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Service Dog Training Near You
What makes a dog a service dog? Who can have a service dog, and why? We answer all these questions and more, as well as explain what sets Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth apart from any other dog training service.
Not all training packages may be available at our Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth location, please reference our pricing page for complete information on services offered.
Service Dog Training FAQs
What makes a dog a service dog?
Service dogs are dogs that have been specially trained to assist their handler or owner with specific tasks. Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth trains dogs to assist people with epilepsy, diabetes, PTSD, autism, and various mental illnesses.
Who are service dogs for?
Service dogs are for any individual dealing with a disability that lowers their quality of life. For example, someone who suffers from epilepsy may avoid going out in public due to a fear of falling or other consequences related to seizures. This may inhibit their independence and sense of well-being.
In addition to improving the lives of individuals, service dogs can bring a sense of security to families, such as families with autistic children. Children with autism can often feel isolated and a service dog becomes a 24/7 companion to share experiences with, connect with and love. They can also help children reintegrate into society and connect with others.
Families who have children with autism experience a decrease in stress as they are more able to engage socially in public settings and experience less anxiety at home. A service dog increases safety and has a calming presence that can minimize emotional outbursts, allowing the family to feel more secure and a child with autism to better participate in family activities.
Service dogs are for all individuals or families that are experiencing a decrease in quality of life due to disability.
What kind of training does a service dog need?
Service dog training begins with puppies. Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth’s service puppy training program works with breeders to adopt puppies that are fully obedience trained by six months and are ready to undergo extensive socialization and additional training to ensure they are well-suited for service and therapy needs.
Then, Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth places puppies with families or individuals. Further specialized service training takes place alongside the new handler. It generally takes 1-2 years for a service dog to become fully trained.
Service dog training focuses on two main areas: public access behaviors, and how to “do work or perform tasks” that assist with a disability.
Public access behaviors refer to how a service dog acts in public - well-trained service dogs remain calm in public situations and in turn help their handlers to stay calm, and are attuned to any other handler needs.
As for “do work or perform tasks,” the ADA requires that service dogs be trained to take a specific action when needed to assist the person with a disability.
For example, to assist handlers with PTSD, Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth trains dogs to de-escalate anxiety, wake handlers experiencing night terrors, and so on.
Do service dogs require special certification?
The ADA does not require special certification for service animals. State and local government agencies, businesses and non-profit organizations may not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained or licensed as a service animal, as a condition for entry. Mandatory registration of service animals in the city of residence is also not permissible under the ADA.
However, service animals are not exempt from local animal control or public health requirements, such as vaccinations, or local dog licensing and registration requirements.
Why should I train my service dog with Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth?
Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth sets itself apart from other dog training methods by focusing on positive reinforcement with a personalized, in-home approach. This method empowers owners and handlers to be an integral part of the process for sustained dog obedience and service training. For service dogs especially, it is important that handlers be present and involved every step of the way.
The positive reinforcement approach, also referred to as “Classical Conditioning” or the “Pavlovian” model has shown to be more effective with longer lasting results than any other training method.
Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth does not use punishments or shock collars to break bad habits. Instead, Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth pairs positive reinforcement training with a vibration electronic collar. An electronic collar is not a shock collar and does not harm the dog. It is used to gain the dog’s attention, similar to a tug on a leash. It is never used as a punishment for bad behavior.
Another unique aspect of training with Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth is that while most dog training programs train dogs at their own facilities, Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth specializes in in-home training, customizing training to the dog, its owners and its environment for long-lasting success.
Positive Reinforcement Training
Training takes time, commitment and balance and Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth is there every step of the way. With Dog Training Elite Dallas—Fort Worth, dogs will learn the highest level of obedience, even in the face of the toughest level of distractions. The positive-reinforcement method focuses on encouraging good behavior through ongoing praise, creating a dog that wants to please from the inside out and creating deep-rooted, sustained obedience as well as a strong bond between dog and owner.
