Trainers and Training
At ASDOGS(NQ) Inc. we start full training of our Assistance Dogs between the ages of 12 to 18 months but we will consider dogs up to 3 years of age.
A very special kind of dog is needed for this very important kind of work:
The dog must have a very laid back temperament and not allow any situation to interfere with their duties
They must be kind and loving and show no sign of aggression
They must be willing to please constantly and be willing to retrieve over and over again.
Each Dog is specially trained for a person with a disability that they have been chosen to partner. As the needs and abilities of each person with a disability vary, some dogs might only have to learn a few commands while others will need to learn up to 50 commands.
We first start the dogs training by teaching basic obedience skills such as sit, drop, stay, come and so on. All dogs are trained to Companion Dog level.
Once each dog starts to understand what is expected of him or her we begin their task training, which takes many hours. We begin by teaching the trainee dogs the names of the articles they might have to retrieve such as purse, brace, shoe, sox, wallet, to name a few. After the dogs have learned the name of each article we then put the articles in a circle in front of the dog and then ask it to retrieve each article in turn.
The dogs are also taught to open doors, put washing in the washing machine, and all sorts of jobs which will assist their recipient. It takes at least 160 hours to train one Assistance Dog and this requires lots of patience.
Dogs will only work to the best of their ability so long as they are happy. All our dogs are trained by the positive praise and reward system, which means the dog is given a treat and lots of praise and love when he does the task correctly.
Once a trainee dog is fully trained it must pass a Public Access Test which is set by Assistance Dogs International, of which ASDOGS(NQ) Inc. is a member. The trainee dog must also be able to do at least three specific tasks for its recipient. If and when the dog reaches this stage it becomes a fully accredited Assistance Dog. Acrredited Assistance Dogs wear a special jacket and tag showing they are a working dog.