Peanut Pets: Allergen Detection Course

Peanut Pets: Allergen Detection Course

 

You may have seen inspiring videos featuring service dogs trained to detect peanuts and other allergens.

 

In this course, you'll be guided in training your own pet dog, at home, to detect and alert to the presence of allergens, such as peanuts. ​

 

In the course, you'll learn:

• Safe working practices

• How to train your dog to detect peanuts (or another food allergen)

• How to train your dog to communicate what they detect

• Techniques for building reliability and accuracy in detection

• How to build a working partnership with your dog

• Strategies for managing distractions and challenging environments

• How to maintain your dog's skills over time

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What makes this course special?

This course allows pets to develop the specialist allergen detection skills usually reserved for service dogs. This allows many more people to access the potentially life-saving skills of an allergen detection dog. Training full service dogs takes 2-3 years and is costly. By focusing on just the allergen detection skills, some pet dogs can begin alerting reliably to peanuts within a few months. Training sessions are short and can fit around your daily schedule. The knowledge and understanding of the process that you will gain will help keep you safe, build your partnership with your dog, and allow you to maintain or adapt your dog's skills over time. See FAQs for further information.

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​As an allergen detection pet, your dog could:

• check items brought home from a supermarket;

• check takeaway meals;

• accompany their owner to picnic areas;

• to outdoor public events;

• to pet-friendly / outdoor restaurants and cafes; and, 

• the houses of pet-friendly friends and relatives. 

In this way, allergen detection pets can potentially offer added freedom, peace of mind, inclusion, and safety for individuals living with allergies.

 

The course is structured in a step by step way and can be accessed anytime, anywhere, for one year, allowing you to progress at your dog's pace.

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A key benefit of the course is the community area, where the course leaders are available to answer questions, provide support, and help you tailor the materials to suit your dog's needs. Additionally, you can connect and share experiences with others who are on the same training journey.