As part of our dedication to animal rescue we find eligible candidates housed at shelters, or surrendered from private owners, to train and rehabilitate as service and therapy animals.

Based on the individual animal’s inherent abilities and instincts we will find the best training plan for that animal. The possible training paths include emotional support animals, therapy animal for children and elderly companionship, and training to perform specific tasks for an individual with a disability.

Disabilities benefiting from a support animal are varied and include PTSD, ADHD, Anxiety disorders, physical disabilities such as paralysis, diabetes, vision impairment, seizure disorders, among many others. Each disability requires specialized training and the tasks they are trained to perform vary based on the individual’s needs.

Not all animals meet the cognitive and physical characteristics to perform these tasks as required. This is why we generally don’t accept a client’s pet for service animal training, but instead find animals that show an instinctive capacity for this type of work. Even with careful selection not all animals graduate from the training to become service animals.

Animals that do not complete the training to become a service animal for a person with disabilities are already highly trained and well socialized, and are still suitable as therapy animals or emotional support animals.

A therapy animal is trained to interact with multiple people in a calm manner. They can provide temporary companionship for children or elderly individuals, or for other canine clients in training. These animals often live with an employee handler of a care facility or institution, or they may actually live at the facility.

We keep a small pack of therapy animals to assist with socializing dogs in our training programs. These animals are confident and capable of providing correction and guidance to reactive and timid animals in our care. These canine coaches are often better than our human coaches at identifying and correcting undesirable behaviors, and demonstrating appropriate behaviors.

The third category of training includes emotional support animals. These are animals that are well behaved, confident and calm animals that can provide companionship for a single individual on a daily basis. The focus of this training is being non-reactive, calm and friendly, and focusing on the needs of their owner without being easily distracted. Nearly any animal can be trained to perform this type of support work, including pets already owned by our clients.

The last and least common type of service animal we train are Search and Rescue, and Scent Detection animals. Occasionally, we find an animal that is very highly scent motivated, and shows a capacity for tracking and trailing. These animals are trained to perform these tasks and provided to trained handlers to perform public service work such as rescue and recovery of lost or injured individuals, or to detect explosives and other dangerous substances (we do not train drug detection or police “attack” dogs).

If you are interested in a Service, Emotional Support, or Therapy dog please fill out the contact form below and let us know what you are looking for.