ABOUT
ASSISTANCE
DOGS
ABOUT
ASSISTANCE DOGS
Assistance Dogs are specially trained to help their human manage the effects their disability/ies have on their daily lives. They work alongside their disabled handler to provide vital medical support.
A Guide Dog is one type of Assistance Dog that most people know about. All Guide Dogs are Assistance Dogs, but not all Assistance Dogs are Guide Dogs. Just as there are many types of disabilities in the world, there are many types of Assistance Dogs. They can help with almost any kind of disability and can be any breed, colour, or size of dog.
An Assistance Dog must be trained to mitigate the effects of their handler's disability, the disability must be confirmed by a medical professional and meet the criteria of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA).
This Act also protects a handler's right to have their Assistance Dog with them in public places just like any other piece of medical equipment. Assistance Dogs can go almost anywhere the general public can go.
Here at Revolutionary Assistance Dogs we operate not only under Federal Law, but under our own set of behaviour and training standard which go above and beyond this law.
The Disability Discrimination Act (1992) defines an Assistance Dog as:
"Section 9(2) For the purposes of this Act, an assistance animal is a dog or other animal:
(a) accredited under a law of a State or Territory that provides for the accreditation of animals trained to assist a persons with a disability to alleviate the effect of the disability; or
(b) accredited by an animal training organisation prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; or
(c) trained:
(i) to assist a person with a disability to alleviate the effect of the disability; and
(ii) to meet standards of hygiene and behaviour that are appropriate for an animal in a public place."