Hello everyone.  For various reasons I haven't posted on this board for ages so hope you are all well and happy!
A friend of mine has asked me to post this question for her - as part of her studies she needs to suggest ways in which a training class might be made more suitable for a disabled dog owner.  There are obvious things such as access to the hall etc but...  Is there anyone who posts on the board who has any disability of any kind who has perhaps been to a training class and could describe how it did/did not cater for their particular needs?  Or could anyone at all suggest how they would like a training class with both disabled and not disabled members to be run to make it fun and beneficial for everyone.  Would one to one training be preferred, perhaps for the hard of hearing, or are classes with a strict number limit better?
Any help at all on this one will, I know, be very much appreciated.
Best wishes and thanks.
Alex

We always make sure that we know the dissabilities before anyone starts. We then make sure that we have someone that can work alongside of them to help. We show them what to do first with another handler and dog, this is especially useful if the person is deaf. If the person has other problems, for instance we had one person with very short arms, we had longer leads made and also belts that can go round the waist of the owner, used with clip on leads for small or tall dogs. If the person is unable to walk backwards for recalls, then we have other ways for this ie: one person holds the dog and the disabled person sits on a chair and calls the dog to them. We have double doors for access. Hope this helps.:)

You also need to make provisions for fire exits, evacuations etc under the DDA
(Disability Discrimination not Dangerous Dogs act)

If the venue already exists then these provisions should already be met not withstanding if it is used for dogs or not.

Thank you all very much, especially Jumbuck.  I am sure this will all be very useful.  Anyone else out there with any comments?
Best wishes
Alex