Therapy Animal Training at SOUL Harbour Ranch

Name: Therapy Animal Training at SOUL Harbour Ranch
Start: 2026-05-16T14:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-05-16T15:00:00-05:00
Location: 22093 N. Countryside Lane, Barrington, IL, United States, Illinois 60010

Schedule

Sat May 16 2026 at 02:00 pm to 03:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

22093 N. Countryside Lane, Barrington, IL, United States, Illinois 60010 | Barrington, IL

Are you interested in animal-assisted therapy work with your good-natured dog or cat? OR any animal that Pet Partners allows?
Join us this summer at SOUL Harbour Ranch!
We will be hosting three (3) separate 6-week training sessions for teams that want to join the SOUL Harbour Ranch program, thanks to a generous grant from 100 Women Who Care NW Suburban Chicago
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TIMES:
Saturdays 2pm-3pm at SOUL Harbour Ranch
*Please note, only handlers and their animal are allowed at the training due to insurance (sorry, no guests)
ADDRESS:
22093 N. Countryside Lane, Barrington
(please pass house, turn L down driveway at cul-de-sac, follow the driveway past both barns, turn L behind the big barn, and park on the N side of the building)
DATES:
Session 1: Start Date May 16, 2026 (end 6/20)
Session 2: Start Date June 27, 2025 (ends 8/8) *NO CLASS 7/4
Session 3: Start Date August 15, 2025 (ends 9/19)
Week 1: An evaluation of all animals (minimum age of 1) and their handlers, by certified dog trainer and Alliance of Therapy Dogs evaluator Lu Anne Smith of Loose Leash Academy, will ensure animals have achieved basic obedience skills (sit, down, stay, heel), are good with other animals, love to be pet/hugged and are eligible to move forward with the session. If not, we will encourage you and your animal to continue basic obedience training outside of SOUL Harbour Ranch before you can move on to our more advanced therapy work.
Weeks 2 through 5: Certified dog trainer Lu Anne Smith will be hosting therapy animal and desensitization training sessions for teams that are ready for more advanced work. These sessions will introduce and reinforce the skills necessary to pass the Pet Partners animal therapy evaluation.
Week 6: A visit to a Barrington area retirement community/nursing home. We hope you are ready to test very soon! If you need additional training, pending availability, we invite you to RSVP for another session! Mock testing will be available to teams who are deemed ready to test.
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Please note to train in these sessions, you must commit to becoming a registered Pet Partners volunteer AND volunteer with SOUL Harbour Ranch for a minimum of 2x/month (see Volunteer Requirements at our website www.soulharbourranch.org). We will mentor you on your SOUL therapy journey so that you can become a registered therapy team and join us at our very busy schedule of therapy visits!
An amazing grant made possible by the generosity of 100 Women Who Care NW Suburban Chicago allows us to train qualified and competent therapy teams to become registered Pet Partners therapy teams with the SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program, Barrington’s most experienced and comprehensive animal therapy program, so that we can share more SOUL: Sharing Of Unconditional Love!
*While dogs make up 94% of the teams in the Pet Partners therapy animal program, they also allow friendly well-behaved cats, birds, pigs, llamas and alpacas, rabbits, rats, guinea pigs and of course horses and donkeys...so we will allow those too!
Requirements: Human handlers must complete the online Pet Partners Handler course within the 1st 4 weeks of classes. Go to www.petpartners.org for more information.
Animals must be a minimum age of 1 years old, have basic obedience skills completed and be good with other people and animals near them. NO bite training history allowed.
Please email Jodie Diegel at the Contact page at www.soulharbourranch.org to RSVP for sessions. Please provide information about your animal species, age and breed, as well as any therapy animal certifications you have (ie. CGC or another therapy organization)
*ALL currently registered SOUL Harbour Ranch therapy dog and therapy cat teams are welcome at all of these training sessions. Training never ends!