At times, Assistance Dog Handler’s who are with other Organisations seek to leave and join other Organisations. Canine Essentials is dedicated to preserving our reputation within the industry in this instance. As such Canine Essentials maintains strict policies in this regard. Policy 1.3 “Ethical Business Structure” states:
Canine Essentials values its reputation, and at times are approached by clients to work in tandem with other Canine Behaviourist’s / Trainer’s either in South Australia or in other states.
Canine Essentials sees this as a valuable opportunity to network and share ideas. More often than not this is in the training of Assistance / Service Dogs.
Once the client has submitted an Expression of Interest form in the Canine Essentials Owner Trained Assistance Dog Program that is approved, the Canine Behaviourist / Trainer the client is working with will be contacted by the Director of Canine Essentials to ensure there is no conflict of interest and to assure the Canine Behaviourist / Trainer there is a non-compete in place.
Canine Essentials will reserve the right to terminate the services of the client if the original Canine Behaviourist / Trainer of the client chooses not work in a symbiotic manner with Canine Essentials as this would be against the Value System and Ethics of Canine Essentials and be seen to be “poaching” business away from other Canine Behaviourist’s / Trainer’s. This is clearly not our intent.
Similarly this is also exemplified in Canine Essentials Policy 2.5 “Equal Opportunity & Freedom of Association”” which states:
Canine Essentials abides by the Australian Equal Opportunity Act (1984); whereby “Equal opportunity is a stipulation that all people should be treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers or prejudices or preferences” (Government of South Australia 1984). This is interpreted to be that clients of Canine Essentials are encouraged to be members or consumers of other canine services and will not be disadvantaged in any way by Canine Essentials.
Likewise, the Australian Charter of Human Rights (Victorian Equal Opportunity & Equal Rights Commission 2017) allows Australians the right to have “freedom of association”. As such, it our clients’ right to be a member of whichever organisation they choose and also, be a member of many organisations in the same field should they choose to be.
Note: In this current climate, Canine Essentials believes that clients that utilise Assistance Dogs in their day-to-day life should consider (if they are financially able to do so), be a member of at least two organisations. In this way, clients can have multiple advocates if they require, get the benefit of two Public Standard Assessments – independently assessed by two trained professionals, and, be able to receive different forms of education and advice that they can utilise when training their dog.
For purposes such as this, it is important to consider that Canine Essentials chooses to be treated as an organisation for the purposes of the Privacy Act and therefore subject to the Australian Privacy Principles and any relevant APP code. Proudly, Canine Essentials has “opted in” and our Privacy Policy conforms to the Australian Government’s requirements. This signifies that Canine Essentials, as a small business, is making a public commitment to good privacy practice. You can find Canine Essentials Pty. Ltd. listed under the Australian Government’s Office of the Australian Information Commissioner Opt-In Register here.
If you have decided to leave an Organisation and contact Canine Essentials to join, the Canine Essentials Board of Directors must give your request careful consideration in order to comply with the above Policies (this is strictly confidential). If you feel more comfortable doing so, prior to discussing your needs, a Confidentiality Contract may be entered into. However, ideally, Canine Essentials would prefer to see if we could negotiate to alleviate the discord between you and your Organisation to hopefully (if possible) ensure there is no ill will between any parties.
If this is simply not feasible, Canine Essentials may ask you to sign a Statutory Declaration asking you to outline the reasons you are leaving the Organisation and the reasons why you wish to join Canine Essentials. If the Board of Directors is satisfied with the reasons provided and that there is no possibility of conciliation with the previous Organisation, permission to submit an Expression of Interest to enter the Owner-Trained Assistance Dog Program may be granted.
It will depend at what stage you were in the previous Organisation as to which pathway you would take with Canine Essentials. Please see Fees Tab “Moving from another Organisation” for a brief overview. A full overview of the Owner-Trained Assistance Dog Program is available here.
