Choosing The Right Dog For Assistance Dog Training

People do not realize just how much stress is put on an assistant dog's nervous system and mind. The training of assistant dogs is intense. A great deal is demanded of an assistant dog. The very life of his owner is in his paws, so to speak.

The first step in training an assistant dog is to choose the right dog for training. All dogs are not temperamentally suited to this work. Some dogs are meant to be loving family pets. Some dogs are working dogs that assist in herding farm animals. Some dogs are born to hunt. Different dogs do different things for mankind. They have different roles to play in the scheme of things. A good candidate to be trained as an assistance dog cannot be identified by breed. The identification is made strictly on temperament and personality. There are dogs of many different breeds that make good candidates to be trained to be assistance dogs.

Some of the many different qualities that trainers of assistant dogs look for are varied and include any of these personalities: placid and gentle, tolerates strangers petting him but could care less about it; laid back, amiable, shows pleasure if petted but doesn't go looking for attention; happy go lucky, everybody's pal, seeks affection, willing to play or go for a walk with anyone, anytime, anywhere; sensitive, anxious to please, prefers his owner but may look for attention from others if owner busy; very serious, intensely bonded to owner, calmly ignores everyone else, safe for children to pet, energetic, thrilled by outings to new places, convinced the world is populated entirely by his fans and he intends to meet every one of them.

So you see a dog that is a good candidate for training as an assistant dog can be any breed or a mixed breed and have many different personality traits. The common traits among all dogs that are good candidates to be trained as an assistant dog is that they are all friendly, intelligent, and willing to learn ? and learn, and learn.

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