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Assistance dog team certification

Lacking strong transparency and quality management, traditional exams and on-site assessments produce just a sparse audit trail. Decisions are based on fleeting impressions. Candidates feeling unfairly evaluated are helpless and have little recourse. Processes are improvised, and lack processes to improve.

Our exam process, iCert360™, is the first truly independent certification, designed to be globally comparable. Our proprietary technologies and ISO-aligned certification framework have been developed and refined over many years, to provide a certification that is fair and accessible.

Below, we describe the process step-by-step and how it improves traditional exams, benefitting all stakeholders. Every step is designed to lower the assistance dog teams’ stress, minimize examiner bias, prevent errors, and optimize fairness. Data protection principles protect your data throughout.

Pre-register now! Join the waiting list

What certified teams say

The exam was based on my everyday life and daily routine. I quickly came away from the feeling of being in an exam. There was just one person behind us. And soon I stopped noticing the unobtrusive camera. I never felt at the mercy of others and could set the pace at any time. M. M., Qualified assistance dog team
I could have watched mistakes on the video if I needed to. If you don't pass, you're not a bad team. You just have to develop to become a better team. Later you can show that progress again. So I was relaxed right from the start. M. M., qualified assistance dog team
When I was looking for an exam for my trained assistance dog, this team exam appealed to me primarily because of its objectivity and independence from training centers and trainers. N.N., qualified autism assistance dog team
My disability-related restrictions were considered throughout the entire testing process. I had the feeling that a lot of effort was made to find individual solutions. My personal limits were taken seriously, and I was given plenty of opportunities to take breaks. N.N., qualified autism assistance dog team
I was incredibly nervous, but this excitement was completely unfounded. It was a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. I forgot the cameras quickly, and it felt like a normal training session. H.S., qualified assistance dog team
The atmosphere at the exam was relaxed. This was certainly helped by the fact that we discussed the route, before we set off. U. K., qualified assistance dog team
It was also important to me that it didn't feel like I was rushed. It was very clear that it was about a process that I could absolutely understand. M. M., qualified assistance dog team
I would choose this exam again in a heartbeat, as the balance between professionalism and humanity was right for me. N.N., qualified autism assistance dog team
I was pleasantly surprised that Leo was not at all unsettled or distracted by the fact that he was being "followed". U. K., Qualified assistance dog team
Everything was calm and organized. The specifications were strictly adhered to, but I had control over implementing everything in a way that suited us. H.S., Qualified assistance dog team

The certification process, iCert360 — step by step

  • You supply required documentation about you, your needs, and your dog.
  • Your information is treated confidentially and according to high data protection standards.
  • An independent data protection officer supports our data protection processes for data protection compliance.
  • Our external certification partner applies the same high standards.
  • Your final commitment and payment are required only if you are admitted to the assessment.
  • iCert360™ is offered through an external, regulated assessment body.
  • Fees and more details will be published as contracts are finalized.

Note:
The next exam cycle starts in spring 2026.
Secure your place on the waiting list, obligation-free.
Self-financed teams may qualify for a subsidy thanks to direct-giving impact funds.

Pre-register now to join the next exam cycle
Data safety

Data protection laws require an external data protection agent for ALL organizations, large or small, processing health data. Many organizations offering public access tests do not comply with these laws or even know about them.

Furthermore, in traditional exam formats, your paperwork, personal history, the exam, and the assessment are all done by the same people. This easily leads to bias. Your judges have a lot of information about you. This may cause negative associations, whether unconscious or due to prejudice.

iCert360™ shares only relevant information with the examiners: your needs, your assistance dog’s tasks, and our audit-grade, multi-perspective video documentation.
We do not share: your name, where you live, your service providers, whether your dog was educated by someone else or yourself, and other personal details.

This is how we ensure that examiners focus on your readiness as an assistance dog team — bias-free and fully documented.

  • A handbook, provided by the Assistance Dog Foundation free of charge, can help you prepare for the theoretical exam.
  • The theoretical exam is done remotely via video conferencing in multiple-choice format and lasts 30 minutes.
  • A modern set of proctoring technologies ensures compliance.
  • You receive technical support and accessibility adaptations as needed.
  • Once you pass your theoretical exam, you are scheduled for the live exam.
Benefits for you and fairness

In traditional exams, the theoretical exam is often placed prior or during the practical exam. This accommodates the examiners and reduces their travel needs.

For the handler, this prolongs an already tiring assessment process. Being subjected to both exams on the same day significantly adds to the stress level and may impair concentration.

Your exam follows a detailed protocol based on our certification scheme and aligned to global standards. This ensures that all relevant aspects are covered and our certificates are comparable.

