Applicant Owned Dogs Trial

Last updated August 2024

Please note: The intake for this trial is now closed for 2024 as we have reached capacity.

At Canine Partners, we are dedicated to sourcing, training, and placing our own assistance dogs. This remains our priority, but recently it’s been harder to find the resources needed to meet the growing demand. To address this and try to shorten wait times, we’re exploring additional ways to help more people, especially while we rebuild our puppy numbers and volunteer network.   

One option we’re considering is training and accrediting applicants’ own dogs as canine partners.    

To explore this possibility further, we’re starting a small trial. Only a few dogs will be involved—those owned by applicants on our waiting list, already known to us, and who have passed a careful assessment to ensure they’re suitable to become canine partners. We won’t be training home assistance canines or canine companions as part of this trial.   

If a dog is suitable, they’ll receive up to 17 weeks of advanced training at our National Training Centre before returning to their owners for further training together.  

Key Points of this trial:

• Sourcing, training and placing our own Canine Partners’ dogs to those currently on our waiting list will remain our priority.   

• The trial aims to free up volunteer capacity that would have been needed for these applicants, so these volunteers can take our own Canine Partners puppies, and to work towards reducing wait times for others on the waiting list. 

• The trial also aims to supplement the number of dogs we can source, train and place from our own Canine Partners’ dogs, in the next year. 

• We have capped numbers and the timeframe on this trial as we aim to only use what extra capacity we may have to create more partnerships and change more lives.  

• All applicants and their own dogs that we have considered for this trial must be willing to meet and follow our eligibility criteria, have a thorough assessment, and follow our training process. 

• This will trial will be run for a limited amount of time, after which we will review its success before deciding whether to take it forward as a service we offer regularly. The intake for this trial is now closed for 2024 as we have reached capacity.  

• The number of dogs we will be able to assess and accept into this scheme during the trial will be dependent on the capacity of our Advanced Training Team. We are only considering a small number of dogs for this trial who have already been identified to us by their owners (applicants on the waiting list), and who have proactively approached us to tell us about a pet dog they have.  

• Any potential pet dogs must be between 12 months to five years old and must have been in the home for over six months before they would be able to go through the full assessment process to decide upon their suitability.   

• All suitable dogs will be required to enter Advanced Training for up to 17 weeks. The owner would remain responsible for the day-to-day costs of the dog whilst they are under our care. If successful in training, then the dog would be placed back with their owner as a canine partner assistance dog under a specific “Applicant Owned Dog Agreement” and receive our standard Aftercare support.  

• It is important that applicants understand not every dog has what it takes to be a canine partner, and that an applicant having their own dog does not guarantee assistance dog accreditation will be possible and cannot be viewed as a shortcut to getting a canine partner.

What happens next?   

This trial will only be available to successors and those applicants on the waiting list who already have their own dog. We have already identified a small number of applicants for this trial.  The intake for this trial is now closed for 2024 as we have reached capacity.  

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ: Those with their own dog

Before anyone considers getting their own pet dog, or taking part in this trial, we would advise to consider the following important information first:  

• Not all dogs are suitable to be canine partner assistance dogs.  

• If your pet dog is assessed and is deemed unsuitable, you need to consider if you will be able to manage two dogs in the future and that it may hinder your ability to be placed with one of our canine partners.   

• Sourcing a suitable pet dog or puppy is not easy – it can be complicated and expensive.  

• Training a puppy is not easy and we cannot directly support you during this stage.  

• We will only have a limited capacity for assessing and training  applicants’ own dogs during this trial and we will be reviewing the successes and challenges of this trial before deciding on whether we’ll offer this as a regular service.

Before getting a pet dog, please get in touch with the Applications Team on applicationsenquiries@caninepartners.org.uk