Service Dogs / Assistance Dogs

General Information / Articles of Interest

Service Dogs are trained to assist people who have a wide variety of mobility impairments and other disabilities, such as seizures, psychiatric disorders, life threatening medical problems, or chronic pain. These dogs provide services to disabled individuals helping them function with greater self-sufficiency; prevent injuries; and summon help in a crisis.

Service Dogs receive approximately six months to one year of training on learning to perform various tasks, obedience, and public access manners.

• Assistance Dog Tasks by Joan Froling
  This report identifies over one hundred possible tasks that guide, hearing and service dogs can master to assist with daily life activities and safety concerns.
• Monument Honours Assistance Dogs — by Devon Wilkins
• Seizure Alert Dogs — Helping People with Epilepsy — by Wayne Tuttle
• It’s a dog’s life on the job
• Exceptional dogs with jobs
• Assistance dogs are four-legged wonders

• C.O.P.E. Service Dogs
  Located in Barrie, Ontario
  E-mail: info@copedogs.org
  “Through the training and subsequent placement of special service dogs, Canine Opportunity, People Empowerment (C.O.P.E.) helps people with disabilities, challenged youth, children and people in the community achieve positive changes and growth in their lives.”
   
• Dogs with Wings Assistance Dog Society
  Mission: To provide highly skilled guide and assistance dogs, and ongoing training to persons with various disabilities.
  11343 – 174 Street, N.W.
  Edmonton, Alberta, T5S 0B7
  Email: johnw@dogswithwings.ca
  Phone: 780-944-8011, Toll Free 877-252-9433
  Fax: 780-944-9571
   

• Golden Opportunity Assistance Dogs
  E-mail: info@GOADogs.ca
  Tel.: 519-670-1809
  — “Helping youth ‘at-risk’ and individuals with disabilities find independence together through partnership with Assistance Dogs.” Serving Southwestern Ontario, we train highly skilled service dogs for children and adults with mobility impairments (wheelchair assistance). We also offer fully trained facility dogs to work alongside professionals such as Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists and Psychologists with their patients and clients. Part of our work involves working with youth-at-risk in a therapeutic intervention program teaching them to train service dogs for wheelchair assistance.
   
• Handi-Dogs, Inc.
  A Service Dog Training Organization located in Tucson, Arizona. — “At Handi-Dogs, Inc. we help people with physical disabilities to achieve an improved quality of life through the training and use of service dogs.”
   
• International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP)
  A non-profit, cross-disability organization representing people partnered with guide, hearing and service dogs.
   
• Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides
  Lions Foundation of Canada is a federally incorporated charitable foundation founded by the Lions Clubs of Canada. Its mission is to provide service to physically challenged Canadians in the areas of mobility, safety, and independence.
   
• Mira Foundation
  Objective: To bring greater autonomy to handicapped people and to facilitate their social integration by providing them with dogs that are fully trained to meet the needs of each individual, including Guide Dogs.
   
• National Service Dogs Training Centre Inc. (NSD)
  NSD specializes in breeding, raising, training, and placing Autism Service Dogs with families and children living with autism.
   
• Pacific Assistance Dog Society
  — PADS’ mission is to raise and train dogs for people who are facing the daily challenges of life with a disability other than blindness, in order to provide a greater level of independence and an enhanced quality of life. Serving people in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
   
• Sport Dog Training Center
  — Our mandate is to work with people in Southern Ontario who need help choosing, and training their own PTSD or alert dog, and to provide highly reliable, trained, reliable alert dogs. Our dogs go first to people who are ‘high risk’, are working in high stress jobs, or have work related mental disabilities. We also provide dogs for therapy work, emotional support, and provide an ambassador to raise awareness. We offer lifetime support to anyone with a service dog, or needs to obtain a service dog.
  Email: info@sportdogtrainingcenter.com
  Phone: 519-902-4739
   
• Therapeutic Medical Alert Service Dogs
  Nova Scotia, Canada
  TMA Service Dogs provides service dogs to people in Eastern Canada – with a specialty of PTSD dogs
   
• Trailrunners K9 Training Center and Labradors
  Box 940
  Big River, Saskatchewan
  S0J 0E0
  Tel.: 306-469-8009
  Fax: 306-469-5767
  E-mail: info@trailrunners.ca
  — Trailrunners is home to working Labrador Retrievers, puppies, and, at times, trained adults. Our dogs also include Canada’s first team of Labrador Retriever cancer detecting dogs — see www.cancerdogs.com. We train gun dogs, rehab aggressive dogs, and do cancer and other detection training as well. For details, visit our websites at www.trailrunners.ca and www.cancerdogs.com.

Note: We are always in need of articles for the Working Dogs section of the website — Submissions are welcome and encouraged. Please feel free to e-mail us at info@canadasguidetodogs.com.

If you are part of a working dog group and would like to be included in the listings, please email us with details.