Public Service Hours
For approved outreach, public education, event support, community education, and service activities.
Crown & Collar Institute™ believes that meaningful dog work should build more than titles. It should build responsibility, public service, safety awareness, humane leadership, community education, and respect for dogs, handlers, families, and the public.
The Service & Learning Hour Log™ helps youth ambassadors, adult volunteers, apprentice testers, working-team supporters, public educators, and community participants document approved hours connected to Crown & Collar Institute™, Brain First Tested Awards™, service and therapy dog education, public dog safety, and related learning pathways.
These hours may support personal records, youth leadership portfolios, community service documentation, homeschool records, school submissions, civic group records, club participation, volunteer tracking, or future evaluator pathway preparation when accepted by the outside organization.
01 · APPROVED HOURS
What Counts as Service or Learning Hours?
Approved hours may include:
- Brain First Tested Awards™ event support
- Crown & Collar Youth Ambassador™ education
- Public dog-safety education
- Therapy-dog pathway education
- Service-dog pathway education
- Community outreach
- Event setup and cleanup
- Public education table support
- Supervised observation
- Mock scoring practice
- Dog body language education
- Bite prevention education
- Safety-course hours
- Crown & Collar written-course hours
- Evaluator shadowing
- Working-team documentation support
- Facility or community visit support when approved
- Service-hour log preparation
- Approved reflection or learning assignments
- Approved volunteer or public-service work connected to Crown & Collar programs
02 · YOUTH
Youth Hours
Youth participants may document learning, leadership, volunteer, and public service hours through the Crown & Collar Youth Ambassador™ and Youth Ambassador Apprentice Pathway™ programs.
Youth hours may include:
- Youth Observer™ hours
- Youth Testing Assistant™ hours
- Youth Evaluator Apprentice™ preparation hours
- Public education support
- Safety-course completion
- Dog-safety learning
- Therapy/service pathway learning
- Event setup and cleanup
- Supervised documentation practice
- Mock scoring practice
- Community service projects
- Approved reflection work
Youth may not independently test, pass, fail, approve, deny, certify, or represent a dog as a service dog, therapy dog, or legally recognized working dog.
03 · ADULT
Adult Hours
Adults may document service, volunteer, learning, and evaluator-development hours.
Adult hours may include:
- Adult Tester-in-Training™ hours
- Approved Brain First Tester™ continuing education
- Advanced Brain First Evaluator™ preparation
- Public education support
- Event leadership
- Working-team review support
- Service-dog pathway education
- Therapy-dog pathway education
- Documentation review support
- Safety-course completion
- Community outreach
- Specialist reviewer preparation
- Review panel participation when approved
04 · SAFETY
Safety-Course Hours
Participants may document safety-course hours connected to outside training such as:
- CPR / First Aid / AED
- Babysitting, child-care, or child-safety training
- Cat & Dog / Pet First Aid
- Wilderness or Remote First Aid
- Emergency preparedness
- Public safety
- Animal safety
- Approved school, scouting, civic, veterinary, emergency-service, or community safety courses
Crown & Collar Institute™ may accept American Red Cross courses or approved equivalent training from qualified providers.
Crown & Collar Institute™ does not claim to replace outside CPR, First Aid, AED, child-safety, pet first aid, or wilderness first aid certification unless a formal provider agreement or qualified instructor arrangement is in place.
05 · LOG FIELDS
Hour Log Information
SAMPLE LOG ENTRY
- Participant Name
- Youth or Adult Role
- Date
- Location or Event
- Type of Activity
- Start Time
- End Time
- Total Hours
- Supervising Adult
- Supervisor Email or Phone
- Parent/Guardian Name for Minors
- Parent/Guardian Approval for Minors
- Short Description of Activity
- What I Learned
- Safety Notes or Concerns
- Supervisor Signature or Approval
- Crown & Collar Review Status
06 · CATEGORIES
Suggested Hour Categories
Learning Hours
For approved courses, written readiness work, reflection assignments, safety education, and pathway study.
Volunteer Hours
For setup, cleanup, check-in, documentation support, event assistance, and program support.
Youth Leadership Hours
For Youth Ambassador work, youth education, public speaking, peer teaching, and supervised leadership.
Evaluator Preparation Hours
For adult tester-in-training work, supervised observation, mock scoring, documentation practice, and evaluator education.
Working-Team Support Hours
For approved therapy, service, facility, school, community, or ambassador support connected to documented dog-and-handler teams.
07 · CREDIT CLARITY
Outside Credit Clarity
Crown & Collar Institute™ may document service and learning hours, but outside organizations decide whether to accept them.
Participants may submit their records to schools, homeschool programs, clubs, civic groups, churches, youth organizations, scouting-style programs, 4-H-style programs, volunteer programs, scholarship programs, or other organizations when those organizations choose to accept them.
Crown & Collar Institute™ does not guarantee outside academic credit, graduation credit, scholarship credit, volunteer credit, or official public-service recognition unless a separate agreement is created with the school, program, or educational partner.
08 · HOW IT WORKS
How to Use the Log
- 01
Choose the category
Choose the correct activity category before the event, course, or learning activity begins.
- 02
Record the basics
Record the date, time, location, activity type, and supervising adult.
- 03
Describe and reflect
Complete a short description of what was done and what was learned.
- 04
Parent or guardian approval
For minors, obtain parent or guardian approval when required.
- 05
Supervisor approval
Ask the supervising adult to review and approve the entry.
- 06
Keep copies
Keep copies for personal records, youth portfolios, school submissions, club records, or future Crown & Collar pathway review.
09 · CONNECTED PATHWAYS
Connection to Brain First Tested Awards™
Service and learning hours may support preparation for:
- Brain First Tested Awards™
- Qualified Tester pathways
- Youth Ambassador Apprentice Pathway™
- Adult Tester-in-Training™ preparation
- Brain First Working Team Recognition™
- Public education roles
- Service and therapy dog pathway education
- Crown & Collar youth leadership records
Service and learning hours do not automatically guarantee an award, title, tester approval, evaluator approval, school credit, or working-team recognition. They are one part of a larger review and documentation pathway.
FORM PENDING
The official digital Service & Learning Hour Log™ form is being prepared.
For now, participants may keep a written or digital log using the fields listed on this page. Questions may be sent to DogsNU@proton.me.
Service & Learning Hour Log™, Brain First™, Brain First Tested Awards™, Brain First Tested Award Standards™, Brain First Working Team Recognition™, Approved Brain First Tester™, Advanced Brain First Evaluator™, Adult Tester-in-Training™, Youth Observer™, Youth Testing Assistant™, Youth Evaluator Apprentice™, Crown & Collar Institute™, Crown & Collar Youth Ambassador™, DogsNU™, Ruff Ruff Ranch™, Brain First Dog Training™, and Lewis & Clark Therapy/Service Dogs™ are program names used within the L. Athena "Charity" Knowles educational and recognition ecosystem.