Assistance Dog Training

I am deeply knowlegable about Assistance Dogs, your rights and responsibilites…and training them to be the best assistance dogs they can be.

As a disabled Assistance Dog handler myself I know the challenges Assistance Dogs handlers face.

My specialist sessions are aimed at helping Assitance Dog handlers improve their skills and handling ability, train their dog and gain confidence in accessing public spaces together as well as teaching dogs life-changing tasks!

I train many different types of Assistance Dogs but my main speciality is neurodivergant related tasks and responses.

I have trained Assistance Dogs all over the world and offer both in-person and virtual support for Assistance Dogs and their handlers.

I am a huge Assistance Dog advocates and spend my spare time improving access for Assistance Dogs, giving advice about access and raising awareness

I can only train assistance dogs for disabled people!

What Can We Help With?

  • I Have A Prospect

    I have a puppy or dog I am hoping to train to be an assistance dog. I am looking for weekly, monthly or bi-monthly training sessions to help me.

  • I Am Having Issues

    My Assistance Dog Has An Issue

    My Assistance Dog has developed behaviour problems or has a training issues that is preventing us from accessing services and I need help

  • I Need A Public Access Test

    I Need A Public Access Test

    I want a trainer to access me and my dog, either because I want the assurance that my dogs behaviour is up to standard or because it is needed for access in non-standard places

  • I Need Help With Handler Confidence

    I am struggling to access services as a handler. I struggle to know what to do when someone interacts with my dog or if I get an access refusal.

Public Access Training

Assistance Dog Hope practicing her off lead heelwork in a store

Task Training

Assistance Dogs are dogs trained to mitigate a disability and this is an essential part of their training.

Task training assistance dogs needs a very individual approach as everyone has different requirements for their disabilities. Thats why tailored task training is important and the support of a trainer can help you get the best out of your assistance dog.

Tasks can include physical things like retrieving items or help with household tasks, medical alerts, Deep Pressure Therapy, guide work or hearing alerts.

Mitigating your disability is what makes an assistance dog an assistance dog, making this a vital part of your dogs training!


Examples of tasks we can train include:

Deep Pressure/Light Pressure Therapy

Object Retrieval

Finding Exits

Medical Alert/Response

Opening Doors

Pressing Buttons

Public access training is an important part of assistance dog training. It focuses on preparing the dog to behave appropriately in a variety public settings

An Assistance Dog’s ability to access public spaces calmly and be well behaved and attentive you is essential for their role to help you with your disability.

To achieve successful public access training, we will focus on basic obedience and exposing the dog to a variety of public access settings and scenarios.

Over time, your dog will learn to walk nicely, on and off the lead, ignore people, settle in various places and access a variety of services and environments with you.

The emphasis on training is to teach you to train your assistance dog and enable you to enhance your independance.

Handler Confidence

Behaviour Issues

During your dogs working life you may run into behaviour issues. This can be very upsetting and concerning when your independance is at stake.

It is important if your assistance dog is attacked by a dog or person to book a session as soon as possible (when your dog has recovered). This will give you the best chance of mitigating any issues that may arise from being attacked.

Other issues like seperation anxiety and reactivity can occur in assistance dogs periodically and it is important to balance welfare, behavioural modification and return to public access carefully for best long term results.

Whether you have had a bad experience, dealt with an access refusal that has knocked your confidence, or just feel you need support accessing public spaces, we can help give you the skills to navigate public access as an assistance dog handler.

We will teach you your rights and responsibilities, what to do in the face of access refusals and difficult members of the public, how to advocate for your dog and your space and leave you feeling confident in your ability to access the world as a partnership!

Organisations

We are a trainer with both Darwins Dogs and Pawsable, both organisations that help people train their own assistance dog.

You may find more information about them by clicking on their logos.

How Does It Work?

Assistance Dogs are not trained in one session. Therefore to get the best out of your training we offer subscriptions and packages rather than one off sessions. This, coupled with ongoing email and whatsapp support, means that you get the right level of support for you.

There are only a limited number of subscriptions and packages available at any one time. At the moment our enquiries are open!

If there are no subscriptions or packages available you can put your name on a waiting list to be contacted.

Our Services

  • One Off Fees

    First Session - £50 per hour

    Public Access Test - £120

  • Subscriptions

    2 Sessions a Month - £90

    3 Sessions a Month - £150

    4 Sessions a Month - £180

  • Packages

    5 Sessions - £220

    10 Sessions - £450

Get Started

If you are looking to get started training with us please contact us here. You will be sent forms to fill out in order to start training with us.

When you have filled out these forms and we have met your dog you will be given access to the online booking system for future appointments.

FAQ

  • Training with us will not make your dog ADUK or ADI registered however, if you are currently working with one of these organisations, so long as it is ok with your organisation, you can book in with me to supplement your training or work on behaviour issues.

    Any report writing will have an extra charge.

  • The rates described are for training in the Birmingham/Solihull areas only. Travelling outside these areas will come with significant extra charges.

    I am happy to do so within reason, especially for short behaviour support sessions but these will incur travel and time costs.

  • You have to be prepared that your dog will not be at a level to assist with your disabilities until at least 1 year of training with the entire training process taking at least 18 months to 2 years.