11 Best Small Service Dog Breeds For Therapy Work

People get service dogs for a variety of reasons, one of them being therapy, which is why we created this list of the 11 best small service dog breeds for therapy work.

Therapy work comes in many different forms and it isn’t limited for just psychotherapy. It extends to physical and emotional cases as well. A person who suffers disorders that cannot be handled by the person itself or family tends to seek therapy. A therapist is someone who specializes in treating mental, physical, or emotional problems. They help people overcome their anxiety, emotional stress, depression, or other disorders.

Therapy work is done not only by therapists but by dogs as well. Therapy dogs must have a ready temper, be friendly, and be gentle. They should also be calm around strangers. These dogs are evaluated in terms of temperament to see if they will qualify as service dogs. Therapy dogs visit hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, disaster areas, and more. They should be completely fine with being touched and cuddled considering their main job is to be comforting to whomever they’re around.

Service dogs obviously come in all different sizes, but here we’re just concerned with smaller breeds. When it comes to your personal use, a consultation would help you find a breed that suits your needs and lifestyle. The breeds on our list are perfect for people who live in bigger cities and/or have smaller living spaces. Just like choosing the 10 Best Service Dog Breeds for PTSD, we took a look at Animal Planet and BarkPost Stories for recommendations.

Here are the popular choices for the 11 best small service dog breeds for therapy work:

11. Chihuahua

Chihuahuas may be small, frail, and bark and shake a lot, but they’re loving and courageous. If you’ve seen Beverly Hills Chihuahua, you might know what I mean.

10. Bichon Frise

Bichon frises are basically sentient marshmallows or cotton balls. They’re gentle, sensitive, and affectionate, which are all important traits for therapy dogs.

9. Maltese

Malteses are responsive, sweet-tempered, and gentle, which are perfect reasons for them to be on the list of the 11 best small service dog breeds for therapy work.

8. Beagle

One of the popular choices for service dog breed is a beagle. Not only are they intelligent, they’re also gentle and even-tempered.

7. Yorkshire Terrier

Yorkies are small and pure as well as being courageous, confident, and intelligent.

6. Corgi

Corgis are friendly, happy, and attentive. The only thing is you need to watch them when they eat sometimes because they tend to overeat (me too).

5. Pug

I would die for every single pug in this world. They’re charming, clever, sociable, adorable, and hilarious. They’re an obvious choice for therapy dogs.

4. Dachshunds

Dachshunds, next in the line on our list of best small service dog breeds for therapy work are not only devoted and clever, but also they look like hot dogs so they’re funny to be around. Their bodies are so long and their legs are so small I don’t see how you could think they aren’t cute.

3. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Don’t be fooled by their angelic faces, they’re fearless, as Taylor Swift would probably say especially in 2008. They’re also very sociable and attentive.

2. Miniature Poodle

Miniature poodles are small, fluffy babies and they’re intelligent and love to please. They’re perfect as therapy dogs probably because they’re so soft.

1. French Bulldog

French bulldogs are so cute I could pass away looking at their faces on Google Images. They’re patient, bright, and sociable. Someone in my office has one and every time I see him I feel like my heart could explode.

That concludes our list of the 11 best small service dog breeds for therapy work. Have you found your dog soulmate?