“Can you certify my dog for service work?” This common question is one professional trainers often dread. Clients expect a quick yes or no answer but in reality, it’s more complex. In the United States, the Department of Justice has made it clear that the ADA does not require documentation, certification or registration for service dogs. While it has never been required, many people assume that certification is a legal requirement, or that there’s a government-mandated public access test a dog must pass to become a service dog.
Why does the confusion in this area persist? Part of the reason involves the history of the service dog world. One of the most well-known public access tests (PATs) was created by Assistance Dogs International (ADI), an organization that sets standards for its member nonprofit service dog programs. ADI member programs used this test as part of the education and assessment of their teams prior to “graduation.” While not all nonprofit service dog programs are ADI members, many will offer certifications based on their own standards for their teams, incorporating some type of PAT as part of the process. ADI used to make their test publicly available online, and many individual trainers and service dog training organizations referred to it. In 2017, they removed it from their website, but the term “PAT” and references to service dogs as “certified” were already part of the industry terminology. Now some other organizations have publicly published their own PATs; Psychiatric Service Dog Partners has a well-known one.
It’s important to remember that ADI is a nonprofit organization, not a government agency, and its standards apply only to its member programs. Not all reputable service dog programs are ADI members. Any certification that is offered by an organization reflects the standards of that organization. Again, in the United States there is no government-recognized PAT, nor certification or registration of service dogs.
The Role of Public Access Testing
While public access tests are not legally required, they can still serve an important role. They provide a structured way to evaluate a team’s readiness to work in public spaces independently, without the professional trainer present. A public access test can be used to assess the dog’s training and behavior in distracting environments; responsiveness to the handler’s cues; behavior around food, people and other animals; the dog’s ability to perform necessary service tasks effectively; and the handler’s skills in assessing, handling and meeting the needs of their dog.
However, a one-time assessment is always a snapshot. As professional trainers, we can all think of dogs who truly surprised us by, for example, passing the AKC Canine Good Citizen test. Dog behavior, like our own, can change over time. This is why assessments should be conducted repeatedly over a period of time.
Ideally the assessor is objective, and not someone who is involved in the dog’s training or who has an interest in the team passing the assessment. This can be difficult to implement in reality, and many service dog nonprofits have teams assessed by staff members even though their objectivity can be affected by the knowledge that nonprofit boards expect organizations to graduate a certain number of teams. Owner-trainers have difficulty finding even one qualified trainer, so often the trainer ends up also assessing the team as a matter of necessity.
While the U.S. does not require a government-administered test for service dogs, some other countries and jurisdictions have established official public access testing regulations. In British Columbia, Canada, service dog teams can undergo an evaluation that is conducted by government-recognized assessors. In Australia, MindDog is a nonprofit that offers annual public access assessments of assistance dogs.
The Value of the Assessment
Even if assessment is not required by law, it still has benefits for teams. Assessments can provide trainers and handlers with a clear evaluation framework. A comprehensive assessment can help ensure trainers are covering most types of situations when preparing their teams. Additionally, assessments can help identify areas where additional training is needed.
Assessments do have some significant limitations, however. Again, a single test cannot capture a dog’s full behavior profile over time, so a meaningful assessment needs to be conducted repeatedly. Most assessments focus on the dog’s skills rather than the handler’s. Any meaningful assessment needs to assess both ends of the leash — the handler’s skills and the dog’s. As professional trainers know, a skilled handler can go a long way — not just in maintaining the dog’s performance, but also in supporting the dog, knowing when it’s time to remove the dog from the situation, and responding in a way that reduces the dog’s stress and helps the dog succeed.
Handlers need to be educated on both the value and limitations of assessments. Even if the team performs well, handlers need to be prepared to respond appropriately to the dog in front of them. If the dog is having an “off” day, they need to be ready to remove the dog from the situation regardless of how well the dog performed in a prior assessment. Some behavioral issues may not emerge during a controlled assessment. Real-world observations of a service dog on a day-to-day basis are important.
When we think of public access tests, we often picture a trainer shadowing a team in a public setting with a checklist. However, meaningful assessments can take many forms, including checklists and notes from an owner-trainer’s journal, video that the handler took independently, behavior and training checklists, and even handler quizzes, short essays and role plays of “what if” situations.
Beyond the Snapshot: The Value of Continuous and Contextual Assessments
Rather than relying solely on a single test, meaningful assessments should include frequent check-ins to ensure the dog remains confident and reliable in public, real-world assessments that account for a variety of environments and challenges, and owner education so handlers can recognize and address emerging issues. A meaningful assessment is more than just a pass/fail determination. It should provide useful, actionable information so teams can use the assessment to identify what they need to work on.