What is required of a dog from Canix?
Anyone who knows just a little bit about dogs can place a dog next to a wheel chair and make it do a few things, but a true assistance dog must behaves correct in all situations and its character as well as its training therefore have to be extraordinary. If the dog does not fulfil these requirement dangerous situations can easily arise, e.g. the wheel chair is overturn because a cat walks by or something sudden happens and the dog bolts away. An assistance dog must never be the cause of such situations and it is therefore necessary to select the dogs carefully and to begin their training as early as possible.

Can any dog become a Canix dog?
Dogs from Canix are carefully selected to have a very special character. They must be very affectionate, very calm, they must be charming and they must never show any signs of aggression in any type of situation. These characteristics must be combined with a high capacity and ability to learn and a high motivation for working. Dogs with these characteristics are not common and Canix has therefore developed a complex set of selection and training methods for the puppies as well as a set of methods to evaluate the parents.

Which breed is normally used?
Canix primarily works with Labrador Retrievers.

How is each dog selected?
First, the breeder is visited well before the puppies are born and the character and temperament of the parents are evaluated together with their physical characteristics and health status. After the puppies are born, the mother and the full litter are visited twice and during at each visit each puppy is evaluated in a battery of tests. Based on these observations, the puppies are selected and brought to Canix at the age of eight weeks. The training and more extended socialisation begin immediately after the puppies leaver their mother.

From where do the dogs originate?
The dogs come from breeders across Europe.

What happens when the dog grows old?
When the dogs reach an age where they have difficulty performing their tasks, they are retired. Often relatives of the owner have grown found of the dog and in these cases the dog stay with the relatives and retain contact to the previous owner. In cases where this is not possible, the dog returns to Canix, where we try to find a new home and if this is not possible the dog remains at Canix.
In those cases where the owner depended heavily upon the dog, this person is placed on a waiting list and receives the first available dog.
This is also the case if the dog suddenly dies, unless this is caused by negligence from the owner.