One difference between training a service dog and any other dog is the consideration required for the dog's handler. Trainers who are great at teaching dogs may need to further develop their people-oriented skills. This need becomes even more pronounced when the people they are serving have varying requirements associated with varying abilities. Few dog trainers are familiar with the wide variety of disabilities and how those disabilities impact a person's activities of daily living.
Most dog trainers are also unfamiliar with the legal aspects of service dogs.
It is important to give the handler of the service dog the skills to fully benefit from the dog, and this is mostly people training, not dog training. Beyond disability-related knowledge and skills, many dog trainers are unfamiliar with the best methods to train dogs to perform specific tasks. SDES will teach trainers specific steps involved with training assistance-type tasks. To top of page . SDES is a major course development project, requiring input from a large number of professionally and geographically diverse people coupled with an extensive evaluation process.