Our story
Lisbon Assistance Dogs began with a single partnership and a simple conviction: that a well-trained dog can give a person back their independence. From that starting point we have built a small, standards-driven program based in Lisbon, Portugal.
We focus on quality over volume. Every dog is health-screened, raised with positive training methods, and matched carefully to the person it will support. Each team completes a documented public-access assessment before a record is issued.
Our history
From a personal need to Portugal's first verified assistance-dog records — the milestones along the way.
Born from lived experience with a cardiac condition, the founder recognises how few people in Portugal can access a properly trained assistance dog — and how little clarity surrounds the records that should support them.
A year of groundwork: studying the Standards of Assistance Dogs International (ADI), establishing positive-reinforcement training protocols, and putting veterinary, welfare, and assessment procedures in place before a single dog is placed.
The program is formally established in Lisbon, Portugal, committing to ADI Standards for the breeding, training, and placement of assistance dogs — quality over volume, with every placement overseen personally.
Our first assistance-dog candidate is chosen after health screening and temperament assessment, beginning training as a cardiac alert & response dog.
Foundation work starts — socialisation, obedience, and graduated public-exposure training — building the calm, reliable behaviour that public access demands.
Training advances to specialised tasks: detecting changes in heart rate and breathing, alerting to oncoming cardiac episodes, assisting during emergencies, and nighttime alerting.
Our first team passes the Public Access & Task Proficiency assessment and is issued our first completed training and public-access record.
We launch the public verification service so any record we issue can be confirmed by its license number — bringing transparency to assistance-dog documentation.
Our next chapter: placing more teams, deepening partnerships with clinicians and venues across Portugal, and continuing to raise the standard for assistance-dog training and verification.
We are a small, hands-on program. Every placement is overseen personally, from health screening and early training through to the final public-access assessment and the record we issue.
Questions about working with us? Get in touch.