Youth Handlers

Guidelines for Handlers Under 18 Years Old

We welcome youth handlers between 14 and 18 to train and certify as Project Canine teams. For legal and insurance reasons we require that youth handlers be accompanied by an adult guardian who must attend all Project Canine training with the prospective team. This guardian must also attend ALL visits conducted by the youth handler. If the guardian also wishes to handle the dog on therapy visits, with or without the youth handler, they must also pay for and pass all training steps. Please review the following key points before contacting us about training.

Key Points

  1. Any handler under 18 must be accompanied at all times by the same parent or legal guardian for all Project Canine activities. This includes all training steps as well as all therapy dog visits and other therapy dog activities. Underage handlers are never allowed to visit without the parent or legal guardian who accompanied them through the training. Youth handlers often struggle with some of the social facilitation aspects of therapy dog visiting and a trained adult must be with them to help and intervene as needed in order to maintain safe standards for therapy dog visiting.

  2. Legal guardians or other adults who have not attended all Project Canine training steps and certified with that dog, may not substitute on visits for the youth handler and may not hold the dog’s leash or handle the dog in any way or for any reason during therapy dog visits. For example, the guardian may not hold the dog’s leash if the youth handler wishes to take a bathroom break.

  3. If the guardian wants to be able to substitute for the youth handler or to hold the dog’s leash or handle the dog in any way during therapy dog visits, the guardian must also certify with the same dog.

  4. 1 dog + 1 handler = 1 team. If the legal guardian also wants to become a handler, they must also pay for all of the training steps.

  5. If the guardian attends training steps because they plan only to provide visit oversight but not handle the dog, they are not required to pay because they are not certifying,