Service Dogs

Service Dog Training Program

Welcome to Our Service Dog Training Program

We are delighted to have you join our service dog training program. As your dog progresses through our comprehensive training and temperament evaluations, we aim to equip you with the essential skills and knowledge to become an exceptional handler for your team.

While we will continually provide you with specific tasks and exercises to reinforce your dog's training, our program goes beyond practical assignments. We focus on enhancing your understanding of canine cognition, offering product recommendations, and informing you about relevant laws and regulations.

Let's embark on this journey together!

According to the Americans With Disabilities Act, a person can choose to have a service dog due to a disability. No matter how much training a dog has, it is not a service dog if the handler does not have a disability.

Being a service dog is challenging and requires the right temperament. If you think your dog might be a good service animal candidate, we can evaluate his or her suitability for public access behavior as well as the task training you will need to mitigate your disability. We can also work with existing service dog teams, whether specific challenges come up, or add on more tasks over time!

Our team of experienced professionals will ensure your dog can assist you by performing the tasks you need, has good manners in any environment, and is trained in public access behaviors that are specific to service dogs. We will also build your dog's confidence, independent thinking, and problem-solving skills.

We work with, but are not limited to, the following types of service dogs:

Psychiatric Service Dogs (PTSD, Anxiety, and more)
Mobility Assistance Dogs
Hearing Dogs
Medical Alert Dogs (Diabetic, Seizure, and more)
Autism Assistance Dogs
Seizure Response Dogs
Facility Service Dogs
Seizure Response Dogs

Our Service Dog Training begins by building on our signature Day Camp program for both Level 1 and Level 2, with adjustment to service dog specific requirements. Suitable dogs will then continue on to the next phase, which includes public access and task training for your dog . Lastly, we move onto Teamwork where we teach you and your dog to work together. While we offer an approximate timeline for your dog to graduate each level, your dog will not move on until he or she can demonstrate all skills for that level.

Payments are made monthly as your dog progresses through the program. You can choose to pay in full or take advantage of one of our financing options. We monitor your dog's progress, provide weekly reports, and videos, and a temperament evaluation administered every 3 months. You are free to withdraw your dog from the program with no penalty at any time if you're not satisfied with our training.

R+K9's service dog program follows a day training format. You drop your dog off at our Winchester facility on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays. Your dog will train from 9am - 11:30am.

Our service dog instructor is both experienced and educated in service dogs. In addition to standard dog training and behavior education, she has completed a rigorous year-long program covering service dog evaluations, temperament testing, training task skills, public access, and understanding disabilities.

Pricing varies depending on your dog's previous training experience. We are also happy to help guide you through fundraising options.

An outline of how the program is built

The First Step

Entering our program

Public Access Test and Beyond

The first step is choosing the right dog, if you purchased a puppy they can enter our program at 6 months of age. Before this time, reach out to us for socialization exercises as this window of opportunity does not last long! If you chose an adult dog we recommend taking our trainers with you to help you chose the right dog, then giving them a month or so to decompress before joining our program.

This is going to be the first step to having your dog trained as a service dog (if they are the right fit), we will start with an evaluation both for the dog and the needs of the handler. If this goes well we will start the training of your dog. This will take anywhere between 1.5-2 years on average. While we are training your dog we will also have homework for you, so that once the two of you start working together the transition from the trainer will be easier and smoother.

Once your dog graduates our program we will start working with you and your dog together, this can sometimes take up to 6 months, but with our program it is normally less. As the two of you get more confident we will have you take a Public Access Test which if you pass you will receive our patch on their vest, if not, you can always re-try. While this does mean a graduation, we would like you to think of this as life long learning; a dog is not a robot and requires constant training and fine tuning to keep up their skills and help them learn correct behaviors in different situations. We are your support team and we will be here to guide you!

"Good service dogs are both born and made."
- Dr. Cattet