Elevate
Building on Foundation skills with advanced commands and refinement. This is not just more tricks. It is refining your partnership and unlocking your dog’s full potential.
The Elevate Difference
Elevate contains the complete Foundation curriculum, then keeps going. It adds complexity, duration, and versatility to every skill your dog knows, layers in six advanced commands, and opens three entirely new chapters: socialization, handling comfort, and independence. Where Foundation builds a common language, Elevate turns it into fluency.
Six Advanced Commands
Each advanced command follows the same complete format as Foundation: verbal cue and hand signal, step-by-step teaching plan, real-life proofing, and a progress tracker, capped with an Elevate Commands Reference Guide.
Fetch
“Get It”
Structured retrieve that turns play into cooperation.
Spin
“Spin”
Body awareness and focus, taught with a light touch.
Roll Over
“Roll”
Trust and flexibility, one shoulder at a time.
Play Dead
“Bang”
A crowd favorite built on calm, sustained stillness.
Up
“Up”
Controlled hind-leg standing on cue.
Bow
“Take a Bow”
The finishing move, because every performance deserves one.
Refinement, Chapter by Chapter
Socialization & Environment Work
Real socialization is not forcing greetings or pushing dogs through fear. It is neutral exposure at safe distances, confidence built through positive experiences, and calm around novelty. The goal: a dog that is neutral and confident, not frantic to greet everyone. Includes a weekly exposure checklist of five new surfaces, five new sounds, five new people, and three new places, plus a location progress tracker across dog parks, pet stores, cafes, and more.
Handling & Grooming Comfort
A consent-based handling philosophy that prevents grooming fear before it starts. Touch predicts treats, sessions stay short, and your dog’s body language is respected. The result is a dog that is confident at the groomer, cooperative at the vet, and safe around unexpected touch, with a full grooming comfort tracker covering ears, mouth, paws, nails, brushing, and more.
Building Independence
Calm alone time is a superpower in modern life. This chapter teaches your dog to settle independently, starting with seconds and building to a full hour, preventing separation anxiety and building emotional resilience. Dogs who master independence become more secure, not less, because they learn alone time is temporary and safe.
The Elevate Assessment
Elevate closes with a formal assessment checklist. The pass standard is 8 out of 10 successful reps per skill, in two different environments, because a skill your dog only knows in the living room is not finished yet.
✓Name response
✓Paw
✓Sit (verbal + hand signal)
✓Down (verbal + hand signal)
✓Stay & Wait (10 seconds)
✓Come (reliable recall)
✓Drop It
✓Leave It
✓Place (goes to mat)
✓Loose leash basics
✓Settle (relaxes on mat)
✓Grooming comfort
The Complete Journey
Passing the Elevate assessment is the gateway to service dog work. Accredited takes everything you have built and extends it into task training, public access preparation, and real-world readiness.
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