How Our Dogs Help
What does a Disability Assistance Dog do?
Dogs for the Disabled ethically breed and train dogs to assist with practical, everyday tasks to help a person with a physical disability live life to the full, thus breaking down barriers to the outside world and helping to improve confidence and lower stress levels for their partners.
Each Assistance Dog is specifically trained to help his or her new partner but is also reliant on them to provide for their needs including exercise, feeding, love and care.
These new responsibilites encourage their partner to become more active and outgoing in the community by taking their assistance dog for walks and engaging with the public at large. Thus increasing confidence and encouraging them to take up new activities e.g. sport, joining a club, returning to work or further education.
Our partnerships have found the experience of getting an assistance dog life changing.
Stability Assistance Dog
We have developed a highly successful Stability Assistance Dog Programme and it’s the only one we know of in Europe.
This programme works by pairing a child who has a condition that severely impacts their ability to walk unaided with one of our highly trained Stability Assistance Dogs.
The Parkinson’s dog program is a pilot program run in conjunction with the Neurological Institute in Dublin. It is designed for people diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease whose symptoms include freezing gait.
Task Assistance Dog
Task dogs are trained to assist wheelchair users over the age of 17 with practical everyday activities, such as:
Opening and closing doors
Retrieve items like a mobile phone, crutch etc
Pick up dropped articles like keys, bag etc
Help remove jacket, socks, gloves etc
Press a pedestrian crossing button
Home Support Dog
Not every dog we train will meet the standards required to become an assistance dog, and not every applicant will be eligible for an assistance dog. Our Home Support Dogs provide companionship, confidence, and support in daily life, helping to reduce isolation and promote greater independence and wellbeing.
Skilled Facility Dog
Facility dogs work alongside trained professionals to support motivation and participation of clients in a clinical environment. These dogs have trained behaviours to help clients engage with clinicians and work towards therapeutic goals. Facility dogs work with anyone who works with people with disabilities:
Physiotherapists
Occupational therapists
Play therapists
Speech and language
Dentists etc.