Canine Certification in Animal Assisted Services

Setting you and your dog up for success

Are you interested in certifying your dog as a Human Services Assistance Animal (HSAA) to work with you in the field of Animal Assisted Services? Pet visitation, animal assisted education (AAE) or therapy (AAT), along with other forms of AAS require dogs to be well trained and prepared to encounter a wide variety of situations and people. While successful canine HSAAs can come in all different breeds and personalities, there are some common skills that they share. Dogs should be calm, affiliative, and attentive to their handler's cues, to name just a few requirements. Our dog training classes are uniquely designed to help prepare your dog to pass AAS testing and succeed in future placements. It will grow your training skills, as training doesn't only take place in class, but actually happens during every interaction we have with our dogs. 

Canine Screening 

Offering an industry leading aptitude and temperament test that gathers detailed behavioural information about your canine, Dreamcatcher™ guides you to fully understanding ‘in the moment’ responses from your dog as his or her emotional state shifts during screening. Gain a better comprehension of your furry friend’s perspective through screening, resulting in a deepening of your relationship with him or her. Our skilled Canine Behavioural Experts educate you about what signals your companion uses to relay his or her feelings, needs and wants in everyday and stressful situations.  Let our Experts provide you with detailed recommendations regarding areas of improvement for your canine’s behavior and what population or setting your canine would be best suited to work in as a career.

​Click here for the screening process for your canine.
For more information, please contact us!

REGISTER HERE

 Dreamcatcher™ also screens other animals! For more information on this process and the costs associated with it, please contact us.

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In Home Consultations, 1 - 1 Coaching, and Private Training

​Convenience In A Familiar Place

One of the best ways places to work on behaviours or introduce training tips is where the canine spends most of its time:
In its home.
Dreamcatcher™ offers in-home consultations and coaching sessions that are tailored to suit the needs of you and your canine. Let us build a training plan with you, while focusing in on particular challenges your dog is experiencing.

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Prepare Your Dog for AAS Group Training Series

Each course consists of 4 x 1-hour long weekly classes that are broken down into 45 minutes of teaching time with 15 minutes reserved for a question-and-answer period. Courses are taken in sequential order and can be done through group training, either online or in person at the Dreamcatcher™ facility, or via one-on-one consultations with the trainer.

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PYD 1: Introduction to AAS

This class is suitable for all handlers and dogs between the ages of 4 months – 10 years. This is your chance to dive into an introduction to Animal Assisted Services (AAS) and learn from a highly skilled, professional dog trainer who has implemented dog behaviour and screening tests for multiple AAS organizations. It includes an introduction to AAS and what it entails, a “how to guide” for the certification process, exploring and implementing different learning methodologies, touch desensitization, and much more!

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PYD 2: Fundamentals of AAS

This class is suitable for dogs older than 6 months, with handlers hoping to pursue a future in AAS. It includes 4 hours of hands-on instruction with your dog and covers obedience skills vital to success in AAS as well as more advanced behaviour training and desensitization, specifically tailored to prepare your dog to pass certification to work in the field of animal assisted services.

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PYD 3: Public Access Skills

This class includes 4 hours of hands-on instruction with your dog, as well as out-of-class instruction and feedback on recorded training homework. It covers advanced obedience work and task training that your dog will need to work in public or office AAS settings.
*must be a graduate of the ‘Fundamentals of AAS'

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PYD 4: Advanced AAS Activities

This class includes 4 hours of hands-on instruction with your dog, as well as out-of-class instruction and feedback on recorded training homework. It covers advanced activities and interactive skills for a dog to be working within in an AAS setting.
​*must be a graduate of the ‘Fundamentals of AAS' and 'Public Access Skills'

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​**If you're uncertain whether your animal requires the Intro to PYD class, you have the option to schedule a consultation with our trainer. During this consultation, you can discuss your and your animal's current knowledge and training, enabling our trainer to make an accurate assessment and recommend the most suitable class for you and your animal.

REGISTER HERE

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Book Your Consultation

To book your consultation, complete the following attachments and send them to [email protected]
Intake Form
Contract

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Learn more by reading the... Training Outline for you and your Canine.

​Go to our AAS Certification page to learn more about getting Certified!

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Class Photo Gallery

​Tips From Our Trainers

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Puppy School Series
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2-3 Month Kinder-Puppy Class - Virtual
4 weekly, 1-hour virtual classes are for pups aged 2-3 months and will start your puppy in the right direction. With a positive focus on relationship building, confidence boosting, and common puppy problems like house training, nipping, and more, we will help your puppy learn their world is a safe and happy place, even veterinarian visits and grooming time.