In addition to the list of assistance dog tasks, you may also submit a list of familiar locations. Your final exam route is shared with you on the day of your practical exam.

  • You meet your video proctor at the agreed location.
  • She activates a discreet multi-camera setup, incl. a small wearable camera for your viewpoint.
  • You and your proctor are connected to the exam supervisor via encrypted livestream and audio.
  • The remote supervisor guides the route and tasks, focused and undistracted.
  • You and your dog go through the exam at your tempo and with minimal interruption.
  • The proctor only monitors the technologies — you are not judged during the exam.
What you can expect
  • Real-life scenarios on your daily routes, in places you typically visit, where possible.
  • The exam is often split into two sessions and includes breaks to reduce stress.
  • Candidates regularly report that the process reduces stress and feels non-invasive.
What we capture
  • Multiple viewpoints, including your perspective (what you see and hear).
  • Share your self-assessment after the exam to be shared with the examiners (optional).
  • Handler–dog interaction, the dog’s body language, and complete environmental context.
  • Detailed video documentation, suitable for pause, rewind, and slow-motion review.
  • Our cameras reliably capture the full environment, without limitation; nothing is missed.
Logistics & welfare
  • While the requirements are set, we consider your input and disability-specific needs.
  • Third parties may observe, but no longer need to, as video documentation is available.
  • Since examiners do not incur travel expenses, we can be more flexible and affordable.
  • If needed, the exam can be split over multiple days.
Benefits for you and exam fairness
Fewer blind spots
  • Multi-angle video shows details a single on-site view would miss.
  • Focused, organized, documented remote exam supervision.
Lower stress
  • No examiner entourage
  • Familiar locations, meaningful tasks.
  • Our ISO-aligned certification typically requires 3-4 hours of examination. Sessions, however, can be adapted to your needs and even split over multiple days.
  • Your examiners’ quality scores are also continuously measured and compared.
More accurate:
  • Multiple views (yours, too) capture details someone following can’t see.
  • When examiners multitask (observing, walking, planning, note-taking) accuracy suffers.
  • Remote exam supervision remains focused at all times.
  • Video evidence is reviewed with care, not in the rush of the moment.
How it works
  • Three examiners assess you later, undistracted, based on the video documentation and audio.
  • The scores and comments of the other examiners are confidential.
  • Examiner do not know, who the others are, to prevent group bias and distortions of judgement.
  • “Nothing about us without us” – we honor this principle by including an experienced assistance dog handler as examiner when possible.
  • They see multiple perspectives simultaneously, including the handler’s.
  • The examiners may pause, rewind, zoom in and slow-mo the video as needed.
  • Your name, location, assistance dog professional, or personal information are not disclosed.
  • Logos and identifiers are covered. Teams are referenced only by an ID.
  • Reflecting our certification scheme’s focus on human-dog partnership, examiners focus less on problems, and more on how you resolve them with your dog.
Ensuring fairness
  • Outlier ratings are flagged, reviewed, and notes compared.
  • Only after careful review do we calculate your final result.
  • We monitor the examiners’ performance data.
If you don’t pass
  • Partial re-tests are possible where appropriate.
  • The video allows for clear feedback with referenced scenes.
  • A failed assessment turns into a learning opportunity and self-improvement.
Benefits for you and exam fairness
Less bias
  • No personal data or groupthink introduces prejudice and bias.
  • Sound observation replaces selective and subjective perception.
  • “Nothing about us without us”: Typically, one examiner is an assistance dog handler with a similar disability.
Fairer decisions
  • Multiple examiners rate you independently.
  • Not influenced by others.
  • We also measure and update your examiners’ quality scores.
Higher accuracy
  • Multiple angles (incl. handler’s view) show details a live observer misses.
  • Option to rewind and slow-mo.
  • Every decision is based on time-stamped clips.
Transparency and audit-grade documentation
  • Questions can be resolved by re-checking relevant scenes together.
  • No memory bias and discussions; the video is the record.
  • Dispute resolution is easier than ever before.

We provide a carefully optimized certification scheme for assistance dog teams as an independent nonprofit. For all things certification, we are your point of contact and also maintain a global register.

Responsibility for the full certification process itself, however, rests with a 3rd-party certification agency we recruit to comply with ISO-standards.

This setup ensures global validity of your certification while also ensuring that the process is informed by an organization deeply rooted in the assistance dog sector. The Assistance Dog Foundation also aims to keep costs low and secure additional support for certified teams.

