DOG TRAINERS > LITTLE ANGELS SERVICE DOGS
LITTLE ANGELS SERVICE DOGS
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Little Angels Service Dogs is a non-profit organization of trainers and volunteers to work together to provide highly-trained service dogs to assist disabled children and adults, including veterans with PTSD and TBI, among other disabilities. Most of the dogs they place are puppies from their own breeding program, but they also rescue dogs and train them as well. They train dogs to assist with autism, hearing impairment, mobility assistance, psychiatric assistance and seizure alert.
The facility, on a magnificent ten-acre ranch in San Diego county, is run by director, Katie Gonzalez. Katie began her career training police dogs, but switched gears when she saw what a difference she could make training dogs to assist people with disabilities. And she’s been making a difference for the last twenty years.
The facility, on a magnificent ten-acre ranch in San Diego county, is run by director, Katie Gonzalez. Katie began her career training police dogs, but switched gears when she saw what a difference she could make training dogs to assist people with disabilities. And she’s been making a difference for the last twenty years.
ABOUT KATIE GONZALEZ
I’ve been training service dogs for 20 years. In 1998 I enrolled in a school that instructed students in the training of police, competition, pet, and assistance dogs. This three-year program gave me the experience of handling thousands of dogs with varying talents and motivations.
I began my career training police dogs, but quickly switched gears when I saw how a well-trained assistance dog could change the life of someone living with a disability. In 2006 I opened the doors of Little Angels and found that my small program attracted disabled recipients from across the United States, due to the high demand of highly trained dogs.
In the years that followed I used my experience to create a new method for dogs to be actively trained in medical alert. I discovered that dogs could be trained to alert to the symptoms of anxiety, and flashbacks, or to the scent of seizures through a combination of operant and classical conditioning. Both methods had been used to train animals for years, but not in combination with each other.
This created groundbreaking new methods not used by organizations up until that time. In the years preceding, organizations were placing dogs with recipients, with the hope that the dog would learn to naturally alert to their medical conditions. Only a few rare dogs were able to do this. It was a guessing game that often led to disappointment. But with the new active training methods that I discovered, any treat-motivated dog could quickly learn to recognize the cues, and alert successfully, bringing life-changing aid to those so desperately in need.
In 2010 Little Angels Service Dogs became a nonprofit organization and has successfully placed more than 100 completely trained assistance dogs, and has helped over 500 owners self-train their own dogs to assist.
I began my career training police dogs, but quickly switched gears when I saw how a well-trained assistance dog could change the life of someone living with a disability. In 2006 I opened the doors of Little Angels and found that my small program attracted disabled recipients from across the United States, due to the high demand of highly trained dogs.
In the years that followed I used my experience to create a new method for dogs to be actively trained in medical alert. I discovered that dogs could be trained to alert to the symptoms of anxiety, and flashbacks, or to the scent of seizures through a combination of operant and classical conditioning. Both methods had been used to train animals for years, but not in combination with each other.
This created groundbreaking new methods not used by organizations up until that time. In the years preceding, organizations were placing dogs with recipients, with the hope that the dog would learn to naturally alert to their medical conditions. Only a few rare dogs were able to do this. It was a guessing game that often led to disappointment. But with the new active training methods that I discovered, any treat-motivated dog could quickly learn to recognize the cues, and alert successfully, bringing life-changing aid to those so desperately in need.
In 2010 Little Angels Service Dogs became a nonprofit organization and has successfully placed more than 100 completely trained assistance dogs, and has helped over 500 owners self-train their own dogs to assist.