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Service Dog Training Charlotte NC

A service dog helps a person with a disability lead a more independent life. According to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), a “service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.” “Work or task” means the dog must be trained to take a specific action when needed to assist the person with a disability. The task performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.

These dogs are specially trained for the purpose of helping their owner with balance issues, guiding the handler, alerting to sounds in the environment, and alert to a seizure. Retrieving a medication bag, retrieving a beverage to take the medication, bringing the emergency phone to the handler and panic prevention skills are all skills that we can teach your dog to perform.

We will help you in any or all of the following areas relating to service dog training: choosing the right dog, selecting tasks tailored to your needs, task training, obedience training, and public access. We will provide you instruction on how to train your own service dog, but we do not sell fully trained service dogs nor do we put in all the training hours that client dogs need to become service dogs. Service dogs will receive a minimum of 200 hours of training over the course of a year or more, though dedicated owner-trainers can put in over 1000 hours during the course of their service dog’s training.

Let's get started teaching your dog the skills necessary for this helpful work!

Service Dog Training Class

Service dog training class gets your dog started on the tasks that you need to mitigate your disability. Your dog learns to pick up items, bring you dropped items, alert you to medical conditions and interrupt self harm behaviors.

Dogs must have completed Advanced Manners Class or had a private session with the trainer to evaluate Service dog readiness.

The topics we go over during Service Dog Training class often include:

  • Teaching your dog to pick up things on request
  • Teaching scent disrimination (such as a high blood sugar alert)
  • Teaching a sound alert (for people hard of hearing)
  • Teaching your dog to interrupt self harming behaviors
  • And more! The class curriculum is customized to the needs of the people who enroll in the class.

Let us help you train your dog to do the tasks that you need to live your best life!

When does the next service dog training class start?

To get started with Service dog work, most people begin with these group classes:

  1. Basic Manners class
  2. Advanced Manners / Therapy dog class
  3. Service dog training class

Begin your dog’s journey to becoming a service dog with our basic manners dog training class. Then the dogs advance to our Advanced Manners / Therapy dog class. Once the dogs have completed their Canine Good Citizen (which is done during the Advanced Manners / Therapy dog class), then teams can move onto task training with our Service dog training class.

Email us if you’d like to schedule your in person training session to evaluate your dog’s readiness for Service dog class.

Please join our waitlist to be notified of our next service dog training class.

Where are your Charlotte dog training classes?

Our Charlotte dog training classes are held in a state of the art dog training facility in Mount Holly, NC near the Charlotte airport. Our classes are designed to help owners succeed in training their dogs.

Emotional support Dog Training

How do I get started teaching my dog to be an emotional support dog?

Manners Charlotte Dog Training Classes

For emotional support dog training and service dog training with your current dog, it’s best to begin with basic manners dog training class. During class, your dog will learn to ignore distractions and listen to you.

Therapy Dog Training Class

The next phase of emotional support or service dog training is teaching your dog the skills necessary to pass the Therapy Dog test. During therapy dog training class, your dog will learn the next level of cooperation with you around distractions such as ignoring people, dogs, toys and food and choosing to listen to you.

Emotional Support Dog training

After completing the pet manners training classes, the last phase of emotional support dog training is teaching your dog the skills necessary to comfort you and offset your struggles. Our service dog training class gets your dog started on assisting you for the tasks that you need.

Alternatively, we can also begin with private training sessions with you, the dog and the trainer. These sessions max out at $130 per session.

Service dog training Charlotte nc

Common Service Dog Training Tasks:

  • Retrieving medication or medical supplies
  • Reminding you to take your medication
  • Alerting to a medical problem (low blood sugar, low blood pressure, fungus, etc.)
  • Locating your vehicle in a parking lot
  • Leading you to a chair
  • Blocking you from being crowded by others in busy public locations
  • Specific tasks to help mitigate your illness

Types of Service Dogs

There are several types of service or assistance dogs.

Seizure or Fainting Response Service Dogs

These dogs are trained to help alert someone that help is needed. They provide balance to help the person recover.

Guide Dogs

Guide dogs help those who are visually impaired.

Mobility Assistance Dogs

These dogs are trained to work with people who use wheelchairs or have balance issues and the dogs provide balance support. The dogs also assist with dropped items, open doors or turn on/off lights.

Psychiatric Service Dogs

These dogs help people with anxiety and deep pressure therapy. They can alert to and provide support during panic attacks and they can help with sleep issues.

 

service dog training charlotte nc
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Service Dog Training Foundation skills:

  • Choosing the best breed and dog breeder for your service dog needs
  • Choosing the right puppy for service dog training
  • Preventing fear and aggression, the most common reasons a dog cannot be used as a service animal
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Service dog training includes several phases of training:

  • Dog or Puppy Selection: Helping you choose a breeder and dog or puppy that was bred specifically for a stable temperament for service dog work
  • Basic Manners and Canine Good Citizen test: Sit, down, stay, come, walk nicely on leash, attention, and ignoring other dogs. Read more about the CGC test here and check out our canine good citizen class near me.
  • Manners in public and Therapy dog training: The next phase towards service dog certification is therapy dog training certification near me. Therapy dog training ensures that your dog is trained and can listen around other dogs, children and a variety of people. Here are the test requirements for therapy dog training near me. Therapy dog training also ensures that your dog can listen in a wide variety of environements which is a key component of service dog training.
  • Service dog tasks: Once your dog has completed the canine good citizen test and the therapy dog training test, now we can proceed with teach your dog the specific tasks your dog needs to learn to do to mitigate your specific disability.
  • Certifications and Team Public Access: Once your dog several skills to offset your disability, then your dog can begin wearing a Service dog in training vest and can continue practicing their skills in establishments that allow all dogs (such as home improvement stores). Once your dog finishes public access training and demonstrates that they can do the taught skills to offset your disability, then your dog can begin going to and practicing in stores that sell food (such as walmart, target, etc.). Once your trainer has accessed your dog’s reliability in public locations where there is food, then your certification letter will be signed and your dog will officially be a service dog.

Complete service dog training takes between 6 and 18 months of training. We typically utilize a combination of in home training, group classes and online training classes.

Service Dog versus Therapy Dog

Many people confuse service dogs with therapy dogs, but they play two completely different roles that require nearly opposite characteristics. Service dogs are one dog for one person and perform specific tasks to help that person cope with a disability. Therapy dogs are one dog for everyone—they bring cheer and comfort to hospital patients, assisted living center and nursing home residents, homeless families, and students. Service dogs must be handler-focused, desensitized to distractions, and highly trained to do specific tasks. They should not be distracted by the public, as they should focus solely on their owner when working. For service dogs, training can last up to two years before they are placed with a client. Service dogs typically wear a vest that identifies them as a service dog and asks the public not to pet them. Therapy dogs should be friendly and outgoing, yet calm and obedient, and socialized to a variety of people, places, and things. Therapy dogs need to be trained in basic manners and obedience, and are required to take continuing education workshops. Therapy dogs and their owners provide opportunities for petting and affection in a variety of settings on a volunteer basis.

Let's get started teaching your dog the skills necessary for this helpful work!

Get started with service dog training by teaching your dog to listen to you regardless of distractions with one of our group dog training classes.