About Feywild Dog Training

A service dog practice built around mental health

Feywild Dog Training's home page sums the practice up in one line: "Service dog training with canine and human mental health in mind." The about page names Moth Donahue MA, IAABC-ADT, C-AAAIS as "the owner and trainer behind Feywild Dog Training," and says their journey with dogs began when doctors recommended a service dog to help mitigate the symptoms of a connective tissue disorder. The page describes the business as "proudly disabled, trans (nonbinary), queer, and autistic owned," and says Moth draws on lived experience from those identities "in order to create more accessible, equitable service dog training for all."

Credentials the site lists

Rather than leaving initials unexplained, the about page sets out what each one means. It credits Moth with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Lawrence University, attended 2018-2022, and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, attended 2022-2024, with 800+ hours of clinical work alongside the coursework. It says Moth has completed all requirements to be a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Illinois and is awaiting credentialing from the IDFPR. The page also lists the Certified Animal Assisted Intervention Specialist credential, described there as an "objective, independent, third-party assessment" of competence in integrating animal assisted interventions, and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants Accredited Dog Trainer credential, described as indicating "a sound foundation in the principles and practices of animal training." The same page notes that Moth works full time as a mental health therapist and does not enter a client/therapist relationship with dog training clients.

What you can book

The services page lists consultations for people new to service dogs – evaluating a dog's temperament for service work, working out which type of assistance animal would suit, or answering a one-time training question. Service dog training covers "task training, public access training, and general trouble shooting for service dog teams." The page says the practice specializes in mobility service dogs, "both weight-bearing and non weight-bearing," and is also able to teach psychiatric service dogs, medical response dogs, autism assistance dogs and hearing dogs. Example tasks are grouped on that page under mobility (item retrieval and carrying, accessible door button push, counter balance, forward momentum pull, assist to stand), psychiatric (deep pressure therapy, behavior interruption, medication retrieval, blocking) and medical response (fall response, seizure response, bark for help). A third lane is educational: talks and workshops on ADA law as it applies to service animals, aimed at businesses of all kinds.

Where it happens

The services page says in-person training is available in the Chicago suburbs and remote training is available for anyone across the US. The about page also introduces two of Moth's own dogs, Dizzy and Nines, and says Dizzy acts as a demo and "helper dog" providing a confident presence through some lessons.