We offer on-demand courses on service dog training for trainers and others interested in service dogs online. We also offer a Service Dog Coach Certification program for experienced trainers.
On-Demand Courses:
Coming April 4! Getting Started in Public Access
Training a service dog to work in public access is the most challenging aspect of service dog work. Explore ways to introduce service dogs in training to public access work systematically and set them up for success. You will learn about behavioral characteristics service dogs need, foundational training, how to assess and respond to stress, confidence building strategies and much more.
Tuition – $185
Service Dog Fundamentals
Whether you are a professional dog trainer, career changer, owner-trainer or a healthcare professional, if you are interested in service dogs this course is a great starting point. You will learn about service dog laws, the service dog training process and understand how learning theory is applied to service dog training. This on-demand course covers the important basics anyone considering working with service dogs needs to know.
Tuition – $95
PTSD Service Dog Tasks
Get an in depth look at four important tasks for PTSD Service Dogs: anxiety alerts, nightmare interruption, making space and deep pressure therapy. In this on-demand course, you will review the training process for these tasks in detail as well as learn about challenges and caveats to consider when training these tasks.
Tuition – $185
The Retrieve: The Essential Service Dog Task
It’s not just the retrieve itself that is important for service work, but its components: take, carry, hold, and give are foundation skills for many critical service dog tasks. You’ll learn how to train a dog to retrieve items of various shapes, sizes and materials as well as advanced behaviors like retrieving items on counters, retrieving bottles without knocking them over and transferring items from one person to another. This on-demand course also covers strategies to address challenges encountered when training this necessary task.
Tuition – $145
Mobility Service Dog Tasks
You will get in-depth instruction on the training process for the most commonly needed mobility tasks including: balance and brace, opening doors, turning lights on, helping with dressing and undressing, pulling zippers and more. Learn how to train service dogs to perform these complex mobility tasks efficiently and effectively. Additionally, you will receive critical guidance on determining when it is–and is not–safe and appropriate to train tasks for handlers and their dogs.
Tuition – $185
Alert and Response Tasks
Delve into alert and response task training. You will examine the process for training hearing alerts, scent alerts, getting help from a caregiver, retrieving medication and more. The tasks explored in this course are commonly needed for service dogs helping people who are deaf or hard of hearing, people with diabetes, and people with epilepsy. This detailed course includes training recipes, troubleshooting strategies and a discussion of the research on scent alert training.
Tuition – $185
What People Are Saying…
“I’m really impressed by the thought you put into setting up the course, the layout, presentation of information, consistency of nomenclature and use of learning points like ‘keys to remember.'”- Leslie Sinn, DVM, DACVB, CPDT-KA, Behavior Solutions
PTSD Service Dog Tasks Course
“The retrieve is a seemingly simple task that is deceptively difficult to train. The Cooperative Paws retrieve course does an excellent job of breaking it down — with valuable troubleshooting throughout. This course is a must for anyone interested in training a retrieve for service work or any reason.” — Nancy Liebhauser CPDT-KA, CTDI
The Retrieve
"I enjoyed the content and learned a lot. It's easy to understand and to follow. I like how you cover a lot of different types of responses, alerts and their training steps as well as giving the reasons for why not to train some tasks."--- Yuching Desch CPDT-KA, CTDI, CNWI, SDC K9 Learning
Alert and Response Tasks
“I really learned so much from your course. Your presentation was extremely informative, relevant and user friendly. I appreciated that you included both video and text when covering the content.” - Michele Siegel CPDT-KA, Therapy Dog Trainer & Evaluator
Service Dog Fundamentals
"I loved the information. I'm a big clicker fan, shaping, targeting and platform training. I found this course to be a huge eye opener for me because I can easily do this. I had always searched for information on how to teach these things. I wish I would have found you earlier!" Marion O'Neil CPDT-KA, CTDI, Molassas Creek Dog Training
PTSD Service Dog Tasks Course
"This thoughtfully constructed course provides much-needed clarity on the subject of service dogs. The information is presented in short sections — making it easy for professionals to fit this course into their busy schedules. I also love that the written materials are available for download so I can read and refer back to them when I’m not online.” - Cliff DeGray, Arlington VA
Service Dog Fundamentals
"This course is excellent, giving clear instructions to build four useful tasks from start to finish. I highly recommend this course to trainers wanting to expand their knowledge in the growing field of serving clients with PTSD." - Melissa Laub DDS, CPDT-KA, SDC
PTSD Service Dog Tasks Course