FOLLOW OUR DEVELOPMENTS
We are in the process of finalizing our website and launching programs to help evaluate potential service dog candidates as well as seminars to teach legitimate, qualified trainers how to identify a potential service dog and how to train a variety of service dog tasks. Our hope is that our rigorous standards will become the standard to identify true service dogs as opposed to phony service dogs.
NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED SERVICE DOG STANDARDS
We would like to team with the U.S. Department of Justice in hopes of making TDK - DOGS DOING GOOD, INC.'s certification, the nationally recognized service dog standard and certification.
PHONY SERVICE DOGS
The rash of phony service dog is in our opinion an epidemic. Out of the varied estimates of between 20,000-50,000 of service dogs in the nation, our estimate is that more than 75% of those dogs have not been through any type of "certification" process. In many cases, these service dogs are truly providing a service to someone in need. In most of these situations, owners of a family pet self teach the pet to provide a "service." In many cases this is emotional support. Not knowing where to turn to obtain certification, they visit one of the many websites where you can buy credentials. In other cases, owners of a family pet simply want the ability to take their pet to the grocery store, restaurant, etc. etc. They too, buy on-line service dog gear.
SERVICE DOG SCAMS
In addition to individuals taking advantage of this unregulated industry, there are an equal number of individuals who call themselves service dog trainers who take advantage of someone legitimately looking for guidance regarding how to go about service dog training and certification. We have even heard of breeders who promise that an 8 week old puppy they sell will be eventually trained as a service dog.