Head Instructor, Dad/srd

**Career Opportunity (FT, Permanent)**

**Head Instructor, DAD/SRD**
- **Do you have the leadership skills to jump into an organization in the midst of exciting and transformational change?**_

At Lions Foundation Canada Dog Guides (LFCDG), we help people with medical or physical disabilities lead independent lives by providing them with a dog guide at no cost to support them in their daily lives. The school is unique in offering seven programs serving 150-200 new clients annually and supporting over 1100 active clients. The school operates out of our central location in Oakville, ON and a breeding and training facility in Breslau, ON, with plans to move to our new leading-edge facility in late 2024.

**Our Values**:
**Integrity**

**Diversity & Inclusion**

**Excellence**

**Empathy**

**Respect**

**The Opportunity**:
The Head Instructor is an administrative and working position in which the incumbent is responsible for the efficient supervision of a group of Instructors and Apprentice Instructors and leading staff to ensure the overall coordination of two of our Dog Guide’s specific training programs, including Seizure Response (SRD) and Diabetic Alert (DAD). The Head Instructor would also train assistance dogs to assist clients with disabilities. The Head Instructor performs a leadership role assisting other training staff with on-the-job training, assessments, class placements and follow-ups and coordinating with clients and applicants within one or more of the specific training programs.

**Key Responsibilities - Head Instructor (General Requirements)**:

- Develop and implement training while ensuring alignment with the organization’s overall goals and the annual budgets and program goals. Evaluate the success of the training programs and identify opportunities to increase the efficacy of the programs.
- Provide oversight of all components of the assigned Training Program(s), including investigating, solving problems and adhering to client service standards. Ensure all team members are skilled in performing their duties.
- Assess and monitor dogs and clients to ensure all are progressing according to schedule and modify and adjust class exercises to concentrate and focus on problem areas as required (e.g., problem-solving limitations of clients and dogs) or to incorporate and utilize specific breed characteristics.
- Participate in choosing, evaluating and classifying Assistance Dog trainees and matching clients with dogs.
- Assess, train, supervise and monitor a full string of assigned dogs and work cooperatively and collaboratively with other Instructors in training their string of dogs.
- Continuously monitor performance to identify and disqualify any unsuitable dogs, assess the dogs coming in from foster families or other locations and comprehend and identify required dog temperament needed for various programs.
- Monitor the progress of working dog guide teams for six months post-graduation offering feedback and suggestions to clients and Instructors for improvement or any identified issues.
- Assist in ensuring class overnight schedule is completed and assigned Instructors are prepared for classes and lead graduation activities as requested.
- Provide regular follow-up with clients after placement by phone, written communication or in-home visits ensuring the highest level of client services are provided to each client and that all client communications and responses to inquiries are complete and comprehensive.
- Ensure established procedures are followed for administering medications, food supplements inoculations, grooming and maintenance of dog’s general health, that health exams are done pre-class and perform basic dog handling skills in addition to skills tailored to meet the specific needs of clients.
- Complete ongoing assessments and evaluations of canine skillsets to ensure that dogs are trained in a way that is relevant to the client’s evolving needs
- Build the team’s knowledge and experience in working with the disabilities affecting assigned clients through continuous learning initiatives.
- Responsible for personnel management, including the delivery of annual performance appraisals of all instructors and apprentice instructors
- Promote a respectful culture of high performance
- Contribute to and monitor policies and procedures to ensure adherence to ADI and IGDF accreditation programs.
- Ensure compliance with sector accreditation.
- Adhere to the annual budget while balancing cost and service levels.
- Remain on-call (as needed) after hours for staff, clients, and class-related emergencies as required.

**Key Responsibilities - Specific to the DAD/SRD programs (preferred)**
- Master delivering scent training to dogs, building their skillset to
- identify diabetic lows through scent,
- offering a physical nudge when a client experiences a diabetic low,
- go-get
- fetch (kit, leash, juice box)
- bark for help: cued with a drop of unconsciousness and asking for help
- Ma