Five steps to becoming an assistance dog
Our dogs start their formal training at around twelve months of age. For our young Labradors and Golden Retrievers it’s a little like starting school, only rather than learning the alphabet, our dogs are learning the skills they will use to one day help a disabled person.
Training our dogs takes place at our national training centre in Banbury, Oxfordshire where our trainers work individually with each dog to find out what they enjoy, build confidence and teach practical skills using reward based methods of training.
The dogs are trained in five main task work areas, which form the basis for all the practical tasks the dogs may help with and which are based on the dog’s natural instincts. Listed below are the five areas and just a few practical examples of what an assistance dog can do.
Obedience
Walking along side a wheelchair, settling quickly in a public area such as a restaurant or office.
Retrieve
Emptying the washing machine, picking up dropped items such as keys, wallet or crutches, fetching the post.
Push
Pushing down wheelchair footplates, activating light switches, disabled access buttons and pedestrian crossing buttons.
Pull
Opening doors, removing socks and jackets, opening zips.
Speak
Barking on command to alert attention in an emergency.
Collectively all these tasks make a world of difference to their disabled owner, helping them to live a more independent and full life.
