What are the rules for assistance dogs in this country. Do they have to be trained by an official organisation or can anyone train a dog to assist them with their disability? I have suffered from back problems for years and am thinking of training one of my dogs to assist me with tasks I find difficult. Obviously this is fine when at home but if I wanted to take my dog out with me to assist would I need to get him licensed before he could accompany me?

And why is it that no matter how carefully you proofread you only spot the typos when it is too late to edit!

My first giggle of the day ! When I saw the topic I thought it would be regarding accommodation of some sort.
While I'm sure you would be able to train your dog to assist you, in order to qualify for special permits for dog to enter premises , transport etc I assume you'd need a licence through one of the Assistance  Dog organisations.

I think he or she would need to be a registered assistance dog to enter shops etc (and legally you cannot be prevented from entering with one, same rules as for guide dogs).

But training wise you can do it yourself - four of mine are trained to fetch whatever I point at, mostly for fun but it's been invaluable over recent months since I've put my back out, torn a shoulder muscle and then had the same shoulder partially dislocated (which then mucked up my other shoulder as it took the strain), all one right after the other!  So it's been immensely useful to have dogs around that can just pick up stuff I've dropped, especially as I'm a clumsy bint :-P

Wish I knew, I have MS and the most appalling balance and weak legs. I have my big poodle trained to help me up and down off chairs, kerbs, hills etc.  When we go to some NT properties I am unable to walk around the gardens as no dogs allowed in there and she really is such a help. I wish there was an organisation that could test and certify her but I don't think there is. 

One of my friends trains Dogs For the Disabled, would you like me to ask her?

This is her reply.

Only registered assistance dogs have public access rights, organisation needs to be registered with Assistance Dogs Uk i.e. Guide Dogs, hearing Dogs etc. Full list of member organisations on their website.  Some pet dogs can get rights through newish charity DOG A.I.D - but have to go through public access test same as any other assistance dog.

She also wanted mentioned that fake assistance dogs are bad news for genuine ones - all assistance dog owners will carry an ID passport with their photo and registered organisation details in.

Hope that helps.

yes it does. thank you very much

only registered assistance dogs trained by one of the charities such as dogs for the disabled,hearing dogs etc can be granted the status to be classed as an assitance dog. I was a puppy socialiser for hearing dogs for many years and very occasionally a dog already belonging to a deaf person was trained by the charity to be a fully fledged hearing dog. However the criterea was very strict and the dog had to pass several assesments.

I work at Hearing Dogs and would agree with what has been said above; anyone can train a dog to assist them if required, but only dogs trained and assessed by one of the ADUK organisations - Guide Dogs, Hearing Dogs, Dogs for the Disabled, Canine Partners, Support Dogs, Dog A.I.D. and Medical Detection Dogs - are classed as official, registered assistance dogs and have legal rights of access etc. Our dogs, even once trained and past their initial partnership assessments to begin working, still have to undertake further partnership qualifications along with their recipient before they become an official, fully registered partnership. Each and every one of our nearly 900 partnerships remains under the care of one of our Partnership Instructors throughout the entire working life of each dog and has regular visits and assessments to ensure standards of care, training and behaviour are being maintained. Until they are retired and adopted the dogs belong to the charity and their wellbeing, and that of the recipients, is of the utmost importance.

We have assessed and accepted 'pet dogs' for training in the past and would still consider doing this on a case by case basis, but they have to pass multiple assessments before and during the training and the vast majority of dogs don't fulfil the required criteria, which are very rigorous. These dogs will then receive the same level of care and support as any of our own bred or sourced dogs. Our dogs are ambassadors for the charity and for assistance dogs/dogs in general and their selection and training is very specialised - developed over 30 years of experience here at HD (80 years in the case of GD) - so unofficial 'assistance dogs' are not good news for any of the registered charities as they can give all of us a bad name when things go wrong (and they do, we frequently hear about things like this). Dog A.I.D. is a newer charity which will assess pet dogs and give help with training although I don't know much about their assessment process.

Very interesting discussion on Radio 4 In Touch programme this evening( 20.40) regarding training assistance dogs.I only caught part of it but will listen on iplayer tomorrow. It dealt with issues of accreditation and interviewed Guide Dogs For the Blind spokesperson