Dog Wish

Dog Wish provides service dog placement and training for individuals with a wide assortment of psychological and neurological conditions from its headquarters in Winchester, California. A member of the American Association of Qualified Psychiatric Service Dog Trainers, the organization trains dogs to work with individuals with conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, dementia, and various forms of autism. Dog Wish trainers offer a wealth of experience and have trained more than 300 canine companions for the disabled community.

In order to ensure client satisfaction and optimize the potential for a successful match, Dog Wish trainers custom select dogs and train them with the specific needs of their handlers in mind. Factors taken into consideration during placement include disability and service needs, handler lifestyle, and the compatibility of handler and canine personalities. Trainers use a proactive approach to training and rely on positive reinforcement to instill correct behaviors. Furthermore, they emphasize a need for teamwork between handler and dog, and remind handlers to treat their companions as living individuals rather than tools.

Additionally, Dog Wish offers training in scent detection and medical alert to provide handlers with 24-hour security. Using knowledge gleaned from teaching police K9s to detect substances and track suspects, trainers can train service dogs to detect handler allergens or other potentially harmful chemicals.