What is an Assistance Dog?

Have you ever wondered assistance dogs move from lively pups to sensible and loyal companions?

What is an Assistance Dog?

Assistance Dog is a working dog that’s been highly trained to direct someone with impaired vision safely from one place to another.

Why is Assistance Dog significant?

Assistance Dog enables people with vision impairment to avoid independently and safely and to participate fully in their communities.

How many people have an Assistance Dog in Australia?

There are more than 800 working guide dogs in Australia.

How much does it cost to train an Assistance Dog?

The process of turning a lively puppy into a responsible, working dogs is quite incredible, taking nearly two decades and costing over $30,000– equal to the price of a vehicle. Guide dogs are supplied free of charge to individuals with impaired vision.

How is an Assistance Dog trained?

From eight months to 14 weeks, these special puppies live with volunteer puppy raisers, whose obligation it is to supply a loving home and basic obedience.

At 14 months, pups go back to the VuCare Assistance Dogs Centre in which they’re evaluated on health and temperament. Puppies that are chosen to become assistant dogs then experience five weeks of intensive training, learning the skills they will need to safely guide a vision impaired handler.

Coaching includes: how to ignore distractions like food and noises; browse obstacles; traveling on public transportation, and discover landmarks like bus stops and cross streets safely.

Some jobs, such as stopping at all curbs and staircases, are taught through repetition. Other jobs require intensive training, like negotiating a busy train platform to discover the train doors. As training progresses, guide dogs learn to travel through crowded and confusing places, such as shopping centers and busy city streets.

What breeds of dogs make great an Assistance Dog?

Aspiring dogs are carefully chosen based on their assurance, responsiveness, and wellness. In Australia, Assistance Dogs is usually purebred Labradors and Golden Retrievers, since they’re calm, loyal and smart breeds with an established track record as assistant dogs.

Do all of the puppies become Assistance Dogs?

For a variety of reasons, from wellness to nature, not all dogs are appropriate to become Assistance Dogs — some are better suited to companion function, but some make good family pets. The criteria for selection are very stringent since the personal safety of prospective handlers is paramount.

 

Assistance Dogs facts and fibs

“Assistance Dogs is a bit like a car. We use a car to get around independently but the car does not make decisions about where to proceed. Assistance Dogs enables a person who’s blind or vision impaired to be independently mobile but it’s one better than a car as it stops and alerts its own handler to any threat or obstacles in their path,” says Dr. White.

“With growing numbers of Assistance Dogs working on our roads because of climbing vision loss, we think it is vital that the public fully understands the important role of Assistance Dogs in the area,” he adds.

About VuCare Assistance Dogs

VuCare runs as a not for profit organization that provides support with medical aids and has a target to train Assistance Dogs and Company Dogs to enhance the quality of life and raises the degree of freedom for those who have handicaps. VuCare Assistance Dogs and Company Dogs offer their new owners greater autonomy increased freedom, enhanced trust, and higher self-esteem.

To find out more phone us on 1300 830 166 or e-mail us at info@vucare.com.au. See VuCare Assistance Dogs Australia website at http://vucare.com.au.

VuCare Assistance Dogs – Helping People with Varying Disabilities in Australia

VuCare was founded in 2006 and first commenced training dogs in 2008. Our goal is to train 6 new dogs each year. These dogs will then go on helping people with varying disabilities throughout Australia.

The dogs themselves vary both in size and breed from little Fox Terrier to large St. Bernards! From pedigree dogs to cross breeds from rescue centres. They also donated by a group of caring breeders, VuCare members and loving members of the public.

If you have, or know of, a puppy/young dog, which you think might be suitable for training, please contact our pooch support team by calling our Head Office on 1300 363 700 or by email at poochteam@vucare.com.au.

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au/

 

Considering a Therapy or Service Assistance Dog for Your Special Needs Child? Pros and Cons

To begin with, let’s differentiate between ‘assistance dog or service dog’, ‘companion dog’ and ‘therapy dog’.  Terms are not always used consistently but, these are the definitions:

Assistance or Service Dog

An Assistance or Service Dog is trained to perform specific physical activities to help someone with a disability, like opening doors, turning on lights, retrieving dropped items, carrying things, and alerting to sounds.  These dogs are typically trained and certified by assistance dog organizations and have full public access rights under the ADA law.  (NOTE: there have been some instances where the public access rights of assistance dogs for children are challenged.

