The course covers essential information about service dogs and gives an overview of the service dog training process. The course content includes:
- Essential definitions
- Legal definition of service dog
- Review of different types of service dogs
- Sort out confusing terminology ESA, Therapy Dog
- Overview of the service dog training process
- Clarification of common misconceptions about service dog training
- A discussion and comparison of what is involved in owner-training a service dog versus acquiring a service dog from a program
- Learning theory review and how it is applied to service dog training
- The quadrants of learning, behavior chains and why they are important for service dog training
- Demonstration of applications of learning theory for service dog task training
- Discussion of service dog career options
- Challenges in the service dog industry, types of service dog careers
- Educational paths for pursuing a career in service dog training