Owner Trained Service Dog

      Thank you about your interest in our owner trained service dog program. This program is different from anything else out there. We are hoping it will be the least stressful encounter people can have when training there SD. We do require you have proof of your disability, sadly to many people that are not disabled want to take advantage of our program and the ADA in general.

      We accept all breeds and crosses of breeds to our program. The minimum age requirement is 8 weeks, there is no maximum age limit but please consider the working life of a much older dog. All dogs entering the program must have proof of vaccines. We do not require, but HIGHLY suggest pre limb or OFA / pen hip evaluations done on any working dog.

      Our program has 3 stages. The first stage is basic training. Once your dog has "public manners" they get into the second stage, Public Access Training. When your dog is ready for public training one of the trainers will evaluate your dog (free of charge). When you graduate to second level you will need to buy a cape from us. We provide them at our cost, we do not make a penny off the capes. You also get a service dog in training ID badge. All the dogs in our program will have the same capes and ID badges. This allows store owners easy observation that you are with a legitimate organization and they can expect no problems. We hold all our members to the highest of standards. This allows us the freedom to be trusted by the public.

      Stage 3 is graduation. At stage 3 your dog graduates from our program and receives his/her service dog certification number and ID badge. Stage 3 involves a full evaluation and access test. The trainer will go out with you and video tape the entire test. This process takes a few hours. The fee for the certification test is $150. This is the most expensive part of the entire program. After passing the certification test you receive a copy of your video, all of the training date logs K9 NorthWest has kept of your training, your certification number, new service dog ID badge, the certified service dog award letter, and a frame-able certificate of completion.

      K9 NorthWest keeps records of every training session you attend and documents every step of your training. This is very valuable in helping prove that your dog is a legitimate service dog, should you ever find yourself in a court case. We are always there to help in any way we can should you ever need us outside of class. We hold our students to a high standard so you can rest assured other teams will not be making things harder for your access.

      Class is every Saturday. To keep costs low we meet at a park for regular class. We also host many "field trip" class days where we do public access work. The class is an open forum allowing both set training schedules and request training subjects for that particular class. Members will be at all different stages so we all work together. You attend weekly training classes until your graduation of stage 3. Occasionally missing a class if fine but you must commit to attending class for your training to progress.

      Class costs $13 each Saturday. If you qualify for our low income pricing, class is $7 each Saturday. Payment is expected at the beginning of the month for the entire month. Most months cost $52 / $28(low income). If you need to pay weekly there is a $2 service charge per week.