Before the availability of accredited assistance dogs in Australia, those who were interested in working with an assistance dog had to train or have their own dogs trained by people who did not always understand the unique requirements of an individual living with a disability.
Initially our sister organisation was Texas Hearing and Service Dogs (THSD), a well established and highly respected organisation that only uses motivational techniques for dog training. THSD was invaluable in assisting us to set up our training program and infrastructure.
The founding members of ASDOG were people with physical disabilities who had either owned or been involved with assistance dogs for many years, both in Australia and overseas. The enormous personal benefits derived from their trained assistance dogs, with their combined professional experience, provided the vision that inspired ASDOG to allow other people with physical disabilities to benefit from their own properly trained assistance dogs.
