Basic obedience skills the dog must master with voice and/or hand signals are: sit, stay come, down, heel and off leash recall.

The dog must show social behavior skills of no aggression, no inappropriate barking, no biting, no snapping/growling, no inappropriate jumping on strangers, no begging and no sniffing of people.

Sound awareness skills-Upon hearing a sound, the dog must make physical contact with the recipient and then specifically indicate or lead the person to the source of the sound. All dogs must be trained to at least three (3) sounds.

Identification of the Hearing Dog and recipient will be accomplished with an ID card with a photo of the dog and partner and names of both recipient and dog. The dog must wear a blaze orange collar and leash, with Hearing Dog printed/stitched on it and a cape with the program's logo whenever in public.

At the onset of training, every dog will have a thorough medical evaluation to determine that the dog does not have any physical problems that would cause difficulty for a working dog.