ADI Standards have become the benchmarks to measure excellence in the assistance dog industry. Assistance dog users trust their lives and safety to their dogs so everything related to the training of both the dogs and people must meet extraordinary criteria. 

Compliance with these standards helps ensure that people with disabilities who are seeking a partnership with an assistance dog receive:

  • exceptional service from our accredited member organizationsA yellow Labrador retriever puppy is looking up at the camera with its mouth open, almost as if smiling. It is wearing a purple assistance dog vest.
  • a professionally trained assistance dog to mitigate their disability
  • a comprehensive education about the training and utilization of an assistance dog
  • a thorough understanding of all aspects of public access with an assistance dog

The ADI Standards Committee works year round on the continued development of ADI Standards. The ADI Standards are continually evaluated to ensure they are up-to-date with current industry practices and remain focused on continuous improvement of the assistance dog industry.

The Summary of ADI Standards is available for viewing. 

The ADI Standards are the basis for ADI’s peer-review accreditation assessment process. This comprehensive process evaluates the quality of assistance dog organizations, and determines if an organization is meeting all the criteria and requirements that represent these standards. Once an organization's accreditation has been approved, programs must be re-accredited every five (5) years.

The complete ADI Standards, Accreditation Manual and documents are only available to accredited members or candidate organizations or by request from educational institutions or government agencies on a case-by-case basis. Should you wish to know more about these standards, please contact ADI at info@assistancedogsinternational.org.