Training your own assistance dog is exciting, amazing, and unbelievably rewarding.
It’s also confusing, difficult, and scary. But, it’s also totally doable.
All you really need are three things:
A solid understanding of learning theory and dog behaviour and the ability to apply that knowledge like a pro.
Straight forward training plans and techniques that are simple, effective, and scientifically backed.
A support system and coaches that have been there and can walk with you on this journey, help you problem solve, and keep you moving forward.
You may have one of these things. You may have none.
That’s where we come in….
Pat Dogs Australia Online Academy can provide all three.
It’s a monthly membership site filled with videos, live pieces of training, and printable PDFs, all designed to help you train your own assistance dog. As a member, you’ll have access to things like:
- The Core Curriculum: A step-by-step course showing you how to train your assistance dog from beginning to end. (These levels are being released as they are created)
- Recorded master classes and Q&A (plus access to previous replays)
- Access to our ever-growing resource vault/video library
- Exclusive Community to get support from other students and our trainers.
This means that:
When you join Pat Dogs Australia Online, for less than the cost of a single private lesson a month with a trainer, you get those three things every handler needs:
A solid understanding of learning theory.
There is a science behind dog training. A science that is as real, and governed by rules as physics or biology. Training an assistance dog really does require that you understand that science so that you can think and train like a professional.
With our dog, training foundations module, live web classes and live Q&As you’ll learn the science behind dog training, how to take that science and think like a dog trainer, and how to actually apply all that information to your service dog.
Straight forward training plans and techniques.
We don’t just cover the science and the theories behind dog training, we actually show you how to apply that science with step-by-step videos. You’ll have access to our video library where we’ll be adding new videos regularly covering everything from obedience, to task training, to problem solving.
Not only do you have the video library, but you’ll also have both our Advanced Beginnings course and our Fantastic Focus course.
A support system that gets it.
You need a trainer and a community that can answer your questions and keep you moving towards that final goal: an assistance dog that is trustworthy, reliable, and focused.
When you’re a member of our Academy, you’ll have access to our private Facebook group where you can get support and advice, not only from each other but from our trainers well. That’s where you can post videos and get feedback on your training, post questions, and where you’ll get to participate in our live and interactive Q&A sessions.
What’s included:
- The Core Curriculum: You will get access to the course showing you step-by-step how to train your own assistance dog from beginning to end. Each lesson is slowly released to you to view, to ensure you have enough time to focus on each lesson. Every lesson includes a written lesson, video examples, and downloadable pdfs. It’s the stuff every assistance dog team needs to know.
- The Resource Vault: Filled with videos on all kinds of training topics, replays of past web classes, downloadable pdfs, and more, on topics you may need but another handler may not.
- Task Training Library: This library is constantly growing and includes info on general task training as well as mini-courses on specific tasks.
- Private Community where you can ask questions and get feedback on your training videos.
- Recorded Masterclasses, Q&As, and webinars.
So, what does it cost?
The Foundations Course is priced at $66 per month;
however, this course is provided free for anyone completing our Assistance Dog accreditation program or the Canine Capacity Building Program.
Ready to Join?
You are just two steps away:
The Foundations course takes you step-by-step through the process of building a solid training foundation for you and your dog.
The Academy course is exclusively for students who complete the Foundations course. The application process is simple and designed to make sure you and your dog are ready to join the Academy