Our Certification Standards
Every Service Paws certification is issued against the Service Paws Training & Certification Standards — our published standard defining what each dog, handler, and trainer must demonstrate before a credential is issued. The standard formalizes the assessment practices we have applied since 2022.
Three recorded milestones
Certification requires passing three assessments. Each is recorded with its date in the dog's registry file and quoted in our attestation letters:
1. Standards assessment
Candidate screening — age, veterinary health, and temperament — plus a foundation obedience benchmark: core behaviours at a minimum 90% reliability across familiar, low-distraction, and moderate-distraction environments.
2. Task testing
Discipline-specific assessment: blind scent discrimination for detection dogs, staged episode drills for response dogs, third-party-triggered sound trials for hearing dogs — at a minimum 90% reliability, with safety-critical tasks at 100%.
3. Public access test
A universal behaviour test in real retail and food-service venues: neutrality to people, dogs, and food; startle recovery; leash control; an extended 30-minute settle; and welfare scoring throughout.
Certified disciplines
Service Paws certifies task-trained service dogs in nine disciplines:
- Allergen Detection
- Diabetic Alert
- Cardiac Alert
- Medical Alert & Response
- Seizure Response
- Hearing / Sound Alert
- Developmental Support
- Psychiatric Service
- Mobility Assistance
Read the full standard
The complete 17-chapter manual is public: candidate requirements, the full public access test, every discipline's task protocols, trainer oversight rules, and the certification and revocation process.
Open the full standardOur honest-claims policy
We certify only what can be trained, tested, and evidenced. Trained detection of collectable odours (allergens, blood-glucose changes) is certifiable and tested blind. Spontaneous alerting to events such as seizures cannot be guaranteed by training — where an individual dog demonstrably shows it, we record it as documented alert behaviour supported by a corroborated log, and we never promise it. We do not claim or certify stroke prediction; we certify trained emergency response.
Assessment oversight
Assessments are administered by trainers registered with Service Paws and overseen by a Service Paws team member — in person or by continuous video review. Trainers may not solely assess their own dogs.
What we do not certify
Guide dogs for blind or visually impaired handlers (applicants are referred to accredited guide dog schools), emotional support animals, therapy dogs, and any form of protection work.
This page summarizes the Service Paws Training & Certification Standards, v1.0 (effective July 4, 2026). The full standard is published below; verifiers with questions about a specific credential can contact us at any time.
Service Paws is a private service-dog training and certification organization, not a government body. Certification attests to the dog's documented training and assessment; legal access rights vary by jurisdiction.