Security dogs "fitness to work" certification

Re: Security dogs "fitness to work" certification

J G Wray — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 13:04:18 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]WE have one client who 'owns' his dog and was asked by the company he is working for to obtain a fitness to work certificate every 3 months. This dog does have some lameness/weakness issues but they are well controlled with NSAIDs and nutriceuticals. I examine the dog and simply write on a sheet of practice headed paper that in my opinion it is at the present time fit to work (or words to that effect). [/quote]

I had the inclination to do this as well. But, I've spoken to VDS who have a point of view on certification for a certain level of performance in animals that are used professionally i.e. have a value through their work or intended work, particularly horses of course. Their view is along the lines of being ale to certify suitability for training for work, but in the absence of information e.g. on elbow and hip disease then suitability for a workload becomes a grey area, along the lines of "You said he could work and he's lame and can't ...".

Any other contributions gratefully received.

JGW

Re: Security dogs "fitness to work" certification

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:39:13 GMT

WE have one client who 'owns' his dog and was asked by the company he is working for to obtain a fitness to work certificate every 3 months. This dog does have some lameness/weakness issues but they are well controlled with NSAIDs and nutriceuticals. I examine the dog and simply write on a sheet of practice headed paper that in my opinion it is at the present time fit to work (or words to that effect).

Re: Security dogs "fitness to work" certification

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 16:58:02 GMT

[quote user="J G Wray"]

Is there a proforma certificate for fitness to work for security dogs? A client who runs a security firm has a BS requirement to provide veterinary certification for "fitness to work" for the dogs. BS as in British Standard, mind you BS could mean...

Anyone any experience of these?

Ironically, we have a local nuclear installation police force as a client with their dogs. They determine their own "fitness"....

CuriousWray

[/quote]

The practice I worked for in Dover has a contract for HMRC customs dogs. Every dog had a large ring binder with tabulated pages; date of visit, symptom, diagnosis, treatment, and a a box where you wrote 'fit to work' or 'unfit' followed by how many days. Space for a signature.

In Saudi the practice I worked for had a contract with airport security and the form was broadly similar, minor differences in formatting and page layout.

Neither practice used their own form, in both cases the client's paperwork was used as this was what was required for their internal processes. (Of course, we kept records on our PMS as well - the form never had enough space for more than a brief summary of the case. Occasionally the client would request a copy of the recent case if it was a particularly long or complicated case or there were questions about the dog's long term fitness to work.)