My Daughter's Service Dog Vlog

[Kirahfaye]

My daughter, Joy, has started a Blog/Vlog/Twitter in order to share her experiences in training our pup, Maddie, to be her psychiatric service dog. She's stepping far outside her comfort zone to do this, but feels it's important - both for her own growth and to advance understanding of what service dogs (specifically PSDs) can do for their handlers.

If you all have a few minutes, please stop by and take a look, Comment, Follow, Subscribe, Like and/or Share. Feel free to ask her questions! I worry that she will become discouraged and this is really an important step for her. Besides, Maddie is so freaking cute....



Twitter - @JoysServiceDog https://twitter.com/JoysServiceDog

Blog/Vlog - http://www.theservicedoglife.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JoyGetsaServiceDog

YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nF0LP6hziaihltikekWsA

Tumbler - http://joysservicedog.tumblr.com/

GoFundMe - http://www.gofundme.com/bux0uw

[kenaiqueen]

I subscribed! I'm hopeful that I'll have a service dog one day too. I have Meniere's Disease and it's slowly taking away my hearing and my balance. (I still hear pretty well but wear hearing aids now as I have difficulty with conversations.) Our current dog, Buddy who is a Golden mix, naturally took over some of the things I need for my hearing like barking when someone was at the door. However he is aging and is losing his hearing too now. When he goes over the Rainbow Bridge, we plan on looking for a smaller and younger dog to train as my 'extra ears.' It will be interesting and informative for me to see how the training goes for Joy and Maddie.

[Kirahfaye]

Thanks and I hope you get some perspective about training a service dog. Some people like to start out with puppies and others prefer dogs around 1-2 years old (like Maddie). Since you will need a dog that can "block", you definitely want to look into larger dogs. It's probably a good idea for you to familiarize yourself with the portion of the ADA that pertains to service dogs in particular so you know ahead of time what your rights are. Alaska will also have additional rights and rules regarding service dogs that will affect you (for example, some states do not recognize Service Dogs in Training [SDiT] while others do). I'd also recommend that you start watching some of the videos on YouTube on training service dogs. There are several Facebook groups that you could look into, as well.

Also, Joy suggests that you re-subscribe. She switched subscribing providers sometime today because she didn't like how the other one worked.

[kenaiqueen]

I work at a city library so we had to take a class on Service Animals and all the regs regarding them. I've seen a couple of good books on training and my sis is in contact with a gal who trains service animals for returning vets that she can get some info from too. Right now our dog boy is turning 13 this month and will probably leave us sometime this year. I'd like a dog that is a little smaller than he is so I can pick them up if needed. We will have to put our dog down when he can no longer climb the stairs up to our apartment and that makes me sad. We could extend his life if we could move to a place with less stairs, but too many places won't take dogs and he's not really a service animal so we can't in good conscience insist on calling him one. Also, moving right now with my DH in the middle of a knee replacement isn't feasible.

I'll go check into the re-sub.

[DollyKim]

Mom's self appointed hearing dog is a little terrier mix we adopted. She was naturally perking up at noises around the house and when people approached the door or driveway. If she would mind on a leash I don't see certifying her being that hard.

[Kirahfaye]

Actually there is no registration or certification for service dogs. Any company selling certification or registration papers are scams. There is a move by dog trainers to have registration and/or certification mandated, but I don't know how that is going to fly - most people who do and could benefit from a service dog can't afford the high cost of the training that would require.

What is required is 1) you have a documented disability defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 2) the dog must be able to help its handler with their disability and 3) the service animal can’t be disruptive in public. You can train your dog yourself or, if like us you don't feel up to that task, you can hire a specialized trainer. You can also hire a trainer (not from Petsmart.....) for basic training. The nonprofit organization we use is probably overkill - and over price - for most people, but with Joy's extreme anxiety disorder it's best to have a specific course of action run by someone she trusts. (And a bonus is that she has made 3 friends who also train with her.) She is able to make payments over the duration of training (16-18 months for her disorders).

