How to Identify our Members
Each Member has an Identification Book, inside it holds the teams details along with other data.
We do also offer ID cards which can be used for identification purposes.
Our youngest members wear our Puppy Jacket. This is for members that have not yet passed the bronze award.
The Puppy Jacket can be worn to get the pup used to the feel of a jacket, it can also be used when at their training class to allow other members to understand they are in training to become an assistnace dog.
These jackets can not be used for any public access training, regardless of the location.
The Assistance Dog In Training Jackets are for those that have passed their Bronze award.
The dog can now start to train for public access.
At first this will be in pet friendly stores, moving onto quiet areas.
During training for their Gold award they will be able to slowly increase how busy the area is they are visiting.
Once they have passed Gold and are purely working on training for public access, they should continue to increase how busy an area they are beeing taken too.
The Graduated Assistance Dog Jacket can only be worn by those that have taken their Sherlock Hounds Public Access assessment and passed.
Once they have passed the dog has full public access rights.
When starting at the puppy stage the pup has to be introduced to the jacket slowly and at the pup’s pace, no jacket should be placed onto a pup without preparation work being completed upfront. Once the pup is happy to have the jacket on, they should only wear it for 5 minutes at a time to begin with, this time will slowly get increased over the period of their training. From Puppy to Gold training sessions with the jacket should only take place up to a maximum of 3 times in a day and are not to be done in one go. When training for the public access test, they can increase the sessions to a maximum of 5 times in a day still adhering to the amount of time they can spend on each session.
ALL PUPS AND DOGS MUST BE GIVEN BREAKS DURING THE DAY INCLUDING BEING ALLOWED TO SLEEP, PLAY AND EAT
You may notice that the 'In training jacket' and the 'Graduated' jackets come with no pockets or with pockets that have a zip. Due to size constraints smaller dogs may not be able to have the design with pockets. Above the 'In Training' Jacket has pockets whereas the 'Graduated' jacket does not. The pockets are big enough for the ID book or paperwork for medical reasons, they are not to be used to fill with medication or phones etc.
If a member of the public believes a member is working their dog, disregarding the above rules, Sherlock Hounds would appreciate being contacted with as much detail as possible so that we can investigate the issue. Please contact contact@sherlockhounds.org.uk
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