[photo credit: Mobility Service Dogs – West Coast Project]
MobilityDog will host a free “Train Your Own Service Dog – Public Access Test Prep Course (PAT+T)” on Wednesday, December 10 at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The three-hour session serves as a pre-course Zoom interview that determines who moves forward into the organization’s intensive 18-week training program. For those accepted, it represents a path to what the organization calls “FUNctional independence for people with disabilities through service dogs, education, and empowerment.”
The financial reality alone makes the program remarkable. Training a service dog typically costs between $10,000 and $50,000. MobilityDog offers its entire 18-week program free to participants—a significant subsidy that reflects the organization’s reliance on private donations and grants.
Janie Lynn Heinrich, the organization’s president and founder, understands the barriers firsthand. In 2010, she sustained a life-altering spinal injury. Her poodle Phoebe became her service dog, but Heinrich discovered that many people, particularly those over 55, faced obstacles in obtaining trained service dogs. She founded MobilityDog to address that gap. Today, Heinrich continues to work with service dog Beckett. “With SD Beckett at my side, I am self-reliant,” she states.
MobilityDog’s 18-week program provides guided instruction, assessments, and hands-on practice to prepare dogs for the Public Access Test, the certification that determines whether a dog can legally accompany its handler into public spaces.
Handler Carlos Benavides captures the philosophy underlying MobilityDog’s work: “We’re all ‘TAB’—Temporarily Able-Bodied,” highlighting ability’s fragility and the need for empathy.
Handler Carlos Benavides captures the philosophy underlying MobilityDog’s work: “We’re all ‘TAB’ — Temporarily Able-Bodied,” highlighting ability’s fragility and the need for empathy.
Train Your Own Service Dog — Public Access Test Prep Course will run on Wednesday, December 10 at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Zoom event. For more information, call (626) 470-7742 or visit https://mobilitydog.org/calendar-events/2025/12/8/prep-course-for-public-access-test-patt-gnmxj.
