Pet Therapy of the Ozarks PTO

25/03/2025

From Deb Weber Myrick:

Another fun visit to Disney Elementary with Hemi!

21/03/2025

Marj and Denali brought many smiles to the folks at Here are NorthPark Village on March 7, 2025. Thank you, Marj, for generously sharing sweet Denali in this way!

21/03/2025

We had a bunch of great teams go through our evaluation process on March 15, 2025! Next steps are supervised visits, and then graduation!

We are already looking ahead to our next workshop in August, and evaluation session in September! If you think you might be interested in becoming a future pet therapy team, stay tuned for our upcoming free training days!

18/03/2025

13/03/2025

Pet Therapy of the Ozarks PALS (Pets as Listeners) teams Finn and Jasper were such good boys on March 11, 2025, at Library Center. Thank you Ann and Cindy, for taking these boys to their PALS appointments so they can bring smiles to kids, parents, and library staff.

12/03/2025

Tonight Pet Therapy of the Ozarks was awarded as the Community Partner of the Year by the Johnny Morris Foundation for our volunteer work at Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium as well as Dogwood Canyon Nature Park. We are deeply moved by this honor and would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the foundation for this meaningful recognition.

We are very proud of our teams that make a positive contribution to our community. We appreciate all who have furthered our mission of bringing smiles and joy to the faces of patients, staff, families, friends and groups in nursing homes, hospitals, schools and other facilities in our community by certifying and supporting loving pet therapy teams.

08/03/2025

We had a grrreat turnout for our workshop on Feb. 15, 2025, with a good number of teams and a nice group of volunteers as well! Pet Therapy of the Ozarks offers these workshops twice a year, in February and August, to help teams prepare for the pet therapy evaluations held in March and September. The workshop is basically a dry run of the evaluation, to give teams a chance to become more confident in their preparation for the test the following month. Enjoy these images featuring some of our pawticipants!

Our next test is coming up soon -- March 15! Good luck to all teams that will be testing. Folks who are following this group and are thinking about becoming a pet therapy team with their friendly pooches are invited to come out to volunteer and observe. Message us for de-TAILS!

03/03/2025

PTO has a very special program called Pets as Listeners (PALS).

In our Pets As ListenerS (PALS) program, children get the chance to sit down and read a book of their choosing to a therapy dog. Dogs do not care if they make mistakes or struggle with a word. This judgement-free environment encourages kids to work on their reading skills and provides instant positive reinforcement from the pup! PALS visits usually take place at public libraries and schools.

If you have a school or facility that could benefit from a PALS pet, please put in a request at https://www.pettherapyozarks.org/palsvisit.

01/03/2025

This is our own Doak. He likes to listen to the kids read and shares his favorite toys too!

15/02/2025

These PTO therapy animals hope you had a pawsitively wonderful Valentine’s Day!

08/02/2025

Teams were honored to be invited to Night to Shine!

08/02/2025

18 teams! Yes! I said 18 teams attended our training sessions this evening at Springfield Side Kick Dog Training, Boarding, Daycare and Grooming. We had several stations set up around the training room, and had teams visit the pet therapy room one by one. Teams worked on stays, recalls, meet and greets, visiting the vet station and so much more. We covered almost everything that is seen at our workshop and evaluation.

Thank you to everyone who attended. Great job, teams! We look forward to watching you develop and advance in your skills!

A huge thank you to Sidekick who donated the use of their building so PTO could train.

07/02/2025

Did you know?

❤️ We're on a mission to bring smiles and joy to the faces of the patients, staff, families and friends that we visit.

❤️ PTO is a 501(c)3 not for profit and we charge absolutely nothing for a visit with one of our teams.

❤️ Our teams are all volunteers and their pet is their very own. They have dedicated themselves to preparing and training their pet to serve others.

❤️ The training sessions that we provide are at no charge to attendees. We offer this opportunity to support and grow new teams because we believe what we do is important for our community!

❤️ Our members pay yearly dues ($35/individual or $45 for a family) and that money goes directly to our operating budget.

❤️ Our dues do not cover our operational costs, so we rely on gifts from others to continue our work.

07/02/2025

Scout had a great time providing some stress relief at the Greene County Office of Emergency Management. She has lots of friends there. We love when our teams can help out in the community!

06/02/2025

Both of our training sessions this Friday at Sidekick are full.

Our next training opportunity is Thursday, February 13th at 6:30 pm at Bass Pro. If you would like to participate, please RSVP to [email protected].

06/02/2025