CANINE ESSENTIALS DO NOT SUPPLY ASSISTANCE DOGS.
PLEASE CONTACT TAPUA LABRADORS WHO MAY BE ABLE TO ASSIST.
Proudly Force Free!
I have been training with Dr Geller for the last 1.5 years. In this time I have trained my beautiful Labrador Zola to be my Assistance Dog and we have now passed all of our formal training. Working with Dr Geller has been an amazing experience. She is kind, caring, extremely knowledgeable and honest. She will always give you the honest feedback that is so necessary when it comes to dog training. She has an exceptional grasp on what she teaches and why and will always explain the reasons behind why she teaches what she does. Training up my Assistance Dog through Canine Essentials has changed my life. I have gained a confidence and independence in my everyday life I didn’t know was possible. It has been an honour working with Dr Geller and I look forward to many more years being a part of the Canine Essentials family!
thankyou for all your help and encouragement.…a lot of people need you and your company .
I got Canine Essentials Trainer Georgia to start me off on a good foot with my new puppy Nachos. Everything was explained really well and my puppy who doent like anyone came to her the first time and licked her lots and cuddled her. I made sure I chose her because she knew the breed well staffy x and i booked extra sessions to make sure Nachos and me could walk well and he didnt pull like he was. She also tought me about vaccintians and worming.
Canine Essentials have helped our family in more ways than I can possibly put in words. Going back 2 and a half years ago it was suggested to me my then 4 year old son would benifit from having a assistance dog to cope with his Autism and uncontrolled epilepsy so I started to Google for help. Well the waiting list for fully trained dog’s was not only huge (over 2 years) but also extremely expensive well into the $20k mark and this was just money we didn’t have, until I came across Canine Essentials I first made contact with the owner Dr Geller and explained our situation. Well…… her response was so heart warming she was extremely understanding and more than willing to help. We had brough a puppy and made arrangements to meet her. Fast forward we have a fully accredited assistance dog for our son and this has help us so much with outings and all his medical appointments. We also have another dog in training. I want am to let anyone know who is looking to please contact Canine Essentials it has changed our life’s and will certainly change yours. We have also made life long friends along the way and I have never looked back. A HUGE thank you for helping us and becoming part of our family💕
I began training my 12 week old puppy Koda without a clue of what I was doing. We began our journey in Good Manners Level 1 and I was so nervous. But on the first day of training, Dr. Georgia Geller handed me her training booklet and went through it with me step by step. She told me what I needed to focus on specifically with Koda and how to get him excited for training! Within a few weeks Koda and I went from being nervous and shy to walking through those doors with confidence! From there, Dr. Georgia Geller supported Koda and I to become an Assistance Dog – Handler Team!
Dr. Georgia Geller is thorough and informative with her class workbooks, training logs and years of experience. Not only does she support the dogs, but she supports the handlers through their journey. She goes above and beyond for her clients, supporting them through any difficulty they encounter whether its Advocacy, Public Access Rights, or dog training. She offers a knowledgeable and personalised approach to force-free training, considering each individuals needs.
As a young person with a lifelong disability, I am so thankful for Dr. Georgia Geller’s support in helping me build mine and Koda’s confidence, and achieve my goals.
Canine Essentials is a community of people that support each other, and I am so glad to be a part of it.
I am proud to wear the badge, and I highly recommend Canine Essentials to anyone whether it’s for simple Good Manners training, or Assistance Dog training.
Dr. Geller was highly recommended to me and is well known within the autistic community, so I knew she would work with me in ways I could follow. I was given easy to follow hand outs and demonstrations with my dog that I could then do at home.
Dr. Geller has helped my child and our family in so many ways and changed our life! We are very grateful for her training of the dog, support and encouragement. To see my child be able to leave the house with their Autism Assistance Dog when they would not be leaving the house before is a life changing moment. Thank you Dr. Geller! (Staying anon to protect child identity – hope you understand).
