A generic term for guide, hearing, or service dog specifically trained to do more than one task to mitigate the effects of an individual’s disability. The presence of a dog for protection, personal defense, or comfort does not qualify that dog as an assistance dog.

goal-directed interventions designed to promote improvement in physical, social, emotional and/or cognitive functioning of the person(s) involved and in which a specially trained dog-handler team is an integral part of the treatment process. CAT is directed and/or delivered by a health/human service professional with specialized expertise and withi [..]

A dog that guides individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The presence of a dog for protection, personal defense, or comfort does not qualify that dog as a guide dog.

A dog that alerts individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to specific sounds.

An organization involved in the training of assistance dogs.

A dog that works for individuals with disabilities other than blindness or deafness. They are trained to perform a wide variety of tasks including but not limited to; pulling a wheelchair, bracing, retrieving, alerting to a medical crisis, and providing assistance in a medical crisis.

This is a trained behavior that the dog does on cue (or command) to mitigate its partner’s disability. The cue can be verbal, a hand signal, something in the environment and/or some behavior exhibited by the partner or another person. Examples of a verbal cue could be “take it” and a hand signal could be pointing at an object to indicate to the dog [..]