The Center for the Study of Medical Assistance Canines

The Center for the Study of Medical Assistance Canines was founded by Jennifer Cattet Ph.D. in response to demand for coaching from dog trainers, medical professionals, and service dog programs. Jennifer Cattet Ph.D. has helped hundreds of trainers and several programs both in the US and internationally, expand the type of dogs they could offer to include medical alert dogs. Specialized mostly in the training of diabetic alert dogs, seizure dogs, and psychiatric service dogs, the coaching is individually catered to meet the programs’ needs.
Services offered include seminars, webinars, private coaching in person and online as well as consulting and research on the following subjects:
- Selection of dogs for service dog work.
- Developing partnerships with rescues and shelters.
- Developing a breeding program and/or working with breeders.
- Foundation training for all service dogs: creating a structured curriculum and assessing the dogs’ progress and suitability for the program.
- Advanced training and assessments.
- Training for Public Access, the laws, the assessments, and dealing with the public.
- Specialized training for a disability: Diabetes, Epileptic seizures, Autism Spectrum and Psychiatric disorders, mobility impairment.
- Scent training for medical detection, from indication, to discrimination and alerting.
- Setting up a new service dog organization.
- Optimizing existing training programs.
- Transitioning from traditional training methods to positive science-based methods.
- Dealing with behavior issues when they arise, how to treat and when to decide to release a dog from the program.
- Research in medical detection: cancer, SARS-COV-2, diabetes, seizures, migraines, pain, etc.