What to look out for when choosing an assistance dog trainer.
I thought I would write a blog about the importance of knowing the right questions to ask when searching for an assistance dog trainer and/or organisation. At a time where I'm taking some extended leave from intake of new teams, I’m often being asked, "how do I know what to look for in choosing someone else to help me train my dog as my assistance dog?" Unfortunately, I have also had some people spend quite a lot of money, time, energy and travel, to work with trainers that have given them very saleable blurbs about what makes them qualified to be an assistance dog trainer. Sadly, they have ended up with little to show for their investment and still no closer to having a working assistance dog.
When you're looking for an assistance dog trainer, what you might want to look for first, is whether they are accredited with a particular act and if so, which one.
There's the Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dog Act 2009 of Queensland (GHAD), which is probably the most recognised level of certification, as well as the one that provides the easiest access to traveling on planes, among other access benefits. This is one of the Acts that I am accredited under. Other larger organisations including Guide Dogs, Seeing Eye Dogs Australia, and Assistance Dogs Australia, are all accredited under this act. If you want GHAD certification, you need to look on the GHAD website at who is accredited and choose a GHAD accredited organisation to train with.
If being trained and certified under an organisation accredited by GHAD doesn't bother you, there's also other acts, including that of the ACT, and other states including SA that also have their own act that references the certification of assistance dogs and what their access rights are. Victoria does not have its own act that references assistance animals.
The other legislation that you can work under is the Disability Discrimination Act. A Commonwealth legislation, it works alongside other state and territory legislation to enforce antidiscrimination laws, but also references requirements for being recognised as an assistance animal and handler team with rights to public access. People can use that act to say that they are protected under the DDA as an assistance dog handler and animal as long as they meet the criteria set out under the legislation. The legislation requires that you have evidence of having a disability, your dog is behaviourally and hygienically sound, and they are trained to mitigate symptoms of disability. If they don't, they're not protected under the DDA either.
Some airlines will try and say you can't fly with them if you're operating under particular state-based legislations or other selective criteria. That's a bit of a challenge at the moment and there's a lot of things happening to try and change that, but currently it’s the case that the legislation you’re protected under can impact travel.
Some trainers will say, "Well, I'm accredited under the Association of Pet Dog Trainers." Well, that's great, but that's just an association anyone can become a member of which has no relevance to being accredited to certify assistance dogs.
Another trainer might say, "I did a course where I was trained to train assistance dogs." A lot of courses will have units on how to train assistance dogs, and it’s becoming even more popular, but they're not audited with regards to content that’s taught and practical training requirements, supervised mentorship and other levels of experience and expertise in the training of assistance dogs.
The practical experience may be very limited, so you really don't know what quality standards that means. It also doesn’t mean that the training they receive is in training for particular roles or in supporting the human on the other end of the lead.
A big part of being a professional assistance dog trainer is not just knowledge and qualifications, but a lot of experience working with a huge range of people and dogs with varying disabilities and needs with regards to the support their dog provides. Someone may be an expert in training guide dogs from puppyhood to being matched to their future handler, whereas someone may be an expert in working with the owner-handlers training their own dogs to support them with mental health needs. They could be a combination of the above and everything in between.
When someone calls me enquiring about training with me, I discuss their needs to ensure I am the right match. Just because I’m a GHAD accredited assistance dog trainer and certifier, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be right for them and their needs. Even if we match on paper, we may not match in person too or I may not have the expertise in training what they require. I am very open with teams if they have specific medical alert needs that aren’t my space of expertise. The sad reality is though that there are huge gaps in services available so people are desperately signing up with trainers that might not have the skills to provide what they need simply because there’s no one else. Or they may sign up with trainers that promise they are experts, but the reality is that they aren’t, and they may not have the knowledge in areas such as the associated legislation involved, in supporting accessing the community, in what’s required to travel on public transport with an assistance animal and so on.
Some people may offer to do a Public Access Test (PAT) and use the template of an online PAT available on government websites. If a trainer downloads the GHAD PAT and lets you know that you successfully passed the PAT, that PAT has no use in accessing flights that require a GHAD PAT because the trainer wasn’t from an accredited organisation or wasn’t an accredited provider to administer that PAT. Doing a PAT is also not a requirement under the DDA so understanding why a trainer is administering a PAT is important as they should know why and how that PAT would improve access to the community.
So before you sign up to train with a particular trainer with your dog that you hope to have as your assistance dog, consider the questions:
- Which legislation do you operate under?
- Do you have requirements that go above and beyond the requirements of that legislation and if so why? I.e. they operate under DDA and administer a PAT. Great, but why and what PAT do you use.
- What areas of expertise and experience do they have? Does it match your needs? If you require tasks that support needs associated with symptoms of PTS, anxiety, ASD, seizures, diabetes, whatever they may be, can they qualify their ability to support that?
- What methods do they use when they train dogs? Are they force-free or take more of a balanced approach. What tools might they use? Are you comfortable with that?
- What ongoing support do they provide following the PAT?
- Do they help with supporting access issues if they arise, or accessing education or employment if barriers arise?
- What terms do they have for working with you? Number of sessions required? Frequency of sessions? How long is a PAT valid for etc.
So all I can recommend is to do some homework first because every dollar and every month of time we spend is so important.
Hopefully that helps, and feel free to reach out for support or to comment with questions below so that I can help you further.