What's involved?
Our assistance dog program is designed to support individuals with a disability train their own pet dogs to assist with specific needs.
We offer compassionate, personalised support to people living with
- Mental Health Conditions (e.g. Bipolar, BPD, Depression, Anxiety etc)
- Autism
- Mobility Challenges (e.g. Wheelchair users, People who struggle to pick things up etc)
- Hearing Loss
- Vision Impairment
- Military-related Medical needs (PTSD, Physical disabilities)
​​
There are currently 2 options in how you can join our assistance dog program -
OPTION 1 - Puppies and young dogs under 2 years old
The program includes:
​
Foundation Skills: We will guide you through our 4 Level training program to finish with a fully trained assistance dog! From basic puppy manners reaching to high standard assistance dog training we will make sure your reach each goal at your own pace, feeling empowered and confident at each step.
Public Access Training: Its not all class based training, Our assistance dog teams need to learn how to face real life situations, what better way to do that than in real life training opportunities! Once Level 3 has been reached its now time to step out your comfort zone (with guided support from us) and get out into shops and other public places your dog will be expected to go daily.
​
OPTION 2- For dogs older than 2 years old
- Take a mock Assistance dog Public access test and tick off what the dog can do.
- You then have the option to go home and work on the sections your dog needs more work on by yourself, OR
- You can then book in for our 121 sessions, parallel walking sessions, task training, come to weekly drop-in classes or book a block of 6 week classes.
- Finally, your dog will be able to take the final Public access test.
​
Task Work: For your dog to reach Assistance dog Status by law your dog needs to be trained to do tasks that mitigate your disability, With Bond and Behave we require a minimum of 2 Trained Tasks your dog does on a daily basis. What's a trained task? Here is a list of some of the tasks we can help you train at Bond and Behave -
- Retrieve
- Crowed control - Circling
- Alert to sound
- Guide work – curbs etc
- Paws up
- Blocking
- Find traffic light
- Opening doors
- Shutting doors
- Clothing removal
- Picking things up
- Deep and light pressure therapy
- Cry interruption
- Self-harm interruption
- Alarm clock alert
- Fire alarm
- Find exit
- Find person
- Find bench
- Find Bin
- Blocking
- Watch my back
- Grounding
- Forward momentum
- Counter-balance
- Pull strap work
- Collect mail
- Carry items
- Help to clean up – put items in a box/bin
- Help change bedding
- Emptying washing machine and tumble dryer
- Pushing automatic door buttons
- Turn on and off lights
- Nightmare interruption
Sorry, Did I say small list?
Handler Education: We will support and give handlers guidance on welfare, access rights, Laws surrounding assistance dogs and assist in any access refusals you may receive - your never on your own.
​
Please note - While we welcome a wide range of needs we are not currently able to support scent-based medical alert training (e.g. Diabetic or seizure alert).
​
Each dog- handler team receives respectful, individualised guidance at every step. Our focus is on creating confident partnerships that are capable, well-mannered and ready for the world together.
​
Please contact us for more information.