The Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™
Prepare your dog–handler team for safe, ethical and sustainable participation in Animal-Assisted Services
This Course is Accredited by CPD Certification Service
Online Course | Lifetime Access | Professional Support | CPD Certified
🐾 Preparing an AAS Dog Is About More Than Good Behaviour
A dog can be friendly, sociable and well trained — and still not be appropriately suited to every Animal-Assisted Services role.
Successful AAS work depends on much more than teaching behaviours.
You need to understand:
- 1What the proposed role actually requires.
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- How your dog responds to relevant environments and interactions.
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- How to recognise and respond to changes in your dog’s capacity.
- 4How to advocate for your dog while supporting participants.
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- How workload, recovery and working conditions affect welfare.
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- How to prepare safely and appropriately for real-world participation.
The Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™ has been designed to bring all of these elements together.
The goal is not to prepare every dog for every possible environment.
The goal is to develop an appropriate and sustainable Role–Team Match.
🎓 A Professional Pathway Into Animal-Assisted Services
This programme is suitable for people wishing to prepare a dog–handler team for work in settings such as:
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Schools and educational environments. - Allied health and therapeutic practice.
- Psychology and counselling.
- Occupational therapy and other healthcare services.
- Community and disability services.
- Aged care.
- Wellbeing programmes.
- Organisational and workplace programmes.
- Structured volunteer-based AAS roles.
You do not need to be an allied health professional to undertake the programme.
However, the course will help you clearly understand the difference between your professional scope of practice and the role performed by your dog.
🧩 What Makes This Programme Different?
Rather than preparing dogs against a generic idea of what a “therapy dog” should tolerate, the programme teaches you to consider the specific role your team intends to undertake.
Your preparation is considered across four connected areas:
🏢 Role Demand Profile
What will the proposed role actually require?
We consider the working environment, participants, activities, interaction, workload and any essential or modifiable demands.
🐕 Dog Capacity
How does your dog respond to the demands relevant to that role?
Dog Capacity is considered across:
- Emotional Regulation.
- Behavioural Fluency.
- Stress Communication.
- Resilience & Recovery.
- Physical Suitability.
🤝 Handler Skill & Advocacy
You will learn how to:
Observe → Interpret → Decide → Act → Review
The handler is an active part of the team and has an important role in supporting both the dog and the people participating in the service.
❤️ Welfare & Sustainability
Can the proposed work remain appropriate for your dog over time?
The programme considers workload, recovery, changing capacity, long-term welfare and when a role may need to be modified.
Course curriculum
You will also become a member of our community
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🐾 Welcome to The Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™
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📝 Current Terminology in Animal-Assisted Services
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🐕🦺 Responsibilities of an Animal-Assisted Intervention Dog
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🐾 Understanding Role Demands in Animal-Assisted Services
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🐾 What Is a Role Demand Profile?
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🏢 Recognising How Different Environments Influence the Demands Placed on a Dog–Handler Team
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🤝 Understanding Participants & Activities
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📋 Essential & Modifiable Role Demands
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🧩 Bringing It Together – Understanding Your Proposed Role
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Role Demand Profile Checklist
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Test Your Knowledge
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🤝 Laying the Foundations
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🐾 Understanding Animal Welfare
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🐾 Consent vs Compliance: Recognising Willing Participation
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🧩 Standards & Good Practice in Animal-Assisted Services
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🐾 Putting Welfare Into Practice During Training
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🛡️ Making Welfare-Centred Decisions
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Test your knowledge
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Canine Communication & Dog Capacity
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Body Language
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🐕 Tails Tell a Story
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Weight Distribution
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Facial Expressions part 1
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Facial Expressions part 2
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👃 Olfactory Communication: Understanding the Dog’s World Through Scent
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🔊 Understanding Canine Vocalisations: What Are Dogs Really Saying?
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🐕 Breed Influences on Vocal Communication
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Defensive Barking
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😕 Displacement Behaviours: A Clue to Inner Conflict
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🤲🤝 Tactile Communication: Understanding the Power of Touch
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🧠 Understanding Arousal in Dogs
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🐾 Supporting Arousal & Emotional Regulation
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🐾 Applying Canine Communication to Animal-Assisted Services
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🧠 Understanding Ethology: A Scientific Lens on Canine Behaviour
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🐾 The Origin of Dogs: Understanding Domestication
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🌍 How Dogs Adapted to Environments Around the World
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Where did the dog come from?
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🐶 The Seven Dog Breed Groups
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Characteristics
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Providing Education According to Breed
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🐾 Choosing a Dog: Puppy vs. Adult Dogs
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🐾 Choosing a Dog: Rescue or Purpose-Bred?
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🐕 Breed Characteristics & the Proposed AAS Role
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🩺 Health & Genetic Considerations for Dogs Participating in AAS
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Test your knowledge
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🧠 How Your Dog Learns
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🧠 What Is Behaviour—and How Does It Occur?
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🧭 The Role of Management in Kind, Effective Dog Training
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🔄 Habituation
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⚡ Sensitisation
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🎓 Operant Conditioning
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⚖️ Understanding the Law of Effect in Dog Training
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Four Quadrants to Behaviour
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🔗 Respondent Conditioning
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🔄 Understanding Extinction in Dog Training
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Test your knowledge
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🎥 Clicker Training: Understanding the Marker
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Introducing your dog to the clicker
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Easy Exercise to practice your clicker skills
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Adding another dimension to the behaviour
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About this course
- $1,499.95
- For Professionals or Volunteers
- Homework
- Certification
✅ Why Choose the Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™?
