AMERICAN VETERANS SERVICE DOG ACADEMY

AVSDA is a small organization with a board of directors who also act as the primary volunteers supporting classes as well as small fund-raising events. We contract with Peggy Moran, the proprietor of Peggy Moran's School for Dogs for all of our training. We chose Peggy for her experience in training service dogs using a reward based, no-punishment training style that leads to a powerful relationship between the Veteran and the dog with no displaced behaviors built into the dog through punishment.

Our training program takes approximately 18 months to two years to complete.

Group sessions support shared learning through observation of others as they train. Group sessions also provide an opportunity to become a part of the AVSDA family. At the end of training, the Veteran-service dog team remains a part of the AVSDA family as they are invited to return for annual training events and to visit with new classes of Veterans.