Our Training Program
Our Training Program
Love in the Lead offers a unique, fully customizable private service dog program. We train and place service dogs for individuals and organizations across the United States, Canada and Europe.
Benefits Of Our Service Dog Program:
Benefits Of Our Service Dog Program:
- Customized training program
- Ability to choose your own dog
- Full ownership of the dog
- No long wait-list to begin
- Private, 1-on-1 instruction
- Licensed & professional trainers
- Follows industry standards
- Lifetime support for the team
Our Fully-Trained Service Dogs
Our Fully-Trained
Service Dogs
Medical Assistance Service Dogs
Medical Assistance
Service Dogs
A medical assistance service dog can:
- Alert someone that help is needed
- Push a medical alert button when an emergency occurs
- Provide balance support to help someone recover from an incident or episode
- Retrieve a phone or medicine
- Alert to dissociation or other similar experiences
- Alert to and locate the source of noises for hearing assistance
- Provide Deep Pressure Therapy or alert to oncoming anxiety or panic attacks
- Provide emotional support and comfort during their handler’s recovery period
Mobility Assistance Service Dogs
Mobility Assistance Service Dogs
A mobility assistance service dog can:
- Provide balance support via a balance/stability harness
- Provide bracing support in the event of a fall
- Physically pull in harness to help someone up steep inclines, or to get out of a seated position
- Retrieve dropped items, open doors, turn on/off lights
- Provide emotional support and comfort for their handler
- Help their handler achieve greater independence
Autism Assistance Dogs
Autism Assistance Dogs
We offer specialty trained dogs to assist children or adults with Autism. These service dogs can:
- Provide emotional and psychological support
- Alert to, and provide support during tantrums or episodes
- Provide Deep Pressure Therapy to assist with overstimulation.
- Help improve sleep problems
- Provide tactile stimulation
- Retrieve medication or other items
- Provide anchoring to help prevent bolting behaviors
Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs are specially trained service dogs that are trained to provide support for individuals with visual impairments. They are taught to navigate around obstacles, stop at any change in elevation, target specific objects in the environment, help maintain their handler’s orientation, and keep their handler safe during travel.
- Lead their handler responsibly via a guide dog harness
- Guide their handler around obstacles or barricades
- Show their handler any change in elevation such as a curb or stairs
- Respond appropriately to traffic encounters
- Target specific landmarks in the environment
- Lead their handler safely through a variety of environments
Skilled Companions
Skilled Companions
Skilled companions are dogs that are trained to work with an adult or child with a disability under the guidance of a facilitator. A facilitator can be a parent, spouse, or caregiver who lives in the same household as the recipient. The facilitator cares for the assistance dog, encourages a bond between the dog and the recipient, and is responsible for the training needs of the team.
Requirements for a Skilled Companion:
Requirements for a Skilled Companion:
- Recipient must be at least 5 year of age
- Must have a documented physical or developmental disability
- Recipients must live full time with the facilitator
- The facilitator must be atleast 18 years of age
- The facilitator must be able to demonstrate the ability to safely control, manage, and care for the dog
- The facilitator must be willing to take full responsibility for the care and management of the recipient and the dog
- The facilitator must be willing to participate in training, placement, and follow up visits
Training Program Phases
Phase 1: Basic Obedience
When puppies enter our program they undergo basic obedience training, house training, and socialization. The puppies stay in Phase 1 from 8 weeks of age until 6 months of age. They live with our professional trainers for 2-3 months before they are placed with our volunteer puppy raisers. Our volunteer puppy raisers help maintain their training and socialization until they are old enough to come back for more advanced training. Our staff oversees all the puppies in our volunteer Puppy Raising Program to ensure proper training, socialization, and care.
Phase 2: Advanced Obedience
After 6 months of age our dogs enter Phase 2 of our program. They undergo more advanced obedience training with our professional trainers; developing a higher level of focus and obedience in high distraction environments. This phase helps prepare our dogs for public access training, which is one of the most important aspects of service work.
Phase 3: Task Training & Public Access
Once our dogs are over a year of age and have passed all their health clearances, they are ready to begin their final phase of service dog training. In this phase, our dogs learn their specific tasks that they need to perform for their future owner/handler. Task training and public access training takes between 3-5 months to complete.
Phase 4: Team Training
After our dogs finish Phase 3, they are ready for their placement! During the placement, we deliver the dog to their owner/handler and work with them in their home area for and average of 5-6 days. With a series of private lessons each day, the dog and handler learn to work together as a team with the support of our professional training staff. We also conduct a series of certification tests that follow industry standards.