Therapy Dog

A Therapy Dog is trained in basic obedience that offers companionship but does no particular tasking.  These dogs are often graduates of assistance dog organizations and especially suited for this work because of temperament.  They normally don’t have public access rights and work mostly in the home.  However, they are often invited to accompany the child into public places.

Companion Dog

A Companion Dog is a family pet with no particular training or certification.  They don’t have public access rights.

All three of these sorts of dogs will, if partnered correctly with children, provide the main service of all: love, affection, acceptance, and companionship to children too often disenfranchised and lonely.  In reality, often times, obtaining a four-legged furry ‘best pal’ will function as a social magnet, attracting other children, and for that reason promoting positive relationships which may otherwise be tricky to attain.  Children with disabilities are ‘different’ and those ‘differences’ are sometimes seen by peers as ‘negatives’… something to be frightened of or uncertain about.  But a child with a canine partner, while also seen as ‘different’ is seen as ‘different’ in a nice and appealing way.  So not only does the child have the comfort, security, and benefits of a loyal best friend in their dog, but they frequently acquire more human friends due to the dog.

Whilst adding a furry friend to the family can mean added expenses at the end of the month, it may also be a possible benefit from a tax perspective also.  Naturally, completely free taxes would be wonderful: but as most of us know, taxes are a simple fact of life.  That means that the intial purchase of the dog, any costs to train, and expenses related to the maintenance of said animal are completely tax deductible provided that the creature is employed to assist somebody who’s physically disabled.

For children with specific physical disabilities, an assistance dog can offer specified help past the companionship.  A child who must rely on others for everything (retrieval of a dropped toy, opening a door whilst negotiating a wheelchair or crutches) cannot develop independence in a natural progression.  At these times, self-esteem suffers and often there’s an accompanying fear of being alone that inhibits natural curiosity and exploration.  A child who’s afraid of falling is less likely to feel comfortable alone in a room, out in the yard, or even going to the bathroom by themselves, but a partnership with a dog tends to lessen fear.  Moreover, an assistance dog can ‘alert’ if there’s a problem (barking for help or actually going to have a parent or other adult).  Additionally, these dogs have the ability to provide actual physical help to a fallen child (the dog stands close and braces while the kid pulls him/herself up by grasping the dog).

Assistance dogs and therapy dogs can offer great help during various medical procedures also, especially when physical or speech therapy is necessary.  Imagine how much more motivated a child would be to walk across a room, regardless of pain, if their very best friend is waiting with a wagging tail and smiling face.  Even in hospitals, assistance/service and therapy dogs can offer great comfort and distraction from unpleasant medical procedures and are allowed into facilities in several instances.  For speech therapy, reading to a dog has been demonstrated over and over to offer great benefit.  A child sitting beside a dog, petting the fur, while reading aloud literally lowers blood pressure and other stress factors.  When this occurs the reading experience is much more pleasant for the child, which means more time is spent practicing leading to improved performance.

If you are looking for assistance dogs in Australia, check out VuCare Assistance Dogs. VuCare operates as a not for profit organization that provides support with medical aids and has a goal to train Assistance Dogs and Companion Dogs to improve the quality of life and increases the level of independence for people with disabilities. VuCare Assistance Dogs and Companion Dogs offer their new owners greater independence increased mobility, enhanced confidence, and higher self-esteem.

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs Australia website at http://vucare.com.au.

VuCare Pooch Support Team

If you have, or know of, a puppy/young dog, which you think might be suitable for training, please contact our pooch support team by calling our Head Office on 1300 363 700 or by email at poochteam@vucare.com.au.

 

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au.

Top 10 Advantages of Assistance Dogs and Therapy Dogs

There are so many reasons why dogs are considered man’s best friend – no one will ever be happier to see you when you walk through the front door daily or listen to you for hours on end with no grievance. There’s no doubt that dogs help lead to better well-being, which we emphasized in this post. Therapy and assistance service dogs, in particular, play a unique role in society, helping their owners work daily and make life simpler for them.

Top 10 Advantages of Assistance Dogs and Therapy Dogs

• Helps individuals overcome speech disorders: Individuals with dysarthria deficiency muscle coordination in language motion. Therapy dogs can assist with this by raising the attention span and enhancing coordination.
• Stress help: Therapy dogs can help patients suffering from illnesses like stress, serious disruptive behavioral disorder, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder). Studies show that when we touch dogs, it’s a curative power because hormones like dopamine and beta endorphin are being discharged.
• Help with dementia: Frequently in the event the elderly grow dementia, therapy dogs can supply support by helping with easy jobs. These jobs include such matters as recovering items, walking with the those afflicted, and by providing support for all those in their attention emotionally and physically.
• Support communicating: Dogs have an excellent way of connecting with people by putting them at ease. Dogs can feel human vocalization and gestures. It’s been revealed that individuals who have trouble communicating frequently find it simpler to do so with a dog, because of their capability to listen but not react or criticize.