Our Balanced Theory
We base our training around the "Classical Conditioning" model (a.k.a. "Pavlovian" or "respondent conditioning"). This includes developing conditioned or automatic reflexes to commands. In its simplest form (after proper conditioning), when the owner says "sit," the dog automatically sits without thinking about it. Our unique techniques ensure our program is a success no matter what behavior we encounter.
Empowering Owners
We empower owners to train so their dog knows who to obey at all times.
Personalized
We deal with problem behaviors on a personal basis.
Environment Specific
We train wherever issues tend to arise (i.e. jogging, park, home).
Supportive
We support owners in the off-hours (when training is "not in session").
Involved
We work with all members of the household.
Simplified & Customized
We plan training around the owner's schedule and require only 20 min/day follow-up practice.
Continued Training
Additional programs / group sessions offered after in-home training.
Lifetime Investment
We follow up & are invested in the owner's success long-term.
Satisfaction Ratings
Our high client satisfaction rating sets us apart from competitors.
clas·si·cal con·di·tion·ing PSYCHOLOGY noun A learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus and is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.
We help your dog become a valued companion and beloved member of the family. Read what our customers have to say and then give us a call!
The trainers here are so knowledgeable and can read a dogs body language so fast. They taught my dog commands in 5 minutes or less and showed me how to instill those. Highly recommend this place worth every penny. Felicity really knew my dog and went the extra mile with information to help Winnie the Pooh.— Elinor Albin
Posted July 23rd 2024
We love our dog, but he has always been a constant source of stress in our family because of his aggression, his inability to go on walks without creating havoc, and his propensity to run out of the house whenever the door opened up. We finally decided we had to get rid of the dog or get him trained. So we decided to give Dog Training Elite a call. Looking back, it was such a wonderful choice. After six individual training sessions, our dog is extremely well-behaved. He sits on command, he will “place” wherever we tell him to, he’s enjoyable to walk on a leash, he doesn’t attack other dogs or people, and he doesn’t run out of the house. We couldn’t be more pleased with the training staff of Tra, Felicity, and Yuni. The highlight of our experience was when we decided to take our dog with us to a hotel, and then out to dinner. Our son - who was back home from college and wasn’t a part of the training experience -thought we were crazy to even try to take our dog to a hotel and restaurant. But our dog did wonderfully and our son was very impressed with how well behaved the dog was. If you are at your ropes end and want to get your dog under control, give Elite a try… you will start to see immediate and dramatic results!— Jeff Domen
Posted July 19th 2024
The company is great with communication and customer service! Felicity has been an incredible teacher and has helped me and my dog learn so much!— phoebe james
Posted July 18th 2024
Incredible trainers! Felicity did a great job helping my dogs— grant wiseman
Posted July 15th 2024
They have been very understanding and patien I love the system they do the process They really are doing the best job they can Felicity is one of the trainers that we have met she is so amazing she has taught my dog the basics and she did with such patience and I could understand everything she said I'm very excited to see what more they are going to teach my puppy and us They have been clear on everything which I like Overall I give them an amazing review for these reasons— Carol L
Posted July 15th 2024
We were Very satisfied with Dog Training Elite! Our Labrador puppy had the very best training and is now a trained service animal by Dog Training Elite. Most favorite trainer, Felicity, is a True Puppy Whisperer! A rare and greatly appreciated find for our boy! He worships her too! She is always smart, kind and gentle. And extremely effective!— Diana Enty
Posted July 15th 2024
Felicity, is an amazing trainer. She was able to train me so I could better train my boys.She was able to work with both of my boys personalities to bring them to their highest level of training. Thank you Dog Training Elite Dallas, for having the best dog trainers! Mr. Tre, I appreciate your work and service to us VETs and our Service Dogs. I will be forever grateful.— AliDrea Arismendez-Garza
Posted July 15th 2024