Benefits for you and fairness

  • A certified handler is competent at managing the dog’s welfare.
  • Concerns and incidents are logged and tracked to resolution.
  • Recertification is only due if a substantiated concern is not resolved.
  • Certification ends for a dog unable to assist or on the 10th birthday.
    Annual extensions are possible for a dog fit to work.
  • Easily update your emergency contacts and details in the register.
  • Aftercare starts with certification and ends when the dog retires.
Benefits for you and fairness

Certified handlers and assistance dog professionals are our partners in our quest to ensure successful assistance dog teams.

We turn to them for timely, effective solutions when concerns arise.

  • We apply the same quality standards and processes to every team.
  • Regular internal and external audits result in published improvements.
  • Examiners’ performance and outcome are tracked (quality score).
  • Examiners stay current on developments in the assistance dog sector.
  • A feedback channel invites suggestions and concerns from applicants, candidates, certified teams, and the public for improvement.
  • Independent studies strengthen welfare and acceptance.
  • Our comprehensive bibliography supports research.
  • Our register serves as reliable verification for the public, decision-makers, and funders.
Pre-register now! Join the waiting list

Compare us to other options

A few governments have tried to regulate assistance dog teams and service providers. The following are some typical problems:

  • National relevance only, no international recognition.
  • Regulations, once implemented, become static.
  • Rarely reviewed and adapted to progress.
  • At times, weak feedback loops and unclear processes.
  • Often skewed by lobbying activities or ideology.
  • Written by sector outsiders, laws may contradict practical requirements and be overly or non-inclusive.
  • Overly inclusive: ranging from mere self-declaration to inventing new assistance dog categories, inviting abuse.
  • Non-inclusive and rigid: prescriptive laws may clash with concept requirements or fail the needs of teams.

Every service provider should assess the readiness of their teams before concluding their education. Such assessments are valuable for internal purposes.

Obviously, however, there are conflicts of interest with this approach. Provider assessments have limited to no validity as a public certification, even when done by colleagues or others within a professional association.

Funding bodies, like health insurances, typically require a comprehensive assessment to ensure that the handler and dog are competent, tasks are successfully executed, and that both safely navigate life, together.

These assessments have been controversial with assistance dog handlers and service providers alike. They often last many hours, with very little flexibility to accommodate problems arising. They frequently bring teams to their limits, causing welfare concerns for both humans and dogs.

Documentation is sparse, and disputes are frequent and costly, adding to the travel expenses caused by multiple examiners.

A range of nonprofits have attempted to provide qualified teams with validation. These efforts typically suffer from a lack of funding and/or professional structures and quality management. These unsustainable structures quickly derail the intended vision.

Assistance Dog Foundation is a nonprofit as well, yet approaches the problem with the required gravitas.
Over the years, we have invested countless resources into pairing cutting-edge technologies with a professional conformity framework. Partnering with a third-party certification agency ensures that processes are independent, validated, well-structured, and ISO standard-aligned. We offer assistance dog team certification for a reasonable and sustainable fee, subsidized by “our angels” when needed.

A flood of official-looking assistance dog IDs and harnesses confuses the public. This encouraged a flood of unqualified or outright fake teams, jeopardizing this life-saving concept.

A lucrative income to the creators, they are simply issued for a fee. At times, submitting a doctor’s letter of recommendation is required; sometimes these services even offer to write such an attestation remotely for an additional fee. If there is an “exam”, it is minimal and flawed, like sending in video snippets.

This abuse endangers the assistance dog concept, and ending it is our goal. Qualified handlers, who depend on their assistance dog for improved autonomy, finally need to be recognized beyond a doubt and their rights protected.

Why video documentation beats live assessment

People often associate videos with “surveillance” a mode where you are supervised without recourse.
Less bias
No personal data or groupthink introduces prejudice and bias.
Sound observation replaces selective and subjective perception.
“Nothing about us without us”: Typically, one examiner is an assistance dog handler with a similar disability.
Fairer decisions
Multiple examiners rate you independently.
Not influenced by others.
We also measure and update your examiners’ quality scores.
Higher accuracy
Multiple angles (incl. handler’s view) show details a live observer misses.
Option to rewind and slow-mo.
Every decision is based on time-stamped clips.

Helping hand in action with assistance dogs supporting independence for people with disabilities.

Be a part of our vision - via direct giving Impact Fund or a donation.

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Assistance Dog Fdn., The Hague Humanity Hub, Fluwelen Burgwal 58, 2511 CJ The Hague, Netherlands
While our phone number is being set up, please contact us here or email us: [email protected]

Assistance Dog Foundation is a stichting with charitable mission. We are currently applying for recognition of our nonprofit status as Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling (ANBI) by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration.
 

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