• Help with autistic kids: Dogs give something to talk about between autistic kids as well as their parents. They offer a non-judgemental medium to speak and have a mutual area of interest while also letting them reap the benefits of the aforementioned capability to support communication.
• Physiological advantages: Therapy dogs can reduce blood pressure and help the patient relax in a more cozy setting. A dog’s sense of touch can automatically send a favorable receptor, like a warm sensation between the person and creature. This is really a rewarding method to relax the patient who might have problems with stress.
• Helps around family: Therapy dogs are certified trained to retrieve medicine for the patient, answer the doorbell, and to react immediately to a smoke detector if the individual is unresponsive. These dogs are called animal- assisted treatment trained dogs
• Encourages socializing: A study by Harvard demonstrates that dogs are not just great companies themselves, they’re able to additionally help create person-to-human camaraderie and social support, each of which are great for long term health. Folks with dogs are 60% more likely to meet up new folks!
• Various kinds of therapy dogs to meet various needs: With each patient, there’s a distinct form of therapy dog trained to be satisfied for the various needs of that individual. The foremost is the “Therapeutic Visitation” dog, these are routine dogs that are taken by their owners to Rehabilitation practices, retirement homes, and hospitals. The Following kind is the “Animal Assisted Therapy” dog which helps its individuals in rehabilitation practices get their fine motor skills. Eventually is the “Facility Therapy” dog who’s tasked with helping seniors and dementia patients.
• Encourage exercise: Having a therapy dog can boost your readiness to work out enhance your motor skills. It’s healthy for both the owner or patient and dog to take regular walks, which lets you go out as well as revel in the clean atmosphere and reap the advantages of communing with nature and those connected with exercise.

About VuCare Assistance Dogs

VuCare runs as a not for profit organization that provides support with medical aids and has a target to train Assistance Dogs and Companion Dogs to enhance the quality of life and raises the degree of freedom for those who have handicaps. VuCare Assistance Dogs and Company Dogs offer their new owners greater autonomy increased freedom, enhanced trust, and higher self esteem.

To find out more phone us on 1300 830 166 or e-mail us at info@vucare.com.au. See VuCare Assistance Dogs Australia web site at http://vucare.com.au.

VuCare Volunteer Puppy Parents

Our Volunteer Puppy Parents walk the dogs, spend time with the dogs, help with administration and fundraising. Puppy Parent Volunteers need to be 18 years of age or older. We also have occasional Puppy Friend volunteers for specific work experience programs. Puppy Friend Volunteers need to be at least 14 years of age.

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au.

VuCare Assistance Dogs – Trainers and Assistance Dogs

Trainers and Assistance Dogs
VuCare in conjunction with our registered trainers preselect our dogs from a small group of trusted breeders so as to assure temperament and avoid potential genetic issues.

An applicant’s own dog may be used for this program after both the applicant and dog undergo a full assessment before being accepted into any VuCare program. There is a small fee to cover our trainers time.

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au/

Vucare Training Programs

The VuCare training program has been developed to help improve the quality of life and increase the level of independence and resilience for people with disabilities.

VuCare is committed to providing the highest level of training for our dogs in order to improve the lives of our clients and the dogs who care for them.

Training Programs:
For Pets and their companions.

– Better Pet basic
– Social Interaction
– Assess for home assist
– General home assist
– Advance home assist
– One on One Training
– Private Assistance Dogs
– Security Guard Dogs (AFP check required)
– Dog Training Course 1 (beginner)
– Dog Training Course 2 (advance)

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au/

Happy Halloween From VuCare Assistance Dogs

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween in advance. Have fun!

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au.

Dogs have an important place in people’s lives

About our Dogs we believe that…
– Dogs should be selected and trained to satisfy individual client needs.
– Positive-reinforcement training and high levels of care produces higher quality dogs.
– Dogs have an important place in people’s lives.

For more information call us on 1300 830 166 or email us at info@vucare.com.au. Visit VuCare Assistance Dogs website at http://vucare.com.au.