“Molly is doing amazing (sic.) and I will be forever grateful for what she has done for me.” – Emily 2025
Our pups have headed out into the world to take on many different roles depending on the needs of their families. Some of our pet labradoodles have the primary role of friend or companion and other puppies are working dogs with more structured roles.
Amalie puppies have helped with their families in many ways – here are just some of them:
- companionship for families, young people transitioning through challenging life stages and seniors;
- offering an increased sense of security as they can be taught to alert bark when needed;
- helping to manage anxiety and thereby contributing to a better state of mental health;
- being an all-round motivator for increased exercise and wellbeing or during rehabilitation post surgery or medical event;
- through specific tasks they have been trained to do and in their roles as assistance dogs.
What is an assistance dog (or service dog)?
Assistance Dog is a generic term for a guide, hearing, or service dog specifically trained to perform identifiable physical tasks and behaviours to assist a person with a disability in order to aid in quality of life and/or independence. Assistance dogs are covered under many legislative access laws for public access rights when working with their handler who lives with a disability.
Assistance dogs are not to be confused with a therapy, emotional support or companion dog which are not required to undertake a Public Access Test (PAT)
All dogs can intrinsically provide emotional support to a human being. Assistance dogs are different from emotional support dogs in that they are specifically trained to perform identifiable tasks to increase independence and/or quality of life.
(reference: https://www.assistancedogs.org.au/about-us/faqs/ accessed 23/Apr/2025)
Molly – an Assistance dog in training.
Emily’s puppy Molly is one of our labradoodle puppies who is an Assistance Dog in training. She is working towards being a seizure alert dog for Emily, who shares a bit about her journey with us.
My puppy, Molly, is a part of the Amalie family – she was born in December 2023 and joined our family soon after.
Amalie puppies begin their socialisation and early training here with us as part of our structured puppy raising program. All puppies are taught some basic skills that we consider foundational. Sit and an age appropriate impulse control are two key behaviours we want all of our pups to master before they go to their new homes at 8 weeks of age . When we know we have families wanting to train their puppy as an assistance puppy, we also start some basic exposure based on the needs of our clients – this can include learning to walk alongside moving wheels in preparation for accompanying a wheel chair, playing the game of “touch” to help with targeting and crate training.
Molly is a medical alert assistance dog in training who is making amazing progress towards her Public Access Test.
A significant amount of training goes into preparing a dog for an assistance or service dog role. At the conclusion of a rigorous and tailored training program, dogs and their handlers undergo Public Access Testing which will grant the dog an official service dog jacket and entitle them to accompany their handler in public places. This contributes greatly to broadening an individual’s independence and social connectedness in society. We are super proud of all of those who undergo this process and grateful to the dedicated trainers who support dogs to learn specific skills and navigate and fulfil their Assistance dog roles in public in such a focussed manner.
Public access testing is an assessment of the skills learned in the training program and assessment is renewed every couple of years. A working dog will usually hold their role for 8-9 years at which point they are then retired.
In Australia various trainers can assist clients through the rigorous training program in preparation for assessment. Two such organisations are Assistance Dogs Australia and Mind Dog – Examples of training diaries used for their program can be accessed here. To see working dogs in action, take a peek half way down this page at the ABC segment for 7.30 Report.
What impact has Molly had on your life?
Molly has given me hope of independence. She allows me to live my life less afraid of my condition. She lies with me when I have seizures and that makes me feel safe. The comfort she gives me has improved my ability to bounce back from flare ups tenfold. The enrichment she received from day one from her birth mum shows through. You can see it in that way she problem solves and in her resilience. Molly has given me hope again of a normal life. For that I am grateful for Tracy and her family.
We look forward to showing you Molly with her jacket when her PAT is complete.
DISCLAIMER – we have no affiliation with any of the service providers linked in this page nor does their mention act as an endorsement of any kind. The links serve as an example only of the many service providers available and those looking to acquire or train an assistance dog are encouraged to research/ undertake their own due diligence and seek guidance from their disability support providers.