To be eligible for our program 3 of the tasks must support your medical, care, emotional and support needs. We've split these into categories to make it easier to navigate but you can choose any of the tasks below as long as they support your specific needs relating to being disabled. 

Our membership fee for assistance dog in training is  £70 per calendar month. Our membership fee for fully trained partnerships is £6 per calendar month.

Membership fees are reviewed each April and may be adjusted annually to reflect changes in:

·       Running costs

·       Inflation

·       Service expansion and improvement

We guarantee to provide at least 30 days’ notice of any fee changes.

As a not-for-profit organisation, we remain committed to keeping our services affordable, while ensuring we can continue to offer a high standard of support for you and your dog

There maybe support available for fund the assistance dog program for you/ your child. Below is a list of some options which may be available to you. 

1) Funding through your local authority including through short breaks. Some adult clients have been granted funding for 12 months of the assistance dog program as part of their social care provision. This is usually capped at 12 months however so it's important to have a plan for how you pay for the program moving forward. You would need to discuss this possibility with your social worker. 

We have several families who have been granted permission to use their short breaks funding for the assistance dog program where the young person would not realistically be able to access other provisions where the primary care giver goes off site/ where they would go out with other carers. Most disabled young people who recieve mid or high DLA are eligible for short breaks funding. Search your local authority website for more information or speak with your social worker/ family support worker for more information.  We have a proposal letter which can be downloaded here to submit to your local authority short breaks team to request permission to use the short breaks funding for us: Short breaks proposal for pawsitive squad assistance dog program .pdf

2) Funding through a personal budget as part of the EHCP - If the young person wanting to train their dog as an assistance dog is not able to access a full time education, the local authority may consider funding the assistance dog program as part of their educational provision. You can download a proposal letter for the assistance dog program as an educational provision here: Educational proposal for asistance dog program commissioning.pdf 

please note, this is for the assistance dog program outlined here. For a more bespoke 1:1 animal centred educational provision, we have an alternative provision service. Please go to alternative provision to find out more. 

3) Grants from disability-specific charities - There are lots of charities that provide grants to disabled children and young people, each coming with its own specific eligibility criteria. When looking to obtain a grant towards assistance dog training from charities, we recommend you apply to charities that offer support for your specific disability. Even if these charities are unable to support you, they may be able to signpost you towards other potential funders. 

4) Grants from accessing work & building better opportunities (BBO) projects and programs in your local area -This may be an option for prospective clients aged 16 - 25 if you would need an assistance dog to be able to access employment. Simply search for your local access to work/ building better opportunity project provider  If they're not able to provide funding support they may be able to signpost you to potential funding sources. 

5) Crowdfunding - There are several crowdfunding platforms where sharing your assistance dog aim may enable you to get donations from the general public towards your journey. Tree of Hope offers a crowdfunding platform through their charity which has lots of benefits including being able to add gift aid to donations and being more likely to obtain matched funding and corporate funding. Other crowdfunding platforms which may be suitable include Go Fund Me and Just Giving.

6) Personal Health Budgets from the NHS - If your receives continuing care from the NHS or you receive NHS Continuing Healthcare you're eligible for a personal health budget. In some circumstances, you may be able to use this personal health budget to fund your assistance dogs training. You can read about an assistance dog (not with Pawsitive Squad) who was trained using their personal budget by clicking here.

7) Other grant providers, community organisations etc - It maybe worth approaching your local rotary club or similar organisation to ask if they're able to provide funding support. 

8) US - Families and individual may apply for a scholarship to reduce your monthly membership to £45 per month if the full membership fee is just not achievable for you. To apply for this please email us at enquiries@pawsitivesquad.co.uk. Please note, to apply for a scholarship you will be required to provide evidence of 3 months of income and expenditure as well as savings. Scholarships are considered by the board of directors on a case by case basis. 

• For assistance dog in training clients, a minimum attendance of 4 different classes per month (1 hour total) is required.
• The exception is August where attendance is not mandatory due to holidays and reduced timetable, and December has a minimum attendance of 2 different classes within the month.
• There is no class requirement for fully trained assistance dog classes, though fully trained partnerships may attend classes if they wish.
• If clients cannot meet the required attendance and commitment, then we are not a suitable program for them. We cannot change our expectations for individual clients.
• Clients who miss the minimum requirement of attendance for 2 months (consecutively or non-consecutively) will be removed from the program. If clients feel this should be waived due to exceptional circumstances, then a written, video or audio recorded request to remain on the program explaining & evidences the circumstances and how the client will be able to re-meet the attendance requirements moving forward must be provided to the board of directors for consideration within 30 days of notification to remove from the program.
• Outside of Pawsitive Squad sessions, handlers should ensure their dog has community-based training on top of their usual exercise walks at least once per week.
• On top of the practical commitments, handlers must be commited to being open and honest about their disabilities and health needs and happy to provide evidence of these upon request.