Introduction to the assistance dog training program

This 4 week program must be completed for anyone wanting to join the assistance dog program. Please ensure you/your child is under 26 and meets the eligibility criteria for our assistance dog progam.

Our assistance dog program is open to the following groups:

• Disabled or seriously ill young people aged 0 months to 26 years old at the point of application & their parents/ carers.
• 16 to 26-year-old disabled young people without parent/carer support.
• Disabled parents and disabled children under 26 living within their same household training the dog to support both parent and child.
• Successor dogs for ANYONE we have trained an assistance dog for previously (this includes parents if their disabled child has now grown up & moved out of their household) and including if all applicants are over the age criteria as long as they continue to meet the disability criteria. 
• 26 to 30 year olds who are not eligible for other assistance dog programs OR where the only program they're eligible for have no space currently. 

To be eligible you must meet the following criteria:   

"have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities" (which is the definition of a disability outlined in the Equality Act, 2010), this is is a legal requirement for any one to have an assistance dog regardless of organisation or owner trained. 

AND

Need at least 3 of the assistive tasks listed below in public spaces to significantly lessen the impact your disability has on your daily living. 

AND

• Own a friendly pet dog who is not aggressive, isn't excessively anxious and  who is vaccinated, flea & wormed, not raw fed & overall fit and healthy.
• Be willing to travel to Nottingham for assessments (3 assessment levels while in training then annual reassessments) and occasional training workshops.
• Be able to meet all your dog's health, care & welfare needs, including the cost of these.

What dog training skills will we cover?

We will be introducing you and your dog to the following skills:

• Target training
• Boundary training
• Taking treats gently
• Positive play!
• Introducing automatic leave (i.e. knowing not taking things without being told to)
• Marker cues

You might already know how to do some or all of the behaviours, that's ok! We might do things differently to how you've trained before (e.g. we rarely use treat luring and are concept based positive trainers which maybe different to other trainers you've met before and the way we approach prospective assistance dog training is very different to how I'd train a pet dog). 

What's included in this program?

• 4 x 30 minute small group (max 6 families) zoom classes 50% practical, 50% theory & tour through resources.
• WhatsApp group for others in this course + trainer, to ask questions, share stories and get to know each other.
• Self guided training zone activities to help boost the practical skills covered.

Zoom session dates & times (must attend all 4)

- 7th March 7.30pm

- 14th March 7.30pm

- 21th March 7.30pm

- 28th March 7.30pm

The zooms are all 30minutes long. 

How do the zoom classes work?

Each session is split into 15 minutes of practical dog training and 15 minutes of theory & tours through the resources and structuring of the assistance dog program.

We know starting any new thing, especially group things can be really challenging and we want to make that introduction as easy as possible. We will have a WhatsApp group where you can chat to other people starting & during the short course. You can participate in anyway that works for you, such as:

• With the webcam on the dog, showing the dog and handler, on a parent or carer with the dog and handler off camera, with the webcam off completely.  
• Communicating verbally by unmuting the mic when you want to talk (we keep all mics of participants muted between questions/ comments to minimise noise stimuli from the sessions), typing in the chat box, sending WhatsApp messages during or after the session. 
• During the sessions i will be visible on screen and there will either be a PowerPoint with bullet pointed information or I'll be sharing my computer screen either showing a video demonstration of an exercise or showing the members website resources. Closed captions will be enabled.