12 months and assume you can shop around every year like other insurance.

My dog cost thousands in the first couple of years. Claimed it all from insurance which paid out quickly.

Perhaps my post was unclear.

Any dog we may "adopt" would be coming via specialist organisations and follow lengthy sessions to match our child's needs. The dog would already have been identified as appropriate and trained accordingly.
We would have some sessions initially along with some training as to how the therapy could best deliver.
I'm not planning on just getting a pet dog (though obviously they'd be this too), it's for specific therapeutic reasons.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross this exactly yes.
It's a specifically trained therapy dog, to be matched to our household and specifically our child's needs.

Very far from any ransoms dog.

This is reassuring thanks. I've actually done some hefty research into this over the weekend and think we would most likely take out some form of insurance definitely but had been put off by friends comments when I asked them.

It's looking like a major financial investment I'm not 100% sure of at this point. I'm quite torn but have to be realistic. Tough call as our child I'm sure would benefit hugely .

Have you looked into the waiting lists for therapy dogs? Someone I know looked into it and was told they'd have to wait years.

Can't help re therapy dog but insurance is absolutely not useless.
Just two things
Make sure you have life time cover , not 12 month cover. This means they will continue to insure for that condition for the rest of the dogs life, not just the next 12 months.
Make sure you have a big lump sum max payment. You need at least 5k and preferably more like 8k per condition per year. A fractured leg can easily cost 4K for example.
I'm a vet and my heart sinks when people don't have insurance and I can't source the best level of care for them.

No experience of therapy dogs but my experience of pet insurance has been completely the opposite. My parents first dog (when I was a teen) had a very rare type of heart tumour. The pet insurance paid for her to see the specialist her normal vet referred her too and paid for experimental medication (without argument) they could never have afforded. Yes they had to pay an excess but that was it.
Their current dog is up to nearly 6k paid out by pet insurance this year due to 2 emergency bank holiday weekend vet stays (why is it always a bank holiday!) and extended courses of medication. Again they only paid the excess (couple of hundred I think). Theirs does have a annual limit on it though (I think it's 10k) so dog has been told no more emergency stays!

We didn’t have insurance for our last dog which was fine because he rarely had anything wrong with him and just normal bills for vaccinations. We knew we could afford to pay if anything went wrong and just didn’t bother. For our next dog I decided to take out insurance with PetPlan and am glad we did, before he was a year old he’d had v expensive emergency surgery for an obstruction and v expensive emergency investigations for another suspected obstruction. Our vet dealt with the claims and they were settled immediately. The premium is age based so only went up a few quid at renewal.

Do get life insurance cover. Our insurance is about £27 per month. Our insurance claims were thousands!

Good luck finding a therapy dog.

**lifetime insurance cover

Yes actually I enquired initially in 2016, but our child was too young at that point.
I've since been forced to give up work due to care needs, so my situation is significantly less manageable for the time being.
However we have been in regular contact abd have since lockdown ended attended some sessions to assess current needs etc .
Turns out there are three potential dogs that may be a match, so just dissing out the wisdom of this whole thing.
I'm more than a bit uncomfortable with meeting bills for a dog that won't be "officially ours", but it seems this is how they all operate.,.

Great advice! Thank-you 😊

I'm a cat owner rather than dog owner but also often hear people say it's better to put the money aside in a savings account instead. If you do that, just be prepared to save a lot more than the monthly insurance payment as vet bills after sudden accidents or out of hours vet visits can quickly add up to several thousand. So if the monthly payment is say £35, you'd need to be saving that for 10 years to get anywhere near what insurance is likely to cover. One of my cats had a £4k surgery and also later needed daily medication and regular blood tests etc. that added up to around £100. Petplan always paid with no issue at all.

Don't choose the cheapest policy or with a company that isn't well known.

Yes one friend with three much loved (treated like humans) has ceased insurance as one needed a two night stay, scans, X-rays, surgery etc. The company refused to pay out despite her paying into this (x3) for over 8 years. Final invoice totalled something exceeding £6k. That story made me weary...
However on researching I think we would opt for insurance and perhaps proceed at a later date if we have also managed to save a decent buffer sum of a few thousand just in case. It's difficult to pitch the realities of this versus the benefits and joy I'm sure a dog would bring.
Not helped by the fact they've sent me photos already 😭
They're all adorable ☺️

@DoubleShotEspresso ah I see. I’d have loved to get a therapy dog or Autism dog for my son but it seemed impossible. Many had closed their waiting lists or had such long waiting lists I don’t think we’d ever have been considered as I’m sure there’s people in more need than we are. Plus we don’t have a garden.

I'm more than a bit uncomfortable with meeting bills for a dog that won't be "officially ours", but it seems this is how they all operate.,.

Guide dogs don't - vet bills and food are paid for by the charity. I'm not sure why therapy dogs are different.

That's a very fair point!