Train your own service dog. Properly.
A long road, weekend by weekend, and a dog that reads you because you raised it.
For someone managing a real life and a real condition.
- •You're managing a psychiatric condition (anxiety, PTSD), a mobility condition, or autism support trained by a parent.
- •You hold down a working life and need training that fits weekends.
- •You'd rather raise a dog that bonds to you than be handed a finished stranger.
If you need a guide dog for blindness, that's the Blind Dog Association's specialism, and a good one. We'll point you there.
The bond is the point, not a budget version of it.
A dog that grows up reading you picks up the small things: the shift in your hands before the anxiety peaks, the change in your gait before a fall. A dog placed with you at age two follows commands, but it never learned to notice those things about you.
We've met handlers whose bought-in alert dogs simply didn't pick up their symptoms, because the dog was bonded to its trainer, not to them. Owner-training is how you avoid that. It's harder, and it's the whole reason it works.
Real public access takes months, not weeks.
A working service dog needs hundreds of hours of dedicated training before its final exam. Public access is built gradually: parking lots, then outdoor cafés, then indoor cafés, restaurants, mall floors, stairs, and only much later escalators and stations.
Diane reads venues in advance to know which escalators are safe and where to use lifts instead, because a dog's nails can score on a fast escalator. This is the level of detail a real public-access programme runs on. There's more on the Public Access page.
From application to final exam.
- •1. Apply. Complete the detailed Service Dog application form.
- •2. We review your documents. You send a doctor's or psychologist's letter and a vet certificate; our assistant checks they're complete and Diane reviews them personally.
- •3. Assess. A R350 per hour + R180 arena rental assessment to meet you and your dog and confirm the fit.
- •4. Train. Weekly weekend classes plus public-access outings every second month, all the way to the final exam.
What the application asks for.
- •A doctor's or psychologist's letter: your diagnosis, medications, how long you've been in treatment, and why a service dog would benefit you.
- •A veterinary certificate confirming your dog is healthy and fit for the specific function.
- •The completed Service Dog application form.
- •A R350 per hour + R180 arena rental assessment, then the shared baseline plus your dog's bed or blanket and a retrieve toy at every class.
- •No dog with any protection-training history, and no dog that has shown reactivity or aggression toward people.
The honest limits.
- •No three-month service dog. No honest school can sell you that.
- •No protection or attack history in the programme. Non-negotiable.
- •No dog with a history of reactivity or aggression toward people. It's Vitozol's rule and we enforce it; we'll refer you to a behaviourist who can help.
- •No guide-dog training. That's the Blind Dog Association.
R1,300 a month, all-in.
Obedience, the CGC ladder, and service training together, about three hours a week plus public-access outings every second month. The R350 per hour + R180 arena rental assessment comes first.
Billed monthly, with a R500 annual registration. No upfront ransom, and nothing that locks you in.
That's a working service dog paid for monthly, instead of a five-figure cheque upfront for someone else's dog.
Already facing a long waiting period elsewhere? You can start training your own dog now, while you wait.
A few quick questions.
Can you guarantee my dog will qualify?
No honest school can guarantee that; it depends on the dog and the work. That's exactly why we assess fit before you commit.
How is this different from a placed service dog?
A placed dog is trained by a stranger and handed over. An owner-trained dog grows up reading you, which is what makes it reliable when it counts.
What does public access really involve?
Months of graded outings, from parking lots to escalators, not one trip to a mall. There's a full breakdown on the Public Access page.
Start your application.
It begins with the form and a R350 per hour + R180 arena rental assessment. We'll walk you through the rest.
The assessment is R350 per hour + R180 arena rental, never free, and nobody can promise you a qualification date, and we won't pretend otherwise; Diane gives you an honest picture at the assessment.