Service Dog Program
What are Service Dogs?
Service dogs are not pets, they are considered medical equipment per the American Disabilities Act (ADA) like a wheelchair or cane for a blind person. Dogs go through rigorous training to make sure they can help mitigate their handlers’ disabilities so their handler can lead a more independent life. The average price for a fully trained service dog from a program can range from $20,000-$60,000+ depending on the training program they are with, and they usually have a 3-5 year wait time before your matched with a service dog. Training a Service Dog can take up to 2 years of training before the dog is considered trained to be fully trained depending on tasks they need to perform. Not every dog can be a Service Dog. There are certain breeds that are better suited for certain tasks than other breeds. Training a service dog requires a lot of patience and dedication from both handler and trainer. Service dogs preform various tasks ranging from retrieving medicine or dropped items to guiding a visually impaired handler and much more.
Emotional Support Dogs are NOT Service Dogs and are NOT allowed in public at non pet friendly locations.
Types of Service Dogs:
- Guide Dogs
- Mobility Dogs
- Psychiatric Dogs (PTSD, Anxiety)
- Autism Dogs
- Medical Alert Dogs (Cardiac Alert, Migraine Alert, Diabetic Alert)
- Hearing Dogs
Service Dogs must be handler focused, neutral to their environments (be desensitized to all distractions) and be able to be highly trained to be reliable in performing their specific tasks. If a dog washes out (fails to meet the strict standards to become a Service Dog) doesn’t mean it would not be able to be pets, most washouts excel in pet homes. Some go on to work in other lines of work like search and rescue, therapy work or IPO/Schutzhund, etc.
Our program overview
Here at The Urban K-9 Academy our goal is to provide you a high-quality service dog at an affordable price. We want to make sure we always have a low wait time for a program dog.
Our fully trained program dogs range from $12,000-$15,000 depending on which tasks they are trained for (training can take 1-2 years, all mobility dogs must have hips and elbows tested at 2 years old and pass as well as be cleared by an ortho vet.)
The price of our program dogs includes, all of the phases of our program listed below, dog food, yearly vet exam, program vest, training tools, and breeder fee. We do offer payment plans for our Program Dogs as well as our Service Dog Program. We do allow you to bring a dog in for Service Dog training if you have one already or have a breeder or rescue dog picked out. We will do a temperament test and evaluation of your dog to make sure they can perform the tasks you need for a service dog.
We train dogs for Psychiatric, Medical Alert (Diabetic and Migraine Alert) and Mobility.
We train dogs for:
- PTSD/Psychiatric
- Medical Alert (Diabetic and Migraine Alert)
- Mobility
- Hearing Assistance
Our Service Dog Program has 4 phases. Dogs must pass each phase order to move on to the next phase. Again, we do not certify service dogs but do offer a certificate for completing our program.
Phase 1:
Obedience training, evaluation, and temperament test
Phase 2:
Advanced obedience training and Task training
Phase 3:
AKC Canine Good Citizen tests and our Public Access Test
Phase 4:
Graduation
Tasks we train
PTSD/Psychiatric
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
PTSD/Psychiatric
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Deep Pressure Therapy (full body laying over you)
- Item retrieval (medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone)
- Disassociating alert
Tier 2:
- Light Pressure Therapy (head rest on leg or body)
- Tucking under tables or chairs
- interruption (shaking leg picking at arm or face, tapping fingers)
- Findin
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Deep Pressure Therapy (full body laying over you)
- Item retrieval (medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone)
- Disassociating alert
Tier 2:
- Light Pressure Therapy (head rest on leg or body)
- Tucking under tables or chairs
- interruption (shaking leg picking at arm or face, tapping fingers)
- Finding a specific person.
- Clearing a room.
- Orbit (Creating space around handler.)
- I got your 6 (dog sits between handler's legs facing backwards watching handlers back).
Mobility
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
PTSD/Psychiatric
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Item Retrieval (keys, medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone).
- Tucking under tables and chairs
- Bracing
Tier 2:
- Pressing wheelchair buttons to open doors
- Counter Balance
- Opening drawers, and refrigerator doors
- Pulling wheelchair when moving/
- Pressing elevator button to open elevator.
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Deep Pressure Therapy (full body laying over you)
- Item retrieval (medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone)
- Alert to oncoming migraine.
- Alert to high or low sugar levels.
- Finding a specific person for help.
Tier 2:
- Light Pressure Therapy (head rest on leg or body)
- Tucking under tables or ch
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Deep Pressure Therapy (full body laying over you)
- Item retrieval (medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone)
- Alert to oncoming migraine.
- Alert to high or low sugar levels.
- Finding a specific person for help.
Tier 2:
- Light Pressure Therapy (head rest on leg or body)
- Tucking under tables or chairs
- Finding a specific person.
- Counter Balance
- Guiding a person to a chair or bench so they can sit down.
- Turning off lights.
Hearing Assistance
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
Medical Alert (Migraine Alert & Diabetic Alert)
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Deep Pressure Therapy (full body laying over you)
- Item retrieval (medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone).
- Alert to doorbell
- Alert to cell phone ringing.
- Alert to smoke alarms
- Alert to kitchen timers.
- Alert to car honking.
Tier 2:
- Finding a specific person.
- Alert to sirens while in the ca
Tier 1:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Place
- Heel
- Deep Pressure Therapy (full body laying over you)
- Item retrieval (medicine, water bottle, juice bottle, medical bag, backpack, phone).
- Alert to doorbell
- Alert to cell phone ringing.
- Alert to smoke alarms
- Alert to kitchen timers.
- Alert to car honking.
Tier 2:
- Finding a specific person.
- Alert to sirens while in the car.
- Alert to baby monitor (crying baby)
- Alert to family members requesting the persons attention.