The team at Dog Training Elite have absolutely changed our lives. Felicity, Tre, and Kyler are incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and kind. On days when I thought my little rescue, Olive, couldn’t possibly learn a new command, they assured me she absolutely would… and she always did. Olive is a completely different dog from when we first started training. Her confidence has grown exponentially and we’re living a really happy life together. I cant recommend or thank Felicity, Tre, and Kyler enough.— Kelli Kaeter
Posted July 15th 2024
Just completed our in-home sessions with DTE and have been so impressed with the individualized attention and customized approach that helped us meet our goals. All the trainers have been top notch and really helpful in assuring our newest family member (and us) are polished up on our manners so we can enjoy each other and life adventures. I must specifically mention Megan as a trainer whose passion and dedication did not go unnoticed and is deeply appreciated. Mufasa and I are looking forward to our group lessons!— brandi Ciufi
Posted July 1st 2024
We've been working with Dog Training Elite Frisco for almost a year. Kyler and the team have been fantastic to work with in helping train my mom's service dog. Esper is a GSD, and started training as a puppy. She learned her basic obedience quickly with positive reinforcement and the techniques and tools DTE recommended. Quickly moving into her Service and Task training. Now a year later (actually less time) She passed her task training and public access test and goes with us everywhere. She is welcomed at restaurants, grocery stores, department stores, due to her great behavior and provides an invaluable service to my Mom. I highly recommend Dog Training Elite Frisco, Kyler and the team there. Next up is our new 15 week old puppy who will be evaluated soon and start his puppy training.— Forrest Hart
Posted May 15th 2024
Just wanted to say thank you so much for the very kind lady called Kelly. She was really good and patient at teach me and my dog. awesome lady— Darwin araujo
Posted May 14th 2024
loved it. she was so sweet with my dog. this was really good training i definitely recommend!! kelly was such a good trainer my dog is so much better!!— Jalissa Martinez
Posted May 14th 2024
Jordan is patient and calm while training our dog and teaching us what to do. He is great to work with. Lulu learned respect quickly. I would highly recommend him. His dog Atlas was such a sweet dog and very well trained.— Juanita Ace-Bo
Posted July 3rd 2023
We worked with Jordan yesterday and my puppy responded Really well to him and we got lots of great help! Really looking forward to how Clark progresses and to see how the next sessions go.— Laura Riggs
Posted May 6th 2024
We contacted Dog Training Elite to help us with Bean, our not so mini mini dachshund who wasn’t great with new people coming into our home especially men. As we are relocating overseas & only had enough time for 4 sessions, the best we hoped for was great advice that we could take with us & put into practice. 4 sessions later we are delighted not just with the advice but the incredible change in Bean’s behaviour! All we can say is a huge thank you to the team at Dog Training Elite not only for accommodating us with so little time but for setting us up to succeed with Bean. A special thanks to our trainers Kyler & Tra. You guys are amazing! Thank you!!!— Tracey McAdam
Posted April 27th 2024
They staff is AMAZING. Very helpful, and really explains everything. Luke and cowboy has done an amazing job really building a bond!!! I would recommend!!!!— Dkota Gibbs
Posted December 21st 2023
I can’t speak highly enough of this group of trainers! They have been very professional and VERY helpful. Luke is my daughter’s favorite trainer and he does so well with my daughter and her dog. You WILL NOT regret hiring them to train your dog. Highly recommend!!— Tonya Gibbs
Posted December 21st 2023
All the trainers have been great but Luke and Cowboy are absolutely amazing! Our service dog has been very responsive! We have friends who have also utilized this service and love it just as much! Thank you Luke and the Elite team!— Stacey and Josh Glosson
Posted December 20th 2023
This company is hands down the best training program in Dallas! I cannot recommend them enough. All of the trainers I’ve worked with have been so kind and helpful. With training, my dog and I have built a level of trust and a deeper bond after every session. Luke and Cowboy have been wonderful to work with and genuinely care about the success of your dogs training. If you’re looking for a trainer in Dallas, this is the place!— Lacey Spell
Posted December 20th 2023