Manitoba service dog trainer calls for national certification standards

Certified master dog trainer George Leonard has put 80 dogs into service in Manitoba.

Their job: to sniff out medical emergencies before they happen.

The dogs are also taught to focus on their job while ignoring distractions such as people routinely asking to pet the animal.

“If you go up and start initiating my dog all the time, he's not going to be doing his job. That could be critical to my life, that's the problem,” said Leonard.

Over the past two decades, Leonard said the service dog industry has grown immensely.

Canines can now be used to regulate many different diseases, disorders and disabilities.

Training these dogs is not easy and in order to protect the people getting the specialized canines, Leonard is working on setting a national certification standard.

Currently, Leonard said professional trainers set their own standards, which will never be tested unless they go to court for a human rights complaint.

“Once you get to court, a professional trainer has to testify, which I have, and they have to review all your standards,” he said. “If you don’t have that in line, you are not going anywhere and you are going to get charged.”

He would also like to see is standardized vests for certified service dogs, and recognizable ID cards for the animal and their handler.