Building global trust
Let’s turn wilderness into a sustainable landscape where qualified assistance dog teams flourish, and their rights and welfare are secured.
1
We certify
what is real
2
We
safeguard welfare
3
We advance
what is next
Transparency and standards protect registered teams and ensure recognition wherever they go.
These measures prevent hardship, safeguard dogs’ welfare, and help certified teams thrive.
Your independent guide at the frontier
Assistance Dog Foundation (A-Foundation) is free from commercial and partisan interests. Our independence is enshrined in our statutes and shaped by more than a decade of international standardization work, dialogue, and outreach.
We don’t police the sector — we strengthen it.
Rather than focusing on what goes wrong, we build clear, positive pathways for a thriving future. By certifying qualified teams and supporting those who uphold high standards, we create a framework where excellence naturally prevails and imitation loses ground.
As an international nonprofit, we advance progress through:
- independent third-party certification and registry,
- advanced audit-grade technology,
- objective, globally comparable assessments,
- a diligent process considerate of each team’s needs,
- comprehensive quality management, and
- continuous dialogue and feedback loops.
For policymakers and funders
Our standards are co-created with experts, handlers, professionals, and policymakers to strengthen legitimacy, trust, and care across the sector. Every step is transparent, traceable, and quality-controlled — from audit-grade video documentation to our fully managed certification process.
Through ISO-aligned quality management, we turn uncertainty into verifiable data and measurable impact. Each euro invested creates both accountability and progress.
Quality assurance affects and supports each individual assistance dog team. At the same time, it also reduces your risks as policymakers and funders. By securing fully managed outcomes, A-Foundation builds a sustainable infrastructure that secures the future of legitimate assistance dog teams worldwide.
Our compass – partnership
Successful assistance dog teams are based on mutual partnership.
Our standards recognize the handler as a competent, responsible leader (not a passive recipient) and the dog as a sentient partner (not a medical device).
Our ISO-aligned processes consider all stakeholders:
handlers, professionals, the public, policymakers, funders —
and above all, the dog, who cannot speak for itself.
Only when everyone’s needs are met can the concept flourish.
