Assistance dogs are highly-trained to mitigate the impact of a person’s disability on their daily living, through the tasks they perform. An assistance dog can be any breed or size dog – what makes an assistance dog who they are is their temperament, training, and task work. It takes an exceptional dog to be an assistance dog. Tasks are behaviours that the dog performs on-cue or independently. Such tasks could be:
- Picking up and/or retrieving items.
- Alerting to an oncoming medical episode.
- Finding help.
- Opening doors.
- Interruption of behaviour/Bad habit/Self harm.
- Guide work.
- And many more.
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has granted K9 SEARCH Medical Detection authority to certify disability assist dogs. By gaining Certification with K9SMD this will grant the team full public access rights and protection under the Human Rights Act 1993 and/or Dog Control Act 1996.
We can offer owner training to some of our clients on an “individual case” basis, with the guidance and training from our team. Owner training is not an easy path to take, but it will create a strong bond between dog and handler as you learn how to communicate and work as a team. If this is something you might be interested in, send us an email using our contact form.