Service Animals

Service animals are animals specially trained for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of disability for an individual. They come in many shapes, sizes and species and perform many different tasks, including, but not limited to, retrieval, support, guiding, alerting to sounds, changes in physiological state, presence of chemicals, opening and closing doors.

Other animals have and continue to serve as service animals. Monkeys, horses, cats and pigs have been trained to ameliorate the effects of disability in various ways.

Dogs, however, have a special relationship with people and have become perhaps the best known service animals.

I first began thinking about service dogs while our first dog, Lassie was still alive.

Very shortly after she joined our family (she was a foundling), when I was having trouble walking, she would place herself right next to my "unreliable" leg and that would assist me to walk in a better balanced manner. This was a behavior that was completely self-taught and came more from her vast stores of empathy than from problem solving ability. As I've commented before, in other venues, she was not an Einstein among dogs, but did have an incredible ability to sense and communicate in the area of feelings. While, I did begin, at the time to investigate the possibility of training her further, I ran into a number of roadblocks, including the fact that numerous family responsibilities demanded my time and attention. The idea went on the "back burner" for the remainder of Lassie's life, which ended in August 2001.

It was a while before I could begin to think about bringing another dog into our lives, but I knew by then that I wanted a service dog.

My thinking about this issue went through many phases and my ideas changed as a variety of information available became available to me.

My usual way of dealing with any issue that is new to me is to "research it to death". So, I started out the same way with this endeavor. I did a number of internet searches, signed up on several Service Dog mailing lists, did lots of follow-up, and asked a lot of questions.

Along the way, I came across some wonderful information, but even more importantly, some wonderful people, who were very generous with their knowledge and time. To all of them I offer my thanks. I also hope to emulate them by sharing what I have learned.

Toward the bottom of this page, I've included some links to help others who might be starting their journey into "service animal land" or even some others who are well on their way.

Different Paths

There are several "paths" to obtaining a service dog.

The definition at the beginning of this page is the definition given in the Americans With Disabilities Act. Under that law, persons with disabilities who use service animals have the right of public access, in other words, to have the animal with them in public places, even if animals are not normally permitted in those settings. (Clicking the link above will take you to a page where you can access a variety of publications related to the ADA.)

The primary criteria within the law itself is that the animal be specially trained to ameliorate the effects of disability for an individual. It is silent on who must train the animal.

So...

A service animal can therefore be trained by a professional trainer or by the owner.

The most common paths to obtaining a service dog are to have a dog trained by a professional trainer, either one who works for profit or within a not-for-profit organization. There is also a significant and, perhaps growing, number of owner-trainers.

That all seems clear enough, but I found out along the way, that selection is a far more daunting project than even the training. There must be a "fit" between the characteristics of the dog ( physical and temperamental) and the needs of the person with the disability. Also the dog must be in good health and condition.

Again, that seems like a "no brainer" but there are a number of considerations that make it more difficult than it seems. If, for example, one of the tasks that a person will require the dog to perform is to provide support and assistance with balance, it is particularly important that the animal's hips and elbows be healthy and free of any dysplasia or arthritis. Larger dogs, those most likely to be required to do these tasks are more prone to congenital dysplasia than smaller breeds. In order to know that a dog is free of this kind of physical problem he or she needs to have X-rays when full grown (around two years) and interpreted by a vet who is knowledgeable about this.

There are also a number of personality or temperament traits that are important, both in terms of the tasks and concentration on them and the "fit" or "chemistry" between the dog and its partner.

I considered several organizations and a number of ways to obtain, select and train a dog on my own and with assistance.

In my particular case, I couldn't just get dogs, try them out and just keep them on as pets if it didn't work out. Just the medical clearances would be quite costly and might have to be done with multiple dogs even without the training costs.

I was lucky enough to find a not-for-profit training organization with which I felt I could work and which did not have a long waiting list at the time. Another plus, as far as I was concerned, was that I didn't have to travel very far to attend my training period once a dog was ready to be placed. On the other hand, since it is a small organization, it didn't have any housing capacity for attendees of the training periods. I had to make my own arrangements in that regard. I was also lucky in that regard, I had some friends in the area.

The organization is also very involved in follow-up with their "graduates". We became a team officially on April 5, 2003. Click here to see photos of Meka and our graduation.

Links

These are some resources that you might find helpful.

Information Sites

The Delta Society is a cornucopia of information on Service Animals. It is a great first stop and is worth a number of return trips.

IAADP is an organization of people partnered with Service Dogs, trainers, and others which provides information and other assistance.

American Dog Trainers Network site lists Service Dog Trainers by State.

Assistance Dogs International - "is a coalition of not for profit organizations that train and place Assistance Dogs. The purpose of ADI is to improve the areas of training, placement, and utilization of Assistance Dogs as well as staff and volunteer education." Their mission is to establish and promote standards of excellence in all areas of Assistance Dog acquisition, training and partnership; to facilitate communication and learning among member organizations; to
educate the public to the benefits of Assistance Dogs and ADI membership.

Training Organizations

Dogs In Service - my personal favorite, since they brought me and Meka together. A small local organization, it works very well for me but one size does not fit all.

CCI - almost at the opposite end of the spectrum in many ways. They have five regions which cover the United States.

Pets and People - a site whose focus is on owner training. They will assist people to train their own dogs or will find and obtain a suitable dog for training. They also provide information and advocacy to members.

Top Dog - An Arizona-based organization which is "dedicated to teaching people with physical disabilities how to train their own dogs". They've also developed training manuals and videos on people with disabilities training their own service dogs.

 

There are many other small, more local organizations which might just suit your needs, perfectly. Do a search using your favorite search engine and see what pops up!

 

Mailing lists and Groups

There are a huge number of online groups and mailing lists for all aspects of life with service dogs. My most recent search of Yahoo's groups alone, netted 206 results. As always, one's own critical thinking and judgement must be in play, consistently evaluating the information and opinion found.

Here are a few that I subscribe to and like:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/assistance-dogs/-list that deals with "any topics concerning any trained (or in training) assistance / service dog that aids disabled people in some direct way. Therefore signal or hearing dogs, service dogs, psychiatric service dogs, seizure dogs, and guide dogs are included."

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nywa/ - was begun with New York service dog handlers in mind

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OC-Assist-Dogs/ -focuses on operant conditioning as a training method.

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ot-adogs/ - primarily owner-trainers. "Owner Trained Assistance Dogs is a list to help you (a person with a disability), train a dog to help you in every day life."

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/walking_cane-9s/- is a group which primarily uses large and/or giant breed dogs for support and balance. "Discussion emphasis is on practical coping skills, training issues and the human/service animal bond. The list tone is good friends sitting around the fireside discussing issues with their service animal snoozing at their side."

 

Sites of some members of the above-named groups

Service Dogs and More

Dog Ears and Paws

Freely's Harness Page

Karen Pryor: : Home Page:

 

Products and Services

Dogmen - Harnesses

Dogs-in-Motion - Provides high quality support harnesses for service dogs.

LDS Leather Harnesses

WolfPacks - Dog backpacks and other equipment for working dogs. Also, patches for identification of service and therapy dogs.