Assistance Dogs

Applications are currently closed as our books for full for assistance dog teams for 2024. We look forward to taking new teams in 2025

We are a Guide, Hearing and Assistance Dogs Act 2009 accredited assistance dog trainer and assessor. We can support you in training your existing dog to become your assistance dog. We do not supply pre-trained assistance dogs, we operate under the model of owner-trainer assistance dogs.

Very often assistance dogs get confused with therapy dogs. But what makes assistance dogs different to a therapy dog?

Assistance dogs live and work alongside their handler to provide assistance to them with the aim of ameliorating symptoms of disability and improving their handler’s functioning. Most commonly we see guide dogs for the blind, assistance dogs for mobility support tasks, or hearing dogs, out in the community. Other growing areas are that of psychiatric assistance dogs, seizure alert, diabetic alert dogs and many more. We train and accredit dogs as assistance dogs under an owner-trainer model. This means we can work with you in sourcing a puppy or an adult rescue dog with the aim of them becoming yours or a family member’s assistance dog, or assess the suitability of your current dog as possibly being trained to become yours (or perhaps your child’s) assistance dog. We can help support you in working out what types of tasks a potential assistance dog may do to support you and what dog may be a good match to fill that need.

Assistance dogs are eligible for public access. We require teams to undertake a Public Access Test (PAT). Successful completion of this test enables you to legally access public areas with your dog. Therapy dogs do NOT have this legal right. Emotional support animals, wellbeing dogs, companion dogs and many other terms get used frequently, however these terms are used to describe a number of roles people may view their dog as filling for them. Assistance dogs however play a very specific role in supporting their handlers, who fit the criteria of having a disability, in public in a way that reduces their need for support and enhances the handler’s functioning.

What dogs can undertake assistance dog training?

Any breed of dog can become an assistance dog, as long as the dog is not a restricted breed such as the American Pit Bull Terrier, Perro de Presa Canarios, Dogo Argentinos, Japanese Tosas or Fila Brasileiros. The dog breed must suit your needs from an assistance dog however. For example if you need a dog to open doors for you we would not accept a toy breed or short-statured breed such as a Dachshund as being a suitable match. We cannot accept your dog if they have been declared a dangerous dog or menacing dog by council or have any reported bite history. The dog must have not have undertaken any guard dog training. All dogs must be desexed and vaccinated before being able to register. They may begin basic training after 6 months of age but must be desexed before doing any public access work. Dogs are not able to wear any shock collar devices or other aversive tools such as correction chains or slip leads. We also don’t accept dogs that have had any history of shock collar training, this includes any snake avoidance training. Dogs can work on a nose halti in initial training but not once they reach Public Access Test stage.

Your dog must also be fit, healthy, have completed a health check by a veterinarian and be aged under 8 years before applying (subject to other conditions regarding breed and health etc).

How can I find out more information about what’s involved?

If you’d like more information about assistance dogs or have questions about whether your dog might fit the role for you and your needs, please get in touch and we can help you through the process.

We have a brochure explaining everything to do with what you can expect with training time and costs and everything else related to becoming accredited as a working assistance dog team.

We work locally to the western suburbs of Melbourne but can see teams that wish to travel to see us in our local area.

Please refer to our guide for new teams information booklet here to understand what is involved.

The veterinary clearance document can be found here.

The medical/disability certificate form can be found here.

The process to become an accredited assistance dog handler and dog team is quite a specialised process and can be confusing to understand. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for additional support. We speak with lots of NDIS and other support co-ordinators every day helping them understand the system and what is involved. We are happy to help guide you through the process.

You can find our privacy and complaints policies here.

To apply, please click the button below to be taken to our online application form. If you’d prefer to fill out a paper version please download the form here.