What are Service Dogs?

[Jean]

A service dog is a type of assistance dog, specifically trained to help people with physical mobility limitations to reach high or low places, or open doors and turn on the lights. Other duties may include moving wet laundry to the dryer, or they may help in public by pulling a wheelchair up a steep incline.

Other service dogs may also be trained to detect medical problems and to warn the authorities. Some does have been trained to warn their handlers of seizures before they happen and to contact the medical emergencies by pushing a button (already preset to contact).

Service dogs have a very varied range of jobs and duties. Some handlers rely on their dog to pick up dropped items or reach high counter...

Read the complete article here.

Hi my name is Roger
I am the lucky owner of a seizure allert service dog. My dog Mace hasen't had any training except obeadience training. Mace is part Border Collie and part Lab. Mace can do all the normal tricks but his best trick came about 1 1/2 years ago. I noticed that Mace would start crying and nuzzeling my hand just before I had a seizure. At that time I had about 6 or 7 a month. I kept track of this for a few months, and found he is about 95% accurate. He has made my life livible again. Its a littel embarising to laydown in the isle of a store but its less embarrising than falling down and taking a row of can goods with me. Don't forget our friends that need a home at your animal shelter.

[Jean]

Wow! Thank you for sharing you story with us! It's really surprising and inspiring at the same time how dogs can pick up on things we don't. I'm glad that you found a companion that cares about you and is willing to help you in your time of need.

I have a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) she helps me manage and control symptoms of severe anxiety, depression, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Before getting Tippy, I had a VERY difficult time with doing things most people consider to be simple or average day to day tasks like shoipping for food, or other needed items. In a similar way as a seizure alert dog, Tippy detects changes in me that indicate I'm on the verge of a panic attack, by nuzzling my hand, or if for some reason, I ignore her, she will step in front of me and not move until I respond to her alert. I will find a bench or go out to the car if needed to calm down, and then continue with my shopping once I've re-grouped. Before I got Tippy, it wasn't uncommon for me to literally run out of the store or crowded place in qa mad dash leaving a cart full of food whereever I happened to be when I started the panic attack. It would sometimes take me 4 or 5 trips to the store to buy 2 days worth of food. Tippy is also trained to sit if I start to bolt, which as soon as the tension on the leash is felt, it grabs my attention and then I do some deep breathing, and interact with Tippy until she stands, which is my cue that she feels I'm calmed down enough to continue. She also helps with med reminders, and will assist during therapy sessions if I zone out and am un responsive to my therapist. I have worked with my Dissociatve parts or as I call them, "insiders" and all my different fragments know that if they are out and they can't figure out where they are at, they can tell Tippy, "let's go home" and Tippy will help them get to either the car or home whichever is the last place that Tippy came from with me. I don't switch as much as I use to, but it is somethng that as long as I'm fragmented, there is a possibility that it could happen when I'm out.

For granted Tippy's work isn't overly physical in nature, but it is just as important to me as any other type of service dog would be to their disabled handler. I recently started working again, it's a part time job, but it's a start to see what I need to work on, Tippy has been very wlecomed by my employer and goes to various sites with me while I work. It's something I don't think I could have successfully done if it weren't for the assistance I get from Tippy.

[yoyopoodle]

Mace and Tippy sound like wonderful dogs!

Jenca, would you mind sharing (or private message) which organization trained Tippy - or did you train her yourself? Also, what breed is she? I have a friend who is planning-out the formation of a Psychiatric Service Dog program in CA using Shiloh Shepherds

[hivin]

Hi everyone:

yoyopoodle: I don't know if Jenca got back to you but there are some links in the Service Dog forum that might help out with the information you're looking for, and if what you need isn't there then we do have many more links that might be helpful to you and your friend. We trained our SD ourself and then took her for certification to an agency that was licensed/certified by the ISSD (International Society for Service Dogs) The laws in the US and Canada tend to differ from state to state and province to province. We don't know of any law anywhere that specifies who must train a dog for service or therapy work. The only formal regulations seem to come into play when it comes to certification. We understand that in the US most states don't have a formal certification law and many SD owners only have letters from a doctor/psychologist or psychiatrist that ensures the animal accompanying a specific person is for service work and it is necessary that the animal be allowed to accompany the individual in all public places. The American's with Disabilities Act is the Federal/National Legislation that applies universally in the US.

Hi Jenca:

We have a SD as well ... Bailey -- 4 yr old Cocker Spaniel -- certified for special needs/hearing and PSD work. We have DID/Polyfragmented as well and C/C PTSD ( and the host of other panic/anxiety disorders that seem to go along with those dx, including agoraphobia). It sounds as though we and our dogs have a great deal in common. We hope you'll come and lend the benefit of your knowledge and experiences in the Service Dog forum as well ... any and all input is appreciated. We're definitely looking forward to hearing more from you and getting to know you and Tippy better ( that's funny, many years ago when we were younger we had a mixed spaniel named Tippy as well ... black and white and the very top tip of her tail was solid black, hence her name! Hadn't thought about her in a long time ).

Take care everyone: Hivin

[hivin]

Oops ... sorry Roger (rlumbard) we missed your post. That's great you've got a seizure alert dog ... did the dog naturally start to pick up on your seizures or was it trained specifically for that. We've heard of dogs that have just developed that awareness naturally and know that they train for is specifically now as well. Oh, went back and reread your post and answered the question. Sounds like Mace is pretty special then. Hope to see you in the Service Dog forum ... and all the others as well.

Take care: Hivin

the Organization I got Tippy through is New Hope Assistance Dogs, Inc located in Warren, PA. I don't have enough posts to be able to send links yet, but if you go into Google and do a search for it using the following it should come up in the first few results ... "+New +Hope +Assistance +Dogs"

Be sure to keep the quotes and plus signs it will narrow it down better then if you didn't use them. I just tested it and the first result was a link directly to their site, the link said, "nhad-banner-3" and was the first result, but there are some other links that take you through other sites to get to it, so go with what you're comfortable with.

Hivin, it does sound like we have some similarities with regards to our SD and our dx ..... I had to chuckle as you described your dog that was named Tippy, and how it got it's name, because my Tippy is yellow with white markings, and according to the trainer I worked with from New Hope, they named Tippy because of the white tip on her tail. Funny how that happens

I think the other reason she got her name though was because she's a leaner and will lean into me and occassionally if I move she'll literally tip over, then look at me like I committed some horrendous crime by moving.