>> ...any license you got was snake oil. ... [In Los Angeles County, USA] This is phrased rudely, but has an element of truth. The facility (it's a county fa

>> ...any license you got was snake oil. ... [In Los Angeles County, USA] This is phrased rudely, but has an element of truth. The facility (it's a county facility) wanted the therapy dog to be "licensed," and we went through the process to do some training, and got a vest, a patch, and a certificate (http://www.tdi-dog.org http://www.tdi-dog.org - I forget what the more rigorous one was). I doubt that we paid anything to TDI beyond a nominal fee, so that association of "snake oil" is off base. But like I said, and as you note, the "therapy dog" process was highly variable, and it's not like there was some kind of national standard. And I would add that we did take unfair advantage of the airline exception for therapy dogs - this was in 2000 or so, before they really came into vogue - and I was uncomfortable with doing that, although I was overruled. ;-)