It's Official: Brogan is a Registered California Assistance Dog!

Bouncing Baby Brogan: official California State Assistance Dog #246

Here Brogan goes highjacking Emma's blog again, but I was just so happy to get his Assistance Dog tags that I had to have a good brag about it.

A couple months ago I started looking into the process of getting Brogan certified as an Assistance Dog. I didn't really know what that meant or entailed, but have since become a newbie expert on ADA laws as pertaining to Assistance Dogs in the US as well as the UK, France and Germany.

The first step was to make sure that I myself qualified, then I started working on Brogan. He's already been through about 20 training classes and passed his Canine Good Citizen exam last summer with Dawna Caldwell at Happy Tails. The next step was to get a letter of recommendation from my doctor (a 'doggie prescription' if you will). Due to federal ADA laws, nothing much more is needed within the US, but as I wanted to start to take Brogan to more unusual locales (into stores and trains, for example) I applied for California Assistance Dog license through San Jose Animal Control. Given Brogan's breed, I felt it best to be as official as possible!

Though it took a while due to the Christmas holidays, getting the license was no bother at all and everyone at Animal Control was very helpful (special thanks to Dottie). The tag itself is a nice little gold-colored disk with an engraved outline of California, Brogan's license number and "California Assistance Dog".

Next step: getting Brogan tricked out in his Assistance Dog cape and patches and getting him out and about. His leg is doing much better this week and we've actually been able to start training again so forays into San Francisco to tackle BART, buses, escalators and the like could start at the end of March.

Ultimately my goal is to have Brogan certified internationally through a member organization of Assistance Dogs International called Top Dog. Top Dog is a non-profit training center in Tucson, Arizona which intensively trains and tests dogs using their handlers (i.e. me) as primary trainers. Hopefully Brogan will experience his first plane trip this spring so that we can pass his tests together in Arizona. Then whether it's the local Barnes and Noble or the FNAC in Paris, Brogan will be able to assist me and have the right to travel safely by my side. Good boy!