Join us for a virtual talk on How Service Dogs Can Benefit Those with Dysautonomia with Molly Neher and Jennifer Kolar of Atlas Assistance Dogs!
About this presentation:
“Service dogs can benefit people with a wide range of disabilities, both physical and psychiatric. Today, they are becoming increasingly used by individuals with dysautonomia and commonly associated conditions. In this presentation, learn about service dogs, what a service dog can do for someone with dysautonomia, options to acquiring or training a service dog, and find out if a service dog might be a good fit for you.”
Sign ups: If you are already on our member email list, there is no need to sign up for this event! We will email out the Zoom link a few days beforehand. If you’re not currently on our member email list and would like to attend, please send us a message at LADN@la-dn.org!
Important note about confidentiality: This workshop will be recorded and made public on LADN’s YouTube page. If you wish for your attendance at this workshop to be confidential, we recommend you turn your camera off, mute yourself, and remove your name from your Zoom profile.
Additional Info from Atlas Assistance Dogs:
Look for these traits in your dog to know if they’re ready for service training!
Check out this infographic to learn the various tasks that service dogs can do to help those with POTS, EDS, and MCAS!
Presenter Bios:
Jennifer Kolar: Jennifer Kolar is a founding board member and President of Atlas Assistance Dogs, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with people with disabilities to train their dogs as service dogs. In her eight-year tenure at Atlas, she has played a pivotal role developing programs that cater to individuals with disabilities and their canine companions while also spearheading the creation of professional training offerings for service dog trainers.
Prior to her involvement with Atlas, Jennifer co-founded and nurtured a for-profit business specializing in owner-based service dog training. She also contributed to the establishment and management of a non-profit training program where she oversaw puppy raisers, dog-trainer education, kennel operations, and advanced task training for numerous service-dogs-in-training simultaneously. A resident of Seattle, Washington, Jennifer shares her home with her service dog, Theodore, and a revolving cast of visiting dogs, much to the chagrin of her partner and their two cats.
Molly Neher: Molly Neher has worked at Atlas Assistance Dogs for six years as the Director of Operations and Programs. She works behind the scenes, developing and managing Atlas’ programs, and working hands-on with Atlas’ clients to support them as they train their service dog.
Thanks to her own service dog, Reid, Molly has seen first-hand the benefits and the empowerment that one can bring. It is her strong belief that people do not thrive despite their disabilities, but rather with them. She is passionate about educating about disability and service dogs, and about helping more people gain independence with a service dog at their side.
The Atlas Assistance Dogs Mission Statement:
“Atlas fundamentally expands access to assistance dogs. We support people with disabilities to train and certify their own service dog using positive, ethical training methods. At Atlas, we believe anyone who would benefit from a qualified assistance dog should be able to have one. To fulfill this mission, Atlas addresses unmet needs by helping people train their own service dog at an affordable cost without relying on an organization to provide them with a dog. Atlas is bringing to the individual, a quality of training and rigorous certification standards that was previously available only through larger organizations.”
