(Phone number can only be seen by the question and answer creators) PM ET RitaMartinez Naming a child is no more difficult than naming your pet. The challenge in naming a pet is the fact that if you take home a pet from a Shelter it becomes more difficult because you don't know their entire history. In our case we knew where the pet was rescued. All we know is he is the love of our lives in this household! Take care and please stay in touch.

Steven D. Egan
US Army, Retired

ANYTHING that helps his stimulation or brings him joy is great! I can't imagine insurance paying for it, however. Therapy dogs visiting nursing homes ALWAYS bring joy!

My husband connects with our dogs better than people they keep him calm and he talks to them he can get his words out with them. They don't care if he calls dogs cats or cats dogs but they all end up in his lap. MAX our lab Shepard mix is always with him he never leaves his side I know if Pete wondered off Max would find him. It is well worth having a dog they seem to know. Therapy dogs are expensive and I don't think insurance would pay for anything. Our dogs are all rescue dogs check it out. Good luck

Greetings Diane70: We have a dog and a cat. The dog's name is Recycle. We named him that based on our son calling us one day stating he had just rescued a puppy from a dumpster while on his Rumpke Disposal route. He wanted to know if we had room for another pet. We said sure and the rest is history. We named him "Recycle"! We love that dog to death. He sleeps with my in the Alzheimer's bedroom. He has one side of the full size bed as my wife sleeps in a recliner in the living room due to a bad back. The biggest feature of the bedroom is the fact that I sleep with a lamp on the dresser on all night. I normally sleep between 11 PM and 7 AM. So, it works out right for all of us.
So, I will close now as I still have other things to take care of.

Steven D. Egan
US Army, Retired

Since I am a dog trainer, I thought I’d offer you some information. I train for Emotional Support, Therapy and Service Dogs. I would first like to clear up this one misunderstanding. ES dogs are for people who need the comfort of a dog to calm them down. TD dogs are a dog and owner team who visit nursing home, hospitals etc. to make others feel better. SD dogs are for people with a disability who benefit from their assistance.
ES training is not expensive and does not require a letter from your doctor.
TD training is also not expensive and is very rewarding for you and your dog.
SD training is expensive, takes 1 1/2 to 2 years to train, and does require a letter from your doctor stating that you have a disability and would benefit from the use of a SD.
With all three you must have complete control of your dog at all times. No barking, jumping on people or growling. Your dog must be able to tolerate other animals with out getting excited or wanting to play with them.
ES dogs do not have the same public access as SD dogs. They are not allowed in restaurants, on air planes or trains.
It is a huge responsibility to have any dog out in public but even more so when using a working dog. Not to mention the liability if your dog were to jump on someone and knock them down or bite someone .
Insurance does not pay for the training but you can deduct expenses like equipment, vet visits, food etc. off of your taxes each year for an SD.
I hope this helps.