Service Dog Training

Service Dogs are also known as "assistance dogs". Their role is to assist disabled people in their daily routines. The disability can be mental or physical. These special animals are trained to perform many tasks, including pulling wheelchairs, predicting seizures, picking up dropped objects, or helping with stability for walking.

There are many types of service or assistance dogs, depending on what they do. A guide dog is the eyes of a blind person. That dog will guide the person around obstacles, help him/her cross the streets, help the person find the way around stairs and sidewalks, etc. The service dog will be useful both indoors and outdoors. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person with a disability is entitled to be accompanied by a service animal wherever it is needed, which means that service dogs are permitted in all public and private facilities.

A hearing dog is the ears of a hearing impaired or deaf person. This type of service dog is also known as a "signal" dog. This special dog will alert the handler to sounds, by using body motion. The dog will approach its owner and then will go back to the source of the sound, as many times as needed, until the person takes a sort of action and the dog understands that its mission is complete. A few examples of noises that hearing dogs can signal are as follows: crying babies, doorbells, microwave bells, phones, smoke alarms, and even tea kettles whistling.

Another kind of service dog is the mobility assist dog. This dog is the arms and legs for a disabled person. This dog will pull a disabled person’s wheelchair, will pick up things that a person drops, will carry things in a backpack, will open or close doors, will help the handler get dressed or undressed, etc. The walker dog is very similar to the mobility assist dog, but this one performs one extra task: helps the handler walk by balancing or acting as a counter balance.

A psychiatric service dog helps a person with a psychiatric disorder remain calm and able to go out in public. A person with a mental disability such as agoraphobia for example, may need a dog to be able to go out in public. Another example is a person what suffers of autism, and who is in need of a dog to keep him or her focused. These psychiatric service dogs are trained to never leave their handler's side, no matter what the circumstances are.