Programs
Service Dog Program
Service dogs turn on lights, push buttons, pull wheelchairs,  retrieve dropped objects, open and close doors, drawers, and refrigerators, pay for items when shopping or banking, remove items of clothing such as shoes, socks and jackets, bark for help on command, and a host of other daily tasks depending on the individual's needs and abilities. They are loyal loving companions in private --- a social ice-breaker  in public. West Coast Assistance Teams limits our puppy raising, training, and placements to the Lower Mainland area of BC. Except in extraordinary circumstances, we believe a close proximity is imperative to provide the best possible support for our volunteers and recipients. In addition, the generosity of our donors will be felt directly in our local communities.
Canine Connection Therapy Dog Program
Most of us will be admitted to a hospital or nursing home during our lifetime. Imagine what it would be like if nobody came to see you. These very special dogs provide unconditional love to many people in our community. West Coast Assistance Teams facilitates hospital or care facility visitations with our volunteers and participating centers. We also place dogs with health care professionals to assist in prescribing emotional and physical therapeutic activities.
PAWS (Positive Action With Students)
PAWS is a high-schooled assistance dog program designed to enhance the lives of and opportunities for at-risk teenagers through contact with and responsibility for the care and training of assistance dogs while providing much-needed assistance dogs to disabled individuals in their community.
The course curriculum teaches basic canine care, grooming, and management skills together with foundation and specialized assistance dog training methods. Dogs and young children learn in much the same manner, through trial and error, by making associations between one thing and another. Positive and negative reinforcement helps direct the learning experience in favour of a predetermined outcome. Students participating in this course experience first hand just how learning takes place.
 Teaching dogs to do things disabled individuals cannot do themselves is an eye-opener of immense proportions. Spending hours training from a wheelchair provides an unsurpassed experiential knowledge of the limitations these individuals experience daily. The pride and sense of self-worth gained from training and placing an assistance dog with a disabled individual lives on forever.
Our kids deserve this opportunity!
For more details on PAWS click here.
Interested schools are encouraged to explore this concept with West Coast Assistance Teams, the Assistance Dog Institute, or other participating schools and juvenile centers to see if this program might fill a need in your community.
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