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Assistance Dog Training

As You Wish Assistance Dogs  is committed to assisting individuals with disabilities train their own service dogs. We tailor our training to the unique needs of each individual, customizing the tasks a service dog learns to the disability of their handler. As You Wish trains to the standards set by the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners for owner trained dogs, and the standards of behavior set by Assistance Dogs International. Though service dog training can take up to two-and-a-half years, a minimum six month relationship between the trainer and a service dog team is necessary to meet these standards.

Our Training Process

As You Wish has five stages of training each assistance dog team must pass through before being considered a fully-trained team.

Phase One: Selecting a Service Dog Candidate

The first phase of owner training an assistance dog is selecting a service dog candidate. Finding the right dog is absolutely essential to creating a functioning service dog team.

When selecting a service dog candidate, one must consider three things:

  • The type of dog

    • breed and size

    • Small dogs can make wonderful diabetic alert dogs, whereas larger dogs would be better suited to mobility assistive tasks.

  • The health of the dog 

    • physical, emotional and psychological soundness

    • Assistance dogs lead physical challenging lives; ensuring a service dog candidate's health and soundness will maximize the candidate's chance of success as an assistance dog.

  • The temperament of the dog

    • the appropriate energy level, disposition and aptitude to succeed as an assistance

 

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Phase Two: Basic Obedience

After a team has passed the temperament evaluation and a basic health screening, they begin basic obedience behaviors. Standards for the behavior of service dogs in public  are very high. Building a solid foundation of basic obedience will assist teams towards success.

Basic obedience behaviors include:

  • Sit

  • Lay down

  • Stand

  • Stay in place

  • Come

  • Leave-it

  • Loose-leash-walking

  • Eye contact

  • Recall 

When these behaviors can be performed in a variety of low distraction-environments for short periods of time, the team may test out of this phase of training by passing the AKC Canine Good Citizen Test.

Phase Three: Advanced Obedience

After basic obedience behaviors have been mastered in low distraction-environments, teams take those behaviors on the road and master them in a variety of high-distraction environments.

The majority of a service dog's working life will be spent in high-distraction environments such as restaurants, public transit, zoo's, outdoor locations, etc. 

In this phase of training, the team will work in a variety of pet friendly locations that present different distractions, learning to stay focused and responsive in the presence of these types of stimuli.

When obedience behaviors have been mastered in a variety of high-distraction environments, teams may test our of this phase of training by passing the AKC Urban Canine Good Citizen test.

Phase Four: Task Training

Under federal law, a service animal is defined as: "a dog that has been individually trained to perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person's disability"

To meet the standards to which As You Wish trains, individuals must require at least three assistive task from their service dogs.

The tasks a service dog learns in this phase of training are specifically tailored to the unique needs of the individual with the disability.

Tasks can include, but are not limited to:

  • Mobility Tasks

    • pulling a wheelchair

    • picking up dropped items

    • guiding to an exit or another person

    • bracing

    • assisting with walking

    • opening and closing doors

  • Medical Response Tasks

    • such as fetching medication

    • anchoring a child with autism

    • deep pressure therapy

    • fetching help

  • Medical Alert Tasks

    • alerting a diabetic as their sugar drops or spikes

    • alerting to an impending seizure

Teams may test out of this phase of training when at least one of their three tasks can be performed in a variety of low-distraction environments.

Phase Five: Public Access

Once a service dog in training has been trained to perform at least one task to mitigate their handler's disability, teams are granted public access.

 Service dogs are not pets, but necessary medical equipment and can go anywhere a wheelchair, white cane or oxygen tank can go. There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as the burn units in hospitals, aviaries in zoos, private property and religious establishments. Permission would need to be obtained from the owners of private property or religious establishments before a service dog can be granted access to the location.
This phase of training focuses on proofing the obedience and task behaviors the dog has been trained to perform in a variety of public settings. A service dog's trained behaviors need to be reliable and consistent in the face of any distraction and in any situation. This phase of training also evaluates the relationship between service dog and handler and teaches teams how to calmly handle access challenges and maneuver in public settings so that the dog is an efficient, unobtrusive teammate.

Teams may test out of the final phase of training by passing the Public Access Test.

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