Bergin University of Canine Studies is the world’s only University accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools(ACICS), to award Associate of Science, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Science degrees.  ACICS is listed as a nationally recognized accrediting agency by the US Department of Education and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.  The University offers the following degree programs: Associate ofScience in Assistance Dog Education, Associate of Science in Business andCompanion Dog Studies, Bachelor of Science in Canine Studies, and Master ofScience in Canine Studies.  Students from all over the United States, as well as Canada, Europe, the Middle East,Asia, and Australia, have attended the University.

The University takes a two-pronged approach to providing additional service dogs to individuals with disabilities who need them: Educating future service dog trainers in our nine-month Associate of Science, Assistance Dog Education degree program and in our six-week intensive Service Dog Training Seminar; and training and placement of service dogs.

Students and faculty conduct groundbreaking research into canine cognitive development and the canine-human partnership.  The end goal is placement of service dogs with people living with physical disabilities, along with the development of well-educated service dog trainers who are ready to begin training and placing service dogs using proven positive training techniques backed by years of research.  

During their time on campus, both students and dogs participate in our free community-based programs where each gains experience working with the public, and our students experience the importance of changing and improving society for both humans and dogs.  Our community programs, provided at no-cost, include the following: 

Students provide obedience training at the Sonoma Humane Society and Rohnert Park Animal Shelter. This training has helped increase these dogs’ chances of adoption to 100percent. 

Our High School At-Risk Youth program where we work with teenage girls in the juvenile system exposes these young women to much-needed attributes such as patience, focus, discipline, and self-confidence by learning to train our assistance dogs, work with each other as a team, and provide demonstrations of the dogs’ skills in front of large groups.   Our dogs teach the girls about love, loyalty, and joy,while our staff teaches them about compassion and hard work along with computer and public speaking skills.  Loving and being loved by their assigned dog gives these teens a sense of belonging that many have never before experienced, having lost their parents to drugs or imprisonment. 

Our reading program in the local schools pairs low readers and children who are dealing with abuse with a student and a dog who will listen to them read without judgment.  Research has shown that this program will increase a young learner’s ability to read by one full grade.  What research doesn’t show is the young boy, who won’t speak and doesn’t want to be touched, begins reading aloud and hugging one of our amazing canine psychologists or the little girl who has been so severely abused that she reads in the school counselor’s office with one ofour students and dogs.   She has retreated from human contact, but will read to and snuggle with our loving and calm Golden Retriever.  The teachers and specialists who work with these children want us to provide more time in our local schools because they see the positive affects of this program.  

Through our extraordinary Dogs Helping Veterans program, veterans with emotional and mobility limitations are receiving our dogs free of charge to help them reintegrate into society with a loyal comrade at their side. In addition, we provide a therapeutic program on campus to Sonoma County veterans where they learn to train service dogs.  For the men and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the process of working with young service dogs-in-training, knowing that these dogs will be matched with a veteran at no cost, results in therapeutic benefits such as: less anxiety and depression, decreased dependence upon pain medications, greater sociability and a more positive outlook improved parenting skills and family dynamics, and a mission-driven focus and renewed sense of purpose.