Assistance Dogs for PTSD — Sensory Dogs Canada

How the dog helps

Three things a trained dog changes.

Not companionship — trained, cued behaviours that do specific work.

Interruption

Nightmares, dissociation, and escalating panic all have early signs. A dog trained to respond to them intervenes minutes before you would have noticed yourself — waking, nudging, or applying pressure until you are back.

A dog walking at heel beside its handler

Space

Standing behind you in a queue, or facing outward in front of you, the dog creates a physical buffer. No explanation required, no conversation with a stranger, no hypervigilance about who is approaching from behind.

Re-entry

Grocery stores, waiting rooms, flights, family events. The dog gives you a task, a focal point, and a reason to stay — which is often the difference between leaving after two minutes and getting through it.

Trained tasks

What “task trained” actually means.

A task is a specific, cued or triggered behaviour that mitigates a documented need. Comfort from a dog’s presence is real and valuable — and it is not a task. Every credential we issue names the tasks, so anyone can see exactly what the dog was trained to do.

Deep pressureThe dog lays its chest and weight across you on cue and holds it, through the worst of it.

Nightmare interruptWakes you on trained cues — movement, vocalisation, breathing changes — before the dream finishes.

GroundingSteady contact and eye contact to bring you back when dissociation starts.

Making spaceStands facing outward in front of you, so a queue or a crowd keeps its distance.

Watching your backPositions behind you and holds, so you are not tracking the door and the room at once.

Room checkEnters ahead on cue and sweeps a defined space before you follow.

Escalation interruptBreaks a rising cycle at an early trained signal, rather than at the peak.

RetrieveFetches medication, a phone, or a named item on cue — including from another room.

Guided exitLocates and leads you to a marked exit when you need to leave now.

Seventeen tasks are catalogued in full, with training criteria and restrictions, in our published standard.

Eligibility

What you’ll need to apply.

✓Documentation from a regulated health professional — physician, psychologist, psychotherapist, occupational therapist, or others listed under AODA — confirming the disability-related need
✓A veterinary fitness-to-work letter, if you already have the dog
✓Dog aged 12 months for a companion credential, 18 months for public access, at final assessment
✓No bite history. This one is absolute.
✓Capacity for daily training, or the budget for us to do it

A note for veterans and first responders

Some coverage exists through Veterans Affairs Canada and through employer and association benefit plans, and it changes regularly. We will tell you what we know and point you at the current programme rather than guess.

We also work with your existing clinician rather than around them. The dog is one tool among several, and it works best when the person managing your care knows exactly what it has been trained to do.

Book a free consult