Service Dog Care and Handling Training

Learning Outcomes

• Describe the legal and ethical responsibilities of a service dog handler.
• Demonstrate proper handling techniques for a service dog in various environments.
• Apply appropriate feeding, exercise, and grooming routines to maintain the service dog's health.
• Identify common health issues and implement basic first aid procedures for a service dog.
• Evaluate the service dog's behaviour and adjust handling strategies to ensure effective teamwork.
• Implement a daily care plan that includes hygiene, parasite control, and veterinary check-ups.

Target Audience

This course is designed for individuals who own, train, or work with service dogs, including persons with disabilities who use service dogs, as well as trainers, caregivers, and volunteers in service dog organisations.

Prerequisites

None — open enrollment.

Course Outline

Practicals

Overview

The practical component comprises supervised hands-on sessions where learners apply training techniques with service dogs. Learners will practice obedience, task training, public access skills, and handling under real-world conditions to ensure competency.

Practical Activities

• Practical 1: Basic Obedience and Foundation Skills — Learners work one-on-one with a service dog candidate to teach and reinforce basic obedience commands using positive reinforcement. (12h)
• Practical 2: Task Training for Mobility and Medical Alert — Learners train dogs on specific tasks such as retrieving items, opening doors, and performing medical alerts under instructor supervision. (12h)
• Practical 3: Public Access Skills and Etiquette — Learners take their service dog into public spaces (e.g., shopping centre, restaurant) to practice appropriate behavior and public access protocols. (12h)
• Practical 4: Handler Training and Mock Assessment — Learners practice handling techniques, task sequences, and participate in a mock public access and task test to prepare for final assessment. (12h)

Summatives

Each delegate is assessed continuously throughout the course via daily exercises, scored practical assignments, and a final summative test at the end.

Practical Assignments — 30%

Practical assignments are observed and scored against a rubric during the practical sessions. Each delegate's practical mark is averaged into a single 100% score and contributes 30% to the final total.

Daily Exercises — 20%

Every training day ends with a multiple-choice exercise scored out of 100%. The scores from each daily exercise are averaged across the duration of the course to produce a Daily Average mark, which contributes 20% to the final total.

Final Test — 50%

On the last day a final summative test is written. It is a multiple-choice paper with multiple-answer questions: each question may have more than one correct option, and a single wrong selection on a question marks the entire question wrong — no partial credit. The final test is scored out of 100% and contributes 50% to the overall mark.

Final Total

Component	Out of	Weight
Practical Assignments (rubric-scored)	100%	30%
Daily Average (multiple choice)	100%	20%
Final Test (multi-answer multiple choice)	100%	50%
Final Total	—	100%

All marks are recorded on the AATICD LMS and visible to each learner under their account.

Certificate

How it works

• Certificates are auto-generated on the AATICD LMS as soon as the marks pass the 50% threshold.
• Each certificate is a branded PDF with the delegate's name, the course title, the unit standard ID, NQF level, credits, and the date of issue.
• You can download or print your certificate from your LMS dashboard at any time after issue — there's no reissue fee and no expiry date.
• If you scored under 50% you can sit the final test again at the next scheduled session at no extra cost.

Where to find it

Sign in to the LMS, open your dashboard, and your certificates appear under My Certificates. Each entry has a View / Download button and a print option.

Training Discounts

Group discounts apply automatically — the more delegates you enrol, the greater the saving. Discounts are calculated at 3% per 5 delegates, scaling up to 40% off for 100+ delegates.

Delegates	Discount
5	3% off
10	6% off
15	9% off
20	12% off
25	15% off
30	18% off
50	30% off
75	35% off
100	40% off

3% discount per 5 delegates, up to 40% off for 100+ delegates. Contact us for a custom group quote.