ABOUT ADAA.

At ADAA we are aware the lack of clarity about what defines an assistance dog in UK law has led to confusion in recent years, this has lead to:

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• Scrupulous organisations charging vulnerable people thousands of pounds for untrained/unsuitable dogs.
   

• Abuse of the premise of an assistance dog, taking untrained/unsuitable dogs into shops under the banner of an assistance dog, when they aren’t genuine.
   

• Additional stress to genuine teams accessing everyday services for fear of being challenged by service providers.
   

• Confusion for service providers over their rights, and uncertainty if they can refuse teams.

 

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ADAA are striving to standardise assistance dogs, setting high standards we can all be proud of, and closing that gap in the assistance dog sector that has caused many teams’ undue stress.

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Our independent public access assessment has been written by experts with over 30 years’ experience within the assistance dog sector and the dog training sector. It is designed to rigorously test the team in a various of everyday scenarios, and emergency scenarios e.g. dog being removed from handler.

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Qualified teams will be able to use ADAA’s:
 

• Easily recognisable ADAA lead slip.

• ID cards with individual membership number (available to purchase).

• One-click QR Code access for instant verification via our easy-to-use active client register.