3-6 Month Elementary Puppy Class
6 weekly, 1 hour classes focusing on basic training, socialization and desensitization for pups aged 3 - 6 months old. Here you will work through house training, polite social skills, how to prevent common behavioural problems, and more.

​6-12 Month Graduate Puppy Class
Graduate your 6 – 12 month old puppy with these 6 weekly 1 hour advanced puppy skills classes where we will further your pup’s skill in recall, impulse control, distraction training, and good manners.
 

REGISTER HERE

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Pup to Dog: Get a Jump on Being One

These 6, 1 hour basic training and desensitization are for pups aged 6 - 12 months that have not taken any obedience or desensitization classes. We will focus on establishing good manners and learning skills to help with everyday life such as recall, ignoring distractions, loose leash walking, desensitization and more. This class is not a part of our Puppy School Training Series.

REGISTER HERE

Danielle Clark, BA

Animal Behaviour Specialist

​Testimonials 

~Ashley and Lainee

"This is such a wonderful program! Danielle was recommended to me as a highly skilled trainer, and she did not disappoint. This was the very first training class for myself and my Labrador puppy, Gator. I am a therapist and am hoping that Gator will be able to join me as a co-therapist in my career. Gator is a curious and energetic dog, and was one of the younger pups in our class. I was so impressed that Danielle was able to tailor her teaching to every skill and energy level in the class with ease. We quickly learned new skills and techniques that helped Gator and myself succeed in areas where we were previously stuck. Danielle cleared up a lot of conflicting training information I had researched myself, and provided us with techniques that quickly overcame the hurdles we had been dealing with for months. After beginning clicker training, for example, Gator learned to “lay down” with a simple hand signal in a short 5-minute training session. This was a skill we had been working on for months with no success!
Since finishing Prepare Your Dog for AAT, we have expanded on our learning and taught Gator how to retrieve Kleenex boxes and slippers, which can be applied/altered in a counselling setting. We are so excited to continue our learning with Danielle, and I can’t recommend this class highly enough!
Thanks for everything!"
-Kristi and Gator

~Dean, Cheryl, and Daisy J

"Hi Danielle, Thank you so much for everything! We really learned so much from you and for that we are so grateful. If only we would have had you when miss Lainee was a pup! But really, I can't thank you enough. It was such a pleasure working with you and just being out at Dreamcatcher- I often referred to the class as my wellness time so I will certainly miss it. I will absolutely be back at some point for further training for myself, as I mentioned before it is my dream to integrate AAT into my work, so undoubtedly I will do that at some point and wouldn't want to take that training through anyone but you all."
-Ashley and Lainee

~kristi and gator

"Danielle was very engaging and energetic. The course contained many practical and easy to implement techniques that had a large impact on our dog, Daisy, in a short period of time. Through the course we deepened our understanding of how Daisy communicates and how we can engaged her in a way she can understand. Danielle supported us with strategies for both working with our dog in the community and in our home. The setting at Dreamcatchers provided a background that challenged our skills and Daisy’s ability to remain on task. There is little more challenging than trying to encouraged our German Shepard mix to loose leash walk past a chicken coop or that the guinea pigs are not there for her entertainment.  Our relationship with Daisy has greatly improved thanks to our time with the prepare your dog for AAT course. We are looking forward to taking more courses in the future." 
-Dean, Cheryl and Daisy J

~Trina and thor

Check out this review from one of our students who drove over 14 hours round trip for our canine training!

“We came home and got straight to work!
Since taking the training, I’ve been watching the behaviours at home.
Last week, I took Thor to a new daycare/kennel just to practice and desensitize. We didn’t even make it in the facility. We spent 10 min in the parking lot and another 20 min just in the hallway and entry way. But!! The good news is he got anxious and overwhelmed but stayed in my control and responded to my cues!
The old me would have just gone right in and then been frustrated when he didn’t listen. Instead, I understood his behaviour and met him where he was at.  We worked through it and left on a positive note!

Today we went back over to the daycare/kennel.  The owner is also a dog trainer and very supportive and happy with the active training and gracious with using her facility for training. Thor responded much faster and with some patience we were able to enter the building, work through reactivity of the dogs barking, reactivity of new human and met a human and then another dog!!  She complimented his focus on me!  So proud of him!

So, thank you thank you for everything you have taught me so far! I’m feeling more confident and able to meet my dogs where they are at… and check my expectations!!
What I have learned so far:
·      Clear communication – I am using way less words than I used to! When Thor knows what I want and don’t want, he does well! And so do I!
·      Calm, calm, calm!
·      Thor’s calming signals – I notice them more now!
·      Confidence in him and in me! I feel so much more confident! Thank you again for everything!”