Centre for Service and Therapy Dogs in Australia (C.S.T.D.A.)

Service Dogs

Almost everyone is familiar with the concept of dogs helping people who cannot see. Many people are becoming aware that dogs can be beneficial for many other physical and psychological conditions. These groups include the:

• Alzheimer's and dementia
• Head injuries/Epilepsy/Parkinson's disease
• Various developmental disabilities in children – ADHD, ADD and more
• Physically disabled
• Hearing and visually impaired
• Brain injuries-CVA, C.P
• Autism, PDD
• Severe mental disability
• Respiratory disease

Service dogs help people with these conditions to improve their quality of life and assist in enhancing or maintaining independence and social inclusion. The Australian centre utilises tried and tested programs that have been developed in Israel and Germany over many years. In most service dog situations, the client is cognitively intact and able to make considered decisions. However, in the case of Alzheimer's disease and autism this is not the case and the training of service dogs for these clients is specialised.

Initially the Australian centre will focus on Alzheimer's Aid dogs, Autism Assistance Dogs and Alert Dogs and information about these service dogs is available on this site.

An important point of difference between the CSTDA and some other service dog providers, is that the Centre provides support for the life of the client/dog team, enabling them to meet ongoing challenges as they arise. This is particularly important when the service dog is working with a child who is maturing or with someone who has a degenerative condition. Another difference is that the client owns their CSTDA service dog.

A service dog is a significant investment. It is important to consider, that when you acquire a service dog you will be taking responsibility for another living being, who will require much care and attention. As with all dogs, service dogs require grooming, exercising and maintaining their training. There will be ongoing expenses for food and veterinary care. In order to maintain his/her health and well-being (and maintain their ability to work), a service dog needs some time to play and rest.

A very important part of the service dog program is the Puppy Foster Family (hyperlink to Puppy Foster Family Page). CSTDA puppies live with a volunteer foster family from the age of about 7-8 weeks, until it is ready to be placed with the client. The foster family cares for the puppy with advice and support from a centre instructor.
The Foster Family teaches the baby puppy basic obedience – sit, down, stay, come and walking on the leash. As service dogs have to be able to go anywhere, the foster family exposes the puppy to many different people and environments including homes, city centres, public transport and to experience all the sights, sounds and smells they may encounter as a fully qualified service dog. All costs involved in looking after a puppy such as food and veterinary expenses are covered by the CSTDA. If you are interested in helping a person with a physical or psychological disability and would like to foster a CSTDA puppy, you can access more information here.

Public Access

A service dog needs to accompany their owner everywhere and so must be trained to pass a Public Access Test. All dogs supplied by CSTDA have passed this test. However, the client/dog team must be recertified annually to ensure continued public access. There is a fee (payable by the owner) attached to recertification and the issuing of a valid identity card.