The Ultimate Guide To Service Dogs

Dogs aren’t just loyal companions, they also have traits and skills that can be honed to help improve the everyday lives of a variety of people. Service dogs are trained to perform daily tasks that would otherwise be difficult for their handlers because of their disabilities. A trained service dog can assist with a number of different things, including mobility, vision and hearing assistance, along with medical alert and detection, and companionship for people with mental health issues.

Service dogs come in a number of different varieties and breeds and can perform many important roles. Take a look at some of the different types of service dogs, the most common breeds, and what it takes to care for and train these special dogs.

What Are Service Dogs?

Service dogs are specially trained dogs that provide specific assistance needs for people in society. These special pooches can come in many different breeds, shapes and sizes and can play a very important role in the community, helping those who may need an extra bit of assistance living independent lives. These include roles assisting people with mental health issues and physical impairments.

Dogs enjoy learning new skills and love being rewarded, which means they can be trained to offer assistance. Service dogs are very well respected and are bred and trained with plenty of encouragement and care. Service dogs are not considered pets, they are trained and work under the strict guidelines of the American Disabilities Act. Being very loyal creatures, they form very strong bonds with their handler, leading both companions to lead very fulfilling lives.

What Makes A Good Service Dog?

Service dogs have calm demeanors, patience, confidence and love human contact. There are certain dog breeds that make particularly good service dogs as they possess all of the traits we have mentioned, as well as being easy to train. A good service dog is friendly, good natured, well behaved, obedient and is capable of learning and performing tasks.

What Are Common Service Dog Breeds?

There are certain dog breeds with the right temperament and innate skill sets suited to performing service roles. These breeds include the following:

Labradors

Labs are ideal assistance dogs as they bond strongly with their owners and have what is referred to as a soft mouth, which means that they can pick up, hold and carry things gently. These dogs are well suited to people with mobility issues and have plenty of energy whilst also being happy to relax when the time comes, making them perfectly suited for assistance.

Golden Retrievers

Golden retrievers are playful and generally easy to train as they enjoy completing tasks. Their easy going and loyal nature makes them perfectly suited to people with hearing and vision impairment as well as people suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Great Danes

Being a larger breed of dogs, Great Danes are excellent for assisting people with mobility issues; helping them with getting up, balance and walking. They also have an excellent temperament and demeanor and work well with people that require psychiatric support, such as veterans and people with mental impairments.

Poodles

Poodles are highly intelligent, very obedient and great problem solvers. These dogs are the ideal companions for people with hearing and vision impairments, as well as mental disabilities and people prone to seizures. These dogs are easy to train and a low-shedding breed, which means they are ideal for people that suffer from allergies.

German Shepherds

German Shepherds are the all-in-one service dogs. They are strong, compassionate and intuitive, making them great for people that require mobility and emotional support. Their excellent sense of smell makes them fantastic medical alert dogs also.

Bernese Mountain Dogs

Great for people with mobility issues, these gentle giants are also great for carrying weight and load bearing. Burmese mountain dogs are sweet natured, patient and have an excellent temperament. Not afraid of a little hard physical work, they are also good at problem solving.

Uncommon Service Dog Breeds

These dog breeds may not initially come to mind as being ideal service dogs, but they actually possess attributes that make them very good assistance companions. These breeds include the following:

Samoyeds

These big fluff balls are big, strong and sturdy making them ideal companions for people with mobility issues. A dependable breed that craves companionship, Samoyeds are easy to train and can be taught to retrieve objects, open doors, and turn lights on and off.

Border Collies

Border Collies are highly intelligent and very quick to learn commands. They make very good companions for people with seeing and hearing impairