Therapy Animal Courses for Professionals
Courses for Anyone Working with Therapy Animals in Schools, Clinics, or Offices
Whether you’re taking your first steps or already bringing your therapy animal to work, AAAIP courses are designed to meet you where you are.
Our foundational courses guide you through everything you need to know to safely and confidently begin animal-assisted interventions (AAI). For those looking to enhance their work, we offer advanced coursework covering real-world scenarios, best practices, and skills for training your animal partner.
Each course earns you a certificate to showcase your knowledge—perfect for sharing with administrators, parents, or professional colleagues. These courses are a great way to prepare for the Animal-Assisted Intervention Specialist Certification Exam.
Start Strong in AAI with These Therapy Animal Courses
Getting Started in AAI: Planning and Documenting Best Practices through the Development of a Program Manual
- Design your AAI program manual using our templates.
- Assess your strengths and areas for growth.
- Investigate the differences between the triangle and diamond models of AAI.
- Discover how to recruit, train, and maintain external therapy animal handlers.
- This course covers content from the Professional Best Practices, AAI Foundations domains of the C-AAIS certification exam.
Best Practices in Therapy Animal Handling: What it Means to Partner with a Therapy Animal
- Learn key terminology and general skills and requirements of a therapy animal.
- Recognize how the relationship with your therapy animal and teamwork impacts the therapy animal team dynamic.
- Articulate how therapy animals should be appropriately directed through respectful and safe client interactions.
- This course covers content from the Professional Best Practices domain of the C-AAIS certification exam.
Tools for Schools Course Bundle
Designed specifically for teachers, school counselors, administrators, social workers, librarians, behavior specialists, and other school-based professionals, this bundle includes three of AAAIP’s signature courses:
- Getting Started in AAI
- Training and Communication in AAI
- The Case for Animal-Related Engagement (ARE)
This trio of courses provides step-by-step training on how to safely and ethically integrate therapy animals into your school environment. From getting administrative buy-in to managing visits when your dog stays home, this bundle of courses covers it all. It will give you the skills, confidence, and support you need to succeed.
Canine Body Language for AAI Professionals
- Interpret your dog’s body language and pinpoint important signs of your dog’s comfort and needs.
- Plan for how to respond to your dog’s cues, fostering safer and more effective teamwork.
- Identify stress zones, observe and interpret body signals, and recognize ways to enhance your dog’s comfort and well-being.
- This course covers content from the Animal Behavior Awareness domain of the Animal-Assisted Intervention Specialist Certification (C-AAIS) Exam.
- This course earns 3 CEU for the C-AAIS.
Therapy & Facility Dog Training for Dog Trainers Course Details
- Learn how therapy and facility dog work is different from basic obedience training so you can build better training plans.
- Understand what handlers need to know and how to prepare them and their dogs for working in schools, hospitals, and other settings.
- Create your own training program using a sample 6-week course outline with skills, practice ideas, and coaching tips.
- Avoid common mistakes by learning the challenges that come with therapy dog work and how to handle them.
- This course earns 4 CEUs for Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.
Expand your Knowledge with These AAI Courses
Zoonotic Disease Prevention
- Define the risks of zoonosis within animal-assisted interventions and mitigation strategies.
- Identify important considerations for your informed consent documentation.
- This course covers content from the Zoonosis and Infection Prevention domain of the C-AAIS certification exam.
The Case for Animal-Related Engagement
- Discover animal-related engagement (ARE) activities.
- Recognize when animal-related engagement activities are appropriate if face-to-face animal-assisted interventions (AAI) can’t or shouldn’t be conducted.
- This course covers content from the AAI Foundations domain of the C-AAIS certification exam.
Elevate your Skills with These Training & Welfare Courses
Training and Communication in AAI
- Learn foundational concepts about therapy animal behavior.
- Identify training expectations for dogs and other species.
- Recognize training methodologies and their appropriateness for therapy animals.
- Illustrate the importance of a therapy animal communicating freely during AAI sessions.
- This course covers content from the Animal Behavior Awareness domain of the C-AAIS certification exam.
Animal Welfare and Well-Being
- Discover how advocate for any therapy animal you work with, to support them and your client’s safety.
- Prioritize the well-being of the animal in animal-assisted interventions.
- Classify the suitability of animals and clients for AAI.
- Develop strategies for difficult situations that may arise in your AAI practice.
- Identify considerations for how to end an animal-assisted intervention when necessary to support the therapy animal’s welfare.
- This course covers content from the Animal Welfare and Well-Being domain of the C-AAIS certification exam.
Save with AAAIP Membership
Save on courses, certification, and continuing education, and connect with other AAI professionals through our membership program. Membership gives you exclusive access to the AAAIP Evaluation for Professionals and allows you to purchase discounted insurance to cover your AAI work. AAAIP will set you and your animal partner up for success!
| AAAIP Courses | Regular Price | Digital Members | All-Access Members | Organizational Members* |
| Getting Started in AAI | $180 | $120 | $90 | $90 |
| Best Practices in Therapy Animal Handling |
$180 | $120 | $90 | $90 |
| Training & Communications in AAI |
$180 | $120 | $90 | $90 |
| Animal Welfare & Well-Being |
$180 | $120 | $90 | $90 |
| Canine Body Language |
$180 | $120 | $90 | $90 |
| Zoonotic Disease Prevention |
$120 | $80 | $60 | $60 |
| The Case for Animal-Related Engagement |
$120 | $80 | $60 | $60 |
| Total Savings on Full Course Suite | $380 | $570 | $570 | |
| *Organizational Membership includes 3 individual All-Access Memberships for employees by the same organization, facility, practice, school district, or institution. |
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Testimonials
AAAIP Course Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Our courses are fully self-paced and easy to follow. They are designed for busy professionals like you—those new to working with therapy animals, or those already working with them and looking to do it even better. You’ll hear the lessons read aloud, and you’ll answer real-world, scenario-based questions (think: multiple choice and drag-and-drop). At the end, there’s a quick knowledge check and you’ll get a certificate you can show your administrators. The content is based on trusted national guidelines, so you’ll know you’re doing things the right way from the start.
You can go at your own pace—seriously. Courses are self-paced and usually take people 2–4 hours to complete, depending on how deeply you engage with the content. You can start, stop, and return whenever your schedule allows—no pressure, just progress.
Yes, they’re designed to be as inclusive as possible. Every course has accurate closed captions, can be used with screen readers, and includes features like keyboard shortcuts, playback speed controls, and zoom-in options. Whether you’re using a laptop or assistive tech, you’ll be able to access everything you need.
Our courses are built by and for professionals in animal-assisted interventions. Each one was developed with input from AAI experts and grounded in national Competencies to make sure what you’re learning is meaningful, ethical, and relevant to your work.
You will see a Buy Course section at the bottom of each course page. Simply enter your email address and click “Next”. You will receive a login code via email, which you can use to log in to the Learning Management System (LMS). Follow the instructions on the screen to proceed.
The email address you used to log in to the Learning Management System (LMS) might not match the email address used for your AAAIP Membership. The same email must be used to have your membership discount applied to your course purchase. If you were charged the wrong amount, please Contact Us.
Good question! AAAIP’s online courses are interactive learning experiences with activities, knowledge checks, and a certificate at the end. Recordings are like replays of past webinars, which are great for learning, but they’re not interactive and don’t come with a certificate.
All the AAAIP courses are built to match the key skills and knowledge areas used in certification. We even label which topics relate to which domain on the Specialist Certification exam, so you can choose what’s most helpful. Whether you’re pursuing certification now or planning ahead, these courses will move you closer to professional recognition in AAI.