The process begins with personal orientation. Our team learns about the client, the dog, their relationship, previous training and the support the dog already provides or is expected to provide.

This establishes the individual basis for training, including an existing psychiatric diagnosis, a mental or other non-apparent disability, or a persistent psychosocial impairment affecting everyday functioning. All later training and assessment build on an informed understanding of the person, the dog and their developing partnership.

A human-dog team does not always operate without additional support. Where the person assisted by the dog is a child, an adolescent or an adult who requires continuing assistance, a parent, caregiver or another responsible person is included from the beginning.

This may apply, for example, to an autistic child, a young person with seizure-related support needs or an adult affected by dementia or another cognitive, developmental or functional impairment. The person assisted by the dog remains the beneficiary and human partner of the team. The facilitator supports safe handling, consistent use of the assistance tasks, appropriate care of the dog and integration of the working partnership into everyday life.

The need for a facilitator does not exclude a person from meaningful participation. The training structure recognizes that autonomy can also be achieved through a responsibly supported human-dog team.

The first training phase develops the public skills required in everyday and shared environments. Its didactically structured content covers training psychology, canine behaviour and communication, humane handling, animal welfare, responsible leadership and human-dog team building.

Training addresses calm and controlled behaviour around people, other animals, distractions, transport, confined spaces, workplaces and other public settings. Clients and facilitators learn to recognize stress or uncertainty, reinforce reliable responses and guide the dog safely through unfamiliar situations. The dog’s physical and emotional welfare remains an integral part of team readiness.

Defined real-life situations are documented on video when the team is ready. The recordings receive human review and become part of the training and assessment record. Where further development is required, the team receives feedback and continues training until the relevant skills are demonstrated reliably.

Trainers already working with a team locally may contribute practical observations and help resolve remaining uncertainties. This allows course guidance, local training and observed performance to form one coherent development process.

After public skills clearance, clients in the International and Premium Programs proceed to NeuroTrust. This structured, function-oriented assessment deepens the existing understanding of the person’s support needs, the dog’s capabilities and the interaction within the human-dog team.

The findings lead into the VSND (Validated Support Needs Documentation) process and the development of an individualized personal task map. The map connects functional limitations and real-life support needs with specific disability-mitigating actions that the dog can be trained to perform.

These personal tasks are trained and demonstrated in defined real-life situations. The recordings are reviewed in connection with the NeuroTrust findings, the personal task map and the development of the team. They are retained with the certification record as evidence that the identified tasks are performed reliably and meaningfully.

The BasicPlus Program follows a more streamlined pathway in which two individual personal tasks are defined, trained and documented without the extended NeuroTrust and personal task map process.

Where a facilitator has an ongoing role, the relevant course content is adapted accordingly. The facilitator learns how to support the person’s relationship with the dog, recognize situations in which assistance tasks may be required, help maintain their reliable use and protect the beneficiary’s own agency wherever possible.

Within the VSND process, selected people from the client’s immediate support network may also be prepared as peer group trainers. These can include family members, partners or other trusted people who help establish and reinforce personal tasks in the environments in which they will later be used.

Peer group trainers do not replace professional guidance or the organization’s assessment responsibility. Their role is to create consistency around the human-dog team, support correct task use and prevent people in the immediate environment from unintentionally interfering with the dog’s assistance function.

Personal tasks must work in the situations in which assistance is actually needed. Training therefore includes their integration into family life, education, employment, public environments and the client’s wider social setting.

The human-dog team learns when and how a personal task should be initiated, how it can be performed reliably around other people and how the person can explain the dog’s assistance role without disclosing unnecessary private or medical information.

This also requires an appropriate understanding of the dog’s working role. Family members, friends, colleagues, educators and other people in the client’s environment may need to understand when the dog must not be distracted, approached or separated from the person. They must also respect the dog’s rest periods, welfare and ability to concentrate on its trained function.

The objective is not correct task performance under controlled conditions alone. The dog’s assistance must become a dependable and socially sustainable part of the person’s everyday functioning, participation and self-determined life.

Training also addresses airports, long-distance journeys, accommodation, relocation and destinations in which dogs may have a different legal, social or cultural position.

Content includes feeding, rest and relief planning, travel equipment, packing, confined environments and helping the dog remain settled during demanding journeys. Clients, facilitators and other involved support persons are introduced to access rules, responsibilities, documentation requirements and the questions that airlines, employers, educational institutions, authorities or other legitimate third parties may ask.

The course materials are reviewed and updated where legislation, airline procedures, international requirements or professional knowledge change.

Personal support from our team continues throughout the process. It is supplemented by ChatDog Joschka, a specialized knowledge service developed around Psychiatric Service Dogs and Assistance Dogs.

The freely accessible ChatDog Joschka answers general introductory questions. Premium ChatDog Joschka provides clients with more detailed guidance during training and throughout later life with the dog, particularly in travel situations, changing regulatory environments and everyday circumstances requiring practical clarification.