Hi! I think there's some confusion between service dogs and therapy dogs. Service dogs do tasks for their owners, who are disabled, such as emptying washers and dryers, opening cupboards, retrieving things, alerting to low blood sugar, providing balance, alerting to a coming seizure, providing emotional support, etc. They are trained to do a service that a disabled person is unable to do for themselves.
Hearing dogs are a type of service dog. They alert their owners to different sounds, such as the person's name, a siren, alarm, the phone, etc. They'll then let their handler know which sound they're hearing. A good friend of mine is deaf and has a hearing dog. I'm sure she'd love to give you more info if you'd like to connect up with her.
Therapy dogs on the other hand do not do these tasks. They go with their owners to visit different clients. Sometimes they work with therapists, other times they just go visit. We have many toy poodles in our organization. They do visit people in hospitals and care centers, lockdown facilities, rehab centers, etc.
I actually wrote a book with 101 ideas that can be done with a therapy animal! Toy poodles could lay in bed with someone, they could play games, do tricks, listen to a book, go for a walk with a client, etc. There's really no limit to what you can do. It all depends on the client's goals, for example, if a client has had a stroke, and is working on range of motion on the left side, the client could use the left hand to throw the ball 10x for the dog to retrieve, or brush the dog 10 times. If the client has a goal of improving personal hygiene, she could do a little mini-groom of the poodle, with spray-on conditioner and a brush, and then do her own hair. To work on fine motor skills, the client could get the dog ready to take for a walk and attach buckles, straps, and tie a bandana. If a child has a goal of recognizing emotions in others, they could learn to recognize signals that show emotion in dogs, and transfer this knowledge to humans. Children can read to them, write letters to them, teach them tricks, play games with them, etc. So yes, they can lay on a bed with someone in a hospital, but there's so, so much more! If you're interested in the book, though I'm sure it has way tooooo many ideas for what you're looking for, it's
101 Creative Ideas For Animal Assisted Therapy - Home
Sounds like a fun book you're writing!