On 15 November 2021, the first meeting of the Training Standards Review Working Group was held.

This Working Group is one of the several working groups under the Study Group for the Training and Certification of Assistance Dogs for Persons with Physical Disabilities. The Working Group, composed of doctors, veterinarians, professionals, users, and training businesses, discusses to review the current Assistance Dog Training Standards and Hearing Dog Training Standards. 

The Study Group has been directed to review the certification guidelines and training standards this fiscal year. In line with it, the Working Group on the Review of Certification Guidelines reviewed the certification guidelines and published the summary last October.

As with the review of the certification guidelines, this Training Standards Review Working Group will meet three times and then present a draft of the review in February 2022.

The main issues to be discussed are:

• what measures are possible from the perspective of improving the quality of assistance dogs with regard to understanding the needs of users,
• formulating a long-term plan for each user, the timing of retirement of assistance dogs, the number of training days,
• follow-up methods,
• requirements for trainers, and
• cooperation among training providers.

For more information, please visit the website (Japanese).
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/shingi/other-syougai_445405_00018.html