Training Levels and Pricing

Elite Family Companion

Elite Family Companion

This is a Highly Trained Companion Dog that will follow commands on leash with high distractions, as well as responding to off leash recall.

This dog is perfect for anyone wanting to take their companion to parks, sporting events with the kids and the local pet store. This training prepares the dog to jog or walk on a loose leash alongside you on a trail or around their neighborhood. You will enjoy the freedom of off-leash recall while throwing a Frisbee on the beach or going for a long hike in the mountains. This dog will be well-behaved, obedient and by your side for all of life’s adventures.

Not only will your dog be adequately prepared to take the CGC Test with you (after a bonding period), they will also be ready for the AKC Community Canine (CGC) test.

Canine Good Citizen tests are simulations of real world skills, (e.g., dog/handler walk through a “crowd” of evaluators in a ring). The goal of AKC Community Canine is to test the dog’s skills in a natural, real world setting. For example, rather than the dog being tested in a ring, with AKC Community Canine, the “walks through a crowd” test item involves the dog walking through a real crowd at a pet store, on a busy sidewalk, in a hardware store, or at a busy park.

Contact us for pricing.

The price of delivery varies depending on the distance and the training level of the dog but the delivery fee is normally $2500.00 + airfare when required.

Rolling Meadows works with several organizations that have helped provide financial assistance for Therapy, Emotional Support and Service Dogs. A few of them are Make-A-Wish Foundation, Sign Post Ministries and several Veterans Organizations.

Ultimate Companion Dog/Therapy Dog

Ultimate Companion Dog/Therapy Dog

These dogs are trained as Ultimate Companion Dogs/Therapy Dogs. Our Therapy Dogs have been selected for their social temperament and calm demeanor. They are then trained to be well-behaved in all situations and ready to be registered with a therapy dog organization (after a bonding period with you). A therapy dog provides comfort to people in nursing homes, hospitals, schools and many other situations. Most people volunteer with their therapy dog to benefit the local community. Therapy dogs are NOT Service Dogs and do not have public access rights.

Is this the right companion for you? These dogs are ultimate companions for the busy executive, who wants to be able to take their dog to work, board meetings or sales calls. They are perfect for physicians/therapists, who want a well-trained companion that can also work as a Therapy Dog comforting patients within the practice. Attorneys and other courthouse/judicial staff would be able to utilize their ultimate companion dogs as a Court Therapy Dog, which offers support to children and adults when giving difficult statements or testimony. Also, families who want to be involved in their community by sharing their dog as a Therapy Dog in local library reading programs, local retirement communities, children’s homes and hospitals. These dogs are great for teaching dog bite prevention workshops in local scout groups, church youth events, daycares and even your local elementary school. There are so many ways a Therapy Dog can benefit your community!

If you are interested in having an elite trained dog that you can share with your community, these dogs are perfect for you.

In addition to all of the previous levels of training, they are ready to be tested for their AKC Urban CGC. This test requires that the dog demonstrate CGC skills and beyond in a setting that includes traffic, crowds, noises, smells and other distractions that are present in a city or town. As with Canine Good Citizen, AKC Urban CGC is a 10-step test of skills that dogs must pass to earn the official AKC Urban CGC title.

AKC Urban CGC is a public access test that demonstrates dogs are well-behaved and well-trained when in public settings. The Urban CGC certificate can be used in all dog-friendly businesses (e.g., lodging, retail, transportation, public facilities) that recognize and accept dogs with good manners.

Your Ultimate Companion Dog will be able to go through public doorways in dog-friendly buildings without pulling or balking. They can walk through a crowd on a busy sidewalk with people coming towards them.

They are introduced to many types of distractions such as:

  • Helping people with learning difficulties
  • Assisting in reading programs for children
  • Support medical professionals in providing mental and physical therapy to their clients
  • Helping reduce anxiety in children and adults with dental phobias
  • Bringing comfort to people recovering from crisis
  • Providing grief support during the loss of a loved one
  • Supporting children and adults when giving statements and testimony in court

In all of their activities, our Therapy Dogs provide unconditional acceptance to those they visit.

The Healing Effects of Our Professionally Trained Therapy Dogs
Spending time with our Therapy Dogs produces marked improvements in humans, affecting the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of their well-being.

Therapy Dog owners frequently witness improvements in their client’s health and well-being and measurable improvements among faculty and staff are witnessed, as well. For example, therapy dogs visit chemotherapy patients in order to lower their blood pressure to a level acceptable for treatment, while bringing an overall sense of calm to all in the room.

Here are just some of the healing effects of therapy animal visits:

Mental Benefits:

  • Decrease in stress and anxiety, including that from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Decrease in depression, loneliness and feelings of isolation
  • Decrease in aggressive behaviors
  • Increase in socialization with an outward focus, including opportunities for laughter and a sense of happiness and well-being
  • Increase in mental stimulation, attention skills, and verbal interactions
  • Increase in spirit, self-esteem, and feeling of acceptance, enabling a patient to further participate in mental and physical therapy, to be more involved in group activities, and to accept social and emotional support

Physical Benefits

  • Decrease in blood pressure
  • Decrease in heart rate
  • Decrease in the stress hormone cortisol
  • Increase in hormones associated with health and a feeling of well-being, including beta-endorphin, beta-phenylethylamine, dopamine, oxytocin, prolactin and serotonin
  • Increase in level of fitness by providing stimulus for exercise, with improvement in activities in which they were limited
  • Improvement in fine motor skills, standing balance, wheelchair and other physical skills
  • In addition, the benefits listed above may result in a decrease in a person’s need for medications.

