"Rent"-a-Dog?

Hmmmm....I am trying to think of things you could do.
 
The first thing that comes to mind is you could ask to "barrow" a freind or neighbor's dog. That is if you know it is freindly. Most people would be willing to lend their dog out for a good cause for a few hours. Like maybe a family member.
 
Also I am not sure about this but you try contacting some rescue groups and seeing if they would allow you too sort of "volunteer" in that way, by instead of walking the dogs...you just take them and socialize them for a few hours.
 
There are alot of rescue groups in So Cal so you could try calling some of them and seeing what they have to say

That's essentially what therapy dogs are for. Maybe there's a volunteer therapy dog group in your area.

The closest thing I can think of is the Therapy Dog orgs too. You might want to contact them & see if you can set up longer visits from them?

I would call all of your local shelters.  Many allow dogs out for an afternoon or weekend. 

In Oxford, Oh (where Miami University is located) the shelter there allows college students to check the dogs out for a weekend or afternoon.  They offer this service, because college kids kept coming to adopt the dogs and then when they realized that a dog is not neccesarily what they needed with a full time job and course load, they would take them back.  This saves a whole lot of hassle, and dramatically improves the dog adoptability.
 
On the weekends, the shelter (which houses 90+ dogs) is almost completely empty.  The dogs absolutely love it!

Many facilities actually keep a "house pet" you might ask the facility about that...or even gather a petition to get one. It does have marked medical benefits. Most of them tend to be cats or small quiet dogs and they have free reign of a certain area or floor, visiting where they will. I think they usually have one or two employees who like animals care for it's needs.

Could he get to a nearby shelter to help out?  They usually welcome volunteers. 
The shelter where I worked for a while had a lot of volunteers come in to help care for the dogs.  Some of them would come in, take a dog out for a walk, march it back to the kennel, take another dog out, repeat..... as if trying to get round as many dogs as possible.  The staff there disapproved of this and instead actively encouraged people to dawdle and just spent time with one or two dogs - walking them, handling them, playing with them, grooming them..... THIS is what improves the dog's adoptability.... there is so much more to a dogs life than kennel + walk (or there should be). 
They were totally OK with elderly or disabled people with limited mobility coming in and not even exercising the dogs.... just taking them out of the kennel and "chilling out" with them for a bit.  The dogs loved the cuddle time as much as the walks. 
They did often let dogs go home with the volunteers for an afternoon or even a couple of days, although I got the impression they had to know you quite well before they allowed that.
I think volunteering at a shelter would be the best bet if he could manage it.... go to the nearest one and ask some questions, policies are likely to differ between places.

Thank you very, very much for the great ideas!

My father is too frail to volunteer in a shelter, and I know only one person who has a dog--a large, unfriendly dog at that.  I was thinking that maybe I could volunteer at a shelter in exchange for some "dog time."

What I'm going to try first (never thought about it until reading the great responses!), is rather than finding a dog to take to my father, I would take my father to the local shelter(s).  He would probably really enjoy seeing a lot of different dogs.  I just hope the shelters allow visitors like that.

Many thanks again for the helpful responses!  Additional ideas/suggestions are certainly welcome.

Flashfan - would it be possible for YOU to volunteer and stay with your dad and the dog ?  You'd be doing your dad AND the dog a world of good.   Call the rescue orgs and shelters in your area and see if they'd let you bring the dog out to where your dad is.

JoAnnDe:  Thank you for the response.  Picking up a dog and spending the afternoon with my father and the dog is my first choice.  However I couldn't find anything on the internet that offered this type of "service."  The only websites I found provided dogs and their owners who make scheduled visits to hospitals and the like, for an average of about 45 minutes per visit.  I will check with the animal shelters to see if I can arrange something suitable.  Thanks for posting.

I'd be careful about shelter dogs. You don't know their past history, fears or any possible aggressions. Using an unknown shelter dog even for a short time defeats the purpose of a trained & certified therapy dog. Remember dogs in the shelter do not show their true personalities, only do they come out after settling into a new forever home. As nice as that sounds it would be too risky IMO. Therapy dogs are always thoroughly screened before being taking to visit people.

I'll agree that the sheter dogs might not be a great choice.  However, a no kill shelter that works WITH the dogs and does some training, etc might be an option.  Our shelter we have a full time staffer who works with the dogs, who takes them to nursing homes, etc.  So if you can find a shelter like ours, you'd be in good shape.
 
Tyler has had no formal training as a therapy dog.  However, he is perfect in every way when I take him to the Assisted Living/skilled nursing facility where my Mom lives.  The big cheese there happened to be in last Sunday and asked where I'd trained him because she was certain that he was older than he is, and intensively trained.  So, it isn't an ALWAYS when it comes to therapy dogs....and I really shouldn't call him a therapy dog even on the forum because he isn't "really".  But, I know my animals well enough to know who will be able to do a particuar job.
 
But, even if Tyer were extensively trained, I wouldn't turn him over to someone to "borrow" for the day.  I'd want to be with him.  The liability of loaning out a dog and NOT being present is out of this world.

I think it is a great idea to try and find your dad a way to get "doggy time."
 
Your idea to try and find a therapy dog group is the best way to go. Depending on the level of care at the facility, whatever dog you bring in may be walking past people in walkers, wheelchairs, or canes and he may be hearing strange noises, ocassional yelling, etc.
 
A therapy dog has been trained to deal with all sorts of strange noises, smells, sights and reactions from people. Such as walking in the front door and past a stroke victim sitting in a chair who loves dogs (or is afraid of them). The stroke victim cannot speak properly and begins to make lound strange noises---a dog not prepared for this might react badly and bark or back away.
 
I understand that most of the therapy dog visits you have heard about were short---but they aren't always. When my brother was in the hospital for cancer treatment he was in a great deal of pain and had therapy dog visits on a regular basis. One day he was in terrible pain and hadn't slept well in days. A therapy dog was allowed on the bed next to him and he fell asleep petting it.
 
Find folks with therapy dogs near you--perhaps you can find a few people training their dogs who need to practice with them and they would be able to stay for longer periods of time. I believe dogs being certified have to log a certain amount of visits or hours so perhaps this would appeal to them.
 
I also think there are some rules for therapy dogs that either require continued visits or reward folks who continue to visit after certification. The goal is to encourage people to use their therapy dogs for THERAPY and not just get certified so the dog can have more letters at the end of their name.
 
From the perspective of the facility, a therapy dog may be the only way to go. I don't know if their insurance would like it if you brought an animal with an unknown background onto their property/into their building.
 
Good luck with this---I hope someday if I am ever in the same position as your dad my kids will be as thoughtful as you are.

Why not adopt a dog yourself so you can take the dog to visit your dad?

I know the op location says S. California I know we have quite a few I dog members from that area maybe one of the members could be so kind to volunteer they#%92re time and dog to help out another member.