Just two weeks ago Maddie passed her Basic Training, and while she received a "certificate" it's only a piece of paper that could be proof of training in court if Joy had to sue a business for noncompliance with the ADA. Maddie's next hurdle will be the God Citizen Canine training - something that most handlers seem to believe is essential regardless of who trains the dog.

[Swan]

As a former Guide Dog user (Guide Dogs for the Blind, San Rafael) I'll say this about home-trained service dogs...

Try NOT to.

It is best to get a dog from a recognized school or trainer CERTIFIED to train service dogs. Sometimes it's necessary to train a dog at home, but the average person does NOT have the skills to recognize a good candidate for training. It's MORE than looks.

Also, as has been said above... persons selling the collars, vests and "identification" cards over the internet are too often FAKES.

Why does this matter? Because there are TOO MANY people who decide that little Fi-Fi... who barks and tears up the furniture when Mommy is gone... NEEDS to come EVERYWHERE with Mommy... and the best way to do tHAT is turn Fi-Fi onto a "service dog" with a vest and collar... when the poor un- or under-trained dog misbehaves... it makes it a LOT harder for truly disabled persons with legitimately home-trained animals OR those from schools or organizations... to get public access!

Here's the thing... people do NOT know that the laws permitting service animals entry are LIMITED. And they SHOULD be. If a Guide Dog or a Seeing-Eye dog (TM) (Morristown NJ) is noisy, smelly, disruptive or aggressive, they MAY be legitimately denied access. Some people think "My service dog can go EVERYWHERE!" NOT true. And EVERY door that is closed to service animals limits us. What can I say if, accompanied by my Guide Dog, I am told "You can't come in here. The last dog we had here peed all over the rug!"?

For those who do home-train, properly... BRAVO! But know that Guide Dogs for the Blind, which has a selective and exclusive breeding program, genetics studies and fifty years of research, produces only six out of every ten puppies as successful guides! Not EVERY dog can pass muster and THEY are professionals at determining which dogs will "make it".

Also... an improperly trained dog or one that is not temperamentally suited to the work CAN endanger the life of the handler. I knew a woman who was killed when her professionally trained service dog was distracted and she fell down an elevator shaft. The REASON that the seeing Eye, Guide Dogs for the Blind and other schools now have breeding and sperm-sharing programs is because they found out that shelter or donated dogs were simply too unreliable a source. Since the cost of a fully trained dog (in 1994) was around $30,000.00 USD the failure rate was unacceptable.
EDIT. Just checked the GDftB website and the cost is currently $42,000.00. YIKES! And the dogs are provided *without cost* to blind and legally blind persons!

Anyway, I'll put my soapbox away, now.

Swan

[Kirahfaye]

Thanks, Swan. I actually regularly drove by the GDftB training center in San Rafael, way back when I lived outside the base in Novato, and saw the dogs being trained on the sidewalk quite often. Most of what you said was true - including the price and the inconsistances, unfortunately.

However, one point - a business cannot refuse access to a service dog because a previous dog's behavior. It doesn't matter if a fully trained service dog was the culprit or a faker, the business must comply with ADA regulations.

And, yeah - animals are animals and we don't ever want to forget that. Even fully trained police dogs are capable of failing their training (as attested by a K9 who recently mauled his police handler's son). Still, it's far, far rarer that a well trained service dog will have issues than a standard pet. We actually had to put down our previous dog because of agression.

We were thrilled that Maddie alerted to a couple of small increased anxiety tells during training Saturday - for the first time. One of them happened when one of the three labra-doddles in the class (it was a big class!) galumped over to her when they were all supposed to be in the "down" position with the handlers sitting several feet away. Joy started hyperventalating because she was 1) startled herself and 2) worried Maddie would snap at the dog. However, Maddie took it all in stride and then came over to Joy, put her front paws on Joy's lap and started licking her face. The trainer told Joy to go with it and sit down on the floor so Maddie would have better access to her.

I'm hoping Joy will put up the video I took of the training soon. We too often get caught up in the training and forget to tape it - LOL!