Your enrolment includes:
✅ Comprehensive online AAS education.
✅ Practical dog-training instruction.
✅ Reinforcement-based training methods.
✅ Role Demand Profile preparation.
✅ Dog Capacity education.
✅ Handler Skill & Advocacy development.
✅ Welfare and sustainability guidance.
✅ Health and safety education.
✅ Knowledge assessments.
✅ Downloadable resources and templates.
✅ Practical training demonstrations.
✅ Private course community.
✅ Opportunities to submit training videos and ask questions.
✅ Lifetime access to the course.
✅ Future course and video updates as they are added.
✅ A structured pathway towards PATS practical assessment and certification.
🎥 Practical Training & Ongoing Support
This is not simply a collection of theory lessons.
Throughout the programme you will have access to practical training demonstrations, downloadable resources, training exercises and supporting materials.
📝 Knowledge Assessments
Professional preparation involves more than simply reading course content.
Knowledge assessments are included throughout the programme to help you demonstrate that you can understand and apply the principles being taught.
Questions include realistic scenarios covering areas such as:
- Role demands.
- Dog behaviour and welfare.
- Handler decision-making.
- Participant interaction.
- Risk and safety.
- Working arrangements.
- Sustainable participation.
These assessments form part of the preparation pathway towards PATS practical assessment.
🏅 From Training to Certification
The Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™ gives you a clear pathway from learning and practical training through to professional assessment and certification.
Throughout the programme, you will develop the knowledge and practical skills needed to prepare your dog–handler team for the specific Animal-Assisted Services role you hope to undertake.
When you and your dog are ready, you can progress to a PATS practical assessment, where your team is assessed in relation to your proposed role, working environment and the type of participation expected.
This means you are not simply being asked whether your dog can “pass a therapy dog test”.
Instead, the assessment considers whether you and your dog are appropriately prepared to work together in the role you actually intend to undertake.
Your pathway:
Learn → Train → Prepare → Assess → Certify
Practical assessment and certification are separate professional services and are not included in the course fee.
PATS certification is reviewed annually to help ensure the role continues to remain appropriate, safe and sustainable for the dog–handler team.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Will completing this course guarantee that my dog will become certified?
No. Completion of the course provides the knowledge and training pathway needed to prepare your team, but certification requires a separate practical assessment. Not every dog will be suited to every proposed AAS role, and no ethical programme can guarantee certification before assessing the individual dog, handler and role.
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How old must my dog be for assessment?
Dogs must be at least 12 months of age before formal PATS practical assessment. The dog and handler must also have an established working relationship before assessment. You can begin appropriate foundation education and training before your dog reaches assessment age.
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Does my dog need to enjoy being touched by everyone?
No. Not all AAS activities require physical interaction. The type and amount of contact expected should reflect the proposed role, the participant, and the individual dog's comfort and willingness to participate.
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Does my dog need to work comfortably in every possible environment?
No. PATS uses a role-specific approach. Your dog needs to demonstrate appropriate capacity for the conditions relevant to the role you actually intend to undertake.
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Can I complete the programme if I live outside Western Australia?
Yes. The course itself is online and can be completed from anywhere. Approved practical assessment pathways are available for teams who cannot attend an in-person assessment with PATS.
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Is assessment included in the course fee?
No. Practical assessment and certification are separate professional services and are charged separately.
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Is reassessment required?
Yes. PATS certification is reassessed every 12 months. An earlier review or reassessment may be required where there has been a significant change to the dog, handler, role, environment or working arrangements.
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Will I receive help with my training?
Yes. You will have access to the course community, where you can ask questions, discuss your progress and submit training videos for feedback
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How long do I have access to the course?
You now receive lifetime access. This includes future updates and additional course resources as they are added.
Learn With Charlotte Smithson
Government Approved Assistance Dog Assessor Charlotte Smithson
Charlotte Smithson is the founder of Perth Animal Training Specialists and an experienced animal trainer, behaviour practitioner and assessor. She specialises in preparing dog–handler teams for ethical, welfare-centred participation in Animal-Assisted Services, with a strong focus on role suitability, handler skills and sustainable working partnerships.
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Social proof: testimonials
What some of our students say!
How PAT's help my dog Angus
I came to Charlotte to have Angus assessed as a potential Assistance Dog. She picked up on some anxiety issues with him and recommended that I conducted The Therapy Dog Formula™ training. I have never looked back. Both he an I are celebrating our role for Dog's for First Responders and have loved the entire journey.
Why Charlotte's Program Helped me!
Charlotte is such a supportive and genuinely caring trainer. My teenager and I look forward to every session and are both forever amazed at how masterfully she makes dog training fun for us and our assistance dog in training.
The way forward
I've known Charlotte for several years now and this course has made all the difference to my dog's development, in many ways. Mostly, I have learnt a lot about how go about training in a more positive way.
🐾 Ready to Begin?
The Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™ is designed for people who want to do more than simply take their dog into a helping environment.
It is for those who want to understand how to prepare, support and advocate for a dog–handler team responsibly.
If your goal is to develop an Animal-Assisted Services role that is purposeful, ethical and sustainable for both people and dogs, this programme will give you the framework to begin.
Enrol in the Therapy Dog Formula Blueprint™