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Photo: female wheelchair user under a bridge, beside her sits her dog; Copyright: Lukas Kapfer | www.th-10.de

Topic of the Month June 2021

From puppy to assistance dog: the multifaceted work with animal helpers

Assistance dogs are cute, no question. But they have many more advantages: they relieve their owners of work, support them and open doors – in the real and figurative sense. But how do affected people get an assistance dog, what can four-legged helpers do and who finances their training? Living and working with animal helpers is multifaceted, but must be better protected by the law.

Service dogs: priceless four-legged helpers
Photo: A bunch of service dogs around a wheelchair; Copyright: WZ Hundezentrum

My disability aid has a wet nose! Assistance dogs (known as service dogs in the United States) assist their person and make daily life easier. But they are so much more than just practical helpers. REHACARE.com spoke with two dog training centers and learned how much people with disabilities benefit from a canine companion in everyday life and discovered the type of training assistance dogs complete before they are matched with a person.
Click here for the article about the training of service dogs

Assistance dogs: four paws are the key to active participation
Photo: Assistance dog with shopping bag in his mouth; Copyright: VITA e.V.

Society lacks education and awareness when it comes to assistance dogs. There are also no official uniform training standards and not even the term "assistance dog" (known as a service dog in the United States) is protected: While the benefits of these four-legged helpers have been shown time and again, there is still a lack of laws and legal resources. REHACARE.com took a closer look at the obstacles people must overcome when it comes to the training and financing of this precious resource.
Click here for the article about legal basis for service dogs
Gif animation: REHACARE 2023 from 13th to 16th September 2023 in Düsseldorf/Germany, linked to "More information about the Trade Fair"

Even dogs have to go to school. At the WZ Hundezentrum in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, service dogs are trained for their upcoming everyday work and learn everything that is necessary during the three and a half years of training. How exactly the right puppies are selected for this demanding task and what they have to learn, we from REHACARE.com had them show us.

Source: REHACARE.com

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