A Therapy Dog is NOT a Service Dog and therefore they do not get the same benefits or access that is allowed to the Service Dogs as per the ADA (Americans with Disability Act). We do not certify the Therapy Dogs.  You will be referred to outside agencies to take the Therapy Dog test if you need the dog certified.

Contact us for pricing.

Rolling Meadows works with several organizations that have helped provide financial assistance for Therapy, Emotional Support and Service Dogs. A few of them are Make-A-Wish Foundation, Sign Post Ministries and several Veterans Organizations.

Service Dog

Service Dog

When a client contacts us with a specific disability and need that would aided by having a service dog, we are honored, but also consider it a huge responsibility.

Everytime we evaluate a dog to bring it into our program, we are looking for that “diamond in the rough” that is special enough to become a service dog. Due to their uniqueness and specific set of skills needed, we are only able to train a few service dogs a year. This training can take anywhere from six months to a year. They are trained to respond to their obedience commands, as well as performing specific tasks for their handler.

Service Dogs are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. They are protected under the ADA (Americans with Disability Act).  For example, having a mental illness is an impairment, but being unable to perform daily task because of a mental illness is a disability. Service dogs are trained to do something to help with the person’s disability. In other words, the dog allows the person to overcome or improve his/her ability to perform their daily tasks.

What do they do?
Examples of such work or tasks include pulling a wheelchair, assisting a person who is having a seizure, counterbalance a handler with mental illness because he/she is dizzy because of medication, interrupt panic attacks or OCD behaviors, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support does not qualify as a service animal under the ADA.

Where can they go?
Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go.

Training Requirements

Each dog has been trained to meet the guidelines of the IAADP (International Association of Assistance Dog Partners). They receive a minimum of 120 hours of schooling over a period of at least six months. We spend over 30 hours devoted to outings that will prepare the dog to work obediently in public places. Every service dog will acquire proper social behavior skills.

  • No soliciting food or petting from other people while on duty
  • No sniffing merchandise or people or intruding into another dog’s space while on duty
  • Socialize to tolerate strange sights, sounds, odors, etc. in a wide variety of public settings
  • Ignores food on the floor or dropped in the dog’s vicinity while working outside the home
  • Works calmly on leash. No unruly behavior or unnecessary vocalizations in public settings

We require you to present a signed doctor’s note stating that you have a disability that is recognized by the ADA (Americans with Disability Act) and that you are a legitimate candidate for a service dog.

Contact us for pricing.

Rolling Meadows has worked with several organizations that have helped provide financial assistance for Therapy, Emotional Support or Service Dogs. A few of them are Make-A-Wish Foundation, Sign Post Ministries and several Veterans Organizations.

Service dogs can be trained to help with the following conditions:

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
  • Seizure Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Bipolar disorders
  • Panic attacks
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
  • Fibromyalgia

Service dogs can be trained for the following tasks:

  • Interrupt Repetitive Behaviors
  • Provide Deep Pressure
  • Track a child that tends to wander away
  • Help with keeping a child close when on outings
  • Facilitate social interactions and reduce fears associated with being around people
  • Lie down against the person during a seizure
  • Serve as a buffer to help the person cope with being in a crowd
  • Help the person calm down when agitated
  • Wake up a person having nightmares
  • Grounding a person dealing with fears and anxiety and helping him/her get back to the here & now
  • Help create a safe personal space
  • Provide balance assistance
  • Disrupt emotional overload
  • Carry items in a backpack
  • Press handicap door buttons when out in public
  • Help get up from a chair or the floor
  • Provide balance and stability when walking

Delivery:

This is such an important part of our Adult Trained Dog Program. We have learned over the years that our dogs do so much better being introduced to their new home by someone that they trust and respect.
Our delivery process is much more than bringing you a dog and giving you a list of commands. It is all about helping the dog adjust to its new home and teaching you how to communicate with your new companion.

One of our team will arrive in the early evening and introduce the dog to your family and any other pets you may have. Then, we lead the dog on a complete tour through your entire home. We feed them their evening meal as well as establish a potty area in a designated place you will have already chosen outside. We teach you the Obedience and Petiquette commands in a series of training sessions over the next 2 to 3 days. We conduct 2 training sessions per day. Each training session lasts from 1-3 hours per session. During these sessions, you will learn how to communicate with your new pet through obedience and consistency. We will answer any questions you or your family might have. All of the commands are introduced gradually so you and the dog are not overwhelmed. By the end of the training sessions, you will be able to comfortably interact with your new dog and he/she will respond to your commands. We are so confident in our dogs that we even go with you to your veterinarian for a comprehensive health and temperament evaluation.

We have sold and personally delivered dogs to all 50 US States, including Alaska and Hawaii. We have even sold and delivered dogs to Aruba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada. We are now selling and delivering our Adult Trained Dogs to MOST countries.

We do ask that at least one adult set aside the 2 to 3 days to take advantage of the training sessions. Ideally, we prefer for all adults to be involved in as much of the training as possible. We work with you on your schedule to make the transition of your trained dog into your home as stress free as possible. The price of delivery varies depending on the distance and the training level of the dog but the delivery fee is normally

Delivery fee varies by location and training level of the dog.