Is a Service Dog right for you?
STEP 1- CONSULT YOUR CARE TEAM
We train our Service Dogs specifically to serve the needs of Military Veterans, police officers and firefighters. Service Dogs can be an integral part of reintegration into civilian life, so demand is very high for our highly trained dogs. Your first step is to work with your medical care team and carefully explore whether a Service Dog is the correct treatment for your needs. Your Care Team will need to prescribe a Service Dog for your specific needs.
STEP 2 – LEARNING
A Service Dog can be an exciting life change, and now may be the ideal time for you to research and learn more about our dogs, dog training and how a Service Dog may integrate into your lifestyle.
If successfully matched both you and your Service Dog will participate in extensive hands-on learning, individually and together to help ensure your match is a success, and receive training and support throughout the dog’s working life.
STEP 3 – COMPLETE YOUR APPLICATION
Our applications are currently open.
Benefits of our Service Dogs
A Service Dog is a medical device and is not the correct treatment for all individuals. For those who do benefit from a Service Dog the ways in which a SD can help are varied and personalized for every team. A SD can work along side and in conjunction with your care team’s other mental and physical health care. Among the many things our dogs can be trained to assist with:
Suppress Hyper Vigilance: Hyper vigilance creates constant tension and stress. Individuals often require more personal space than the average individual. The dogs are trained to recognize this and help their handler find a more comfortable environment.
Reintegration into a civilian lifestyle: Service Dogs can be an important conduit for building relationships in public settings. A working dog’s social and physical activity needs can enhance the wellbeing of the Team.
Why Our Service Dogs?
Cost
FTK-9’s Service Dogs are raised and trained at our Headquarters in Pembroke Ontario for the first 18 to 24 months of their life and have an eight to ten year working life. All food, veterinary care and training are provided during this time. As such our Service Dogs are valued at $40,000.
Each dog is provided free of charge to approved clients.
FTK-9’s receives no government funding and relies entirely on donations from the general public, public support of our work at K-9 Headquarters in our grooming and training departments, corporate sponsors, fundraising events, and community supporters.
Clients are not obligated to fundraise and fundraising efforts are in no way tied to when and if they receive their Service Dog. FTK-9 also has many third party fundraisers that host events in support of our working dog teams.
Once matched, the actual direct cost of the Service Dog to the client is:
- application fee of $50
- equipment fee of $250
- the cost of travel, accommodations and food for the week of Team Training in Pembroke Ontario
All regular care of the dog (grooming, travel, food and veterinary costs) are the responsibility of the recipient once the dog has been placed with the individual.
Wait Times
Our Service Dogs take 18 to 24 months to learn, grow and be ready for their life of service.
FTK-9’s has been working hard to clear the delays caused by the public closures of the last two years, and keep up with demand and decrease wait times. We are NOT currently accepting application requests for this program. For a list of alternate service providers please visit Assistance Dogs International.
The timing of a service dog placement is determined by chronological position on the waiting list and the availability of the right dog for the individual’s needs and situation and is in no way tied to fundraising efforts.
Application Process
To help ensure the success of each team, we have a detailed Application Process to assist with the placement and matching of our dogs.
- Each applicant is screened to ensure they meet our application criteria.
- Following our initial screening an Application Package is sent for completion. The Application Package includes input from your medical care team, family and/or personal references and support.
- If successful, in-person and in-home interviews are conducted to meet the applicant and their household, to learn more about their lifestyle, and further define how a Service Dog can assist the applicant.
Applicants may exit the Application Process at any time, and may be disqualified at any point during the Application Process. Entrance to the program is determined after completion of all of the above.
Once accepted to the program, the wait time for a fully trained Service Dog with customized skills for the client’s needs can be as little as 8 months and up to 24 months.
Apply Here
FTK-9 applications are currently paused while we assess our 2023 Applicants.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a large daily call volume of people seeking services we are not always able to return every call. We appreciate your understanding.