Vacancy - Assistance Dog Trainer

Job Description

Autism Dogs Charity, based in Congleton, Cheshire.

Permanent contract, 35 hours/week. 7-hour shifts on both weekdays and weekends (days to be confirmed),with occasional overnight duties. Required to work off site, anywhere within mainland England, Scotland, and Wales, including overnight stays.

Competitive hourly wage.

The application process will include an interview and at least one trial shift. After this, you will be offered a probationary period of 3 weeks. Following the probationary period, you will be offered the role.

Do you have experience in Assistance Dog Training and would like to work in a new, unique environment? We are currently seeking a caring, committed and hard-working individual to join our Training team at our base in Congleton!

The Opportunity

Our team provides a high standard of training for all of our Assistance Dogs in Training, and qualified Assistance Dogs. Through this role, you would gain amazing experience training our dogs through a varied and rewarding role in the company. The successful candidate will work within our training team to assist with the training of our Assistance Dogs in Training, providing training support to our existing teams, and providing training to our autistic clients and their families.

The role will include a variety of training, which includes but is not limited to: basic obedience training, behavioural training, public access training, advanced task training, and client training.

Essentials for the role

• Educated to degree level in a relevant subject area.

• Within a reasonable travelling distance of Congleton. 
• Full UK Driving Licence.

Desirables for the role

• Experience delivering training to disabled clients.
• 2+ years of experience training Assistance Dogs.
• Member of AAII (Animal Assisted Intervention International)
• Member of the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants

Personal skills

·       Self-motivated

·       Enthusiastic

·       Organised

·       Willingness to continue to learn

·       Honest

·       Reliable

·       Interpersonal skills

About us

Autism Dogs Charity is driven and motivated by our love of dogs and our passion for helping autistic people. 

Autism is a spectrum condition meaning that although autistic people share common difficulties, these are experienced in different ways. All autistic people have difficulties in social interaction, social communication, and social imagination. Autistic people can also face difficulties in sensory sensitivities, high anxiety, and restrictive and repetitive behaviours. By adding the wonderful benefits of a highly-trained dog into the life of an autistic person, we hope to improve their independence, and enable them to develop new skills and gain greater social confidence. 

We provide Assistance Dogs for autistic children and adults. We are the first and only Assistance Dog Programme accredited by the National Autistic Society, a member of Assistance Dogs International and Assistance Dogs UK, a full member of the aaii and SCAS, supporting member of the ABTC, a Disability Confident Employer, and a pre-approved training school for Assistance Dog for British Airways. One of our Founders and Training Director, Andrew Preston, is 1 of only 4 Kennel Club Accredited Instructors for Assistance Dogs in the UK. 

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How to apply

Please email us at abigailshort@autismdogs.co.uk for an application form! 

Applications deadline: Ongoing until suitable candidate is found.

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