- Professional dog trainers seeking the knowledge and skills to work in the Service Dog Training field
- Persons with disabilities who desire to train their own Service Dog.
- Persons with disabilities who currently have a service dog and want to learn how to refresh or keep their dogs’ skills sharp.
- Family members of persons with disabilities who already have a service dog and want to learn how to refresh or keep the dogs’ skills sharp.
It is optimal for students to start with a dog at least ten to twelve months old, with no, or minimal training, and not use a trained dog, or a dog that is concurrently being trained in something else.
Professional Service Dog candidates (students) must take ALL of the following courses and pass each with a “Satisfactory”:
Section One: Foundations Skills for Handlers and Dogs
I. Basic Training
II. Core Elements
***Begin the Getting Ready Series here.
Section Two: Building Blocks
III. Sum of the Parts
IV. Constructing Tasks
Section Three: Customizing Training and Tasks
V. Individual Specialization For Persons with Disabilities Training Their Own Dogs for Service Dog work
Section Four: Public Access
VI. Working in Public
Section Five: “Other” Service Dog Issues
VII. Multiple Dogs
***When students get to the point that they have started Core Elements, things will slow down, because, until you and your dog have each core element behavior reliable on verbal cue only, you can not progress to the next lesson.
At this point, while you are doing the Core Elements course, students will begin the Instructor version of the Getting Ready Series. These three courses will prepare you to be able to help clients through the stages of deciding if it is practical for them to get a service dog, and then, getting their lives ready for a service dog. The Instructor version uses the same recorded classes, but you will have alternative homework.
Getting Ready Series-Instructor Version:
I. How to Get a Service Dog: A Guide for Persons with Disabilities who are considering getting a Service Dog. This course was written for people who the “idea of a service dog” is something they have been thinking about. It walks them through what a service dog is, questions whether their life is in any shape to have a service dog, helps them to collect the information needed to fill out an application to a provider organization, and takes them to the point of either applying to a provider organization or selecting a service dog for owner-training. A lot of persons with disabilities have very unrealistic ideas about what is involved in having a service dog, and this fills in the picture and gives them a reality check to be able to decide if a service dog would be possible for them. The trainer version comes at it from the point of view that when clients call you, this is the process you need to walk them through to get to the point they are ready either to apply to a provider organization or to do selection of a potential service dog candidate for owner-training.
II. Getting Ready for a Service Dog:A Guide for Persons with Disabilities who are in the process of getting a Service Dog to prepare their lives for a Service Dog. This course is for people who have either applied to a provider organization, or have decided that they want to do selection and owner training, but don’t have a dog yet. It walks them through the different areas of their lives, with instructions for preparing your life to be ready when you get a service dog. This is the portion of client education that orgs are very weak on, including Guide Dog organizations. It has been very favorably reviewed by some regional Guide Dog organizations who expressed that this piece is seriously lacking.
It is not a prerequisite to take the first Getting Ready before taking the second one. Some people who already have determined that they are going to get a service dog, or have applied and are on the waiting list of a provider organization will not need the first one, but will need the second one. The trainer version gives trainers the format and information to prepare their clients so their lives are ready before they actually get a dog.
III.When You Get a Service Dog:A Guide to help Persons with Disabilities who have gotten a Service Dog to be better able to make an effective transition to living with a full-time canine partner. This goes back through all the areas of a person’s life explored in the previous course, this time, following through and making adjustments in each area for when your dog arrives. This is for people that have taken the second course in the series, and they start this course when their dog comes in the door.
It is a prerequisite to take the second course before the third course.
The trainer version, again, gives trainers the format and information to aid clients with adjusting to actually having a service dog or a potential service dog candidate in training.
Details on Curriculum, Prerequisites, Textbooks, Supplies and Fees will be found on the individual course pages. Simply click on the individual course link and this will take you to the specific details of the individual course.
Instructor for all the above courses: Myra Fourwinds
Course Fee – There are three purchase options for this program.
1. Purchase courses individually by simply clicking on the course link and registering directly from the individual course page.
2. Purchase the entire diploma program with a single payment of $1600.00
Please read the Payment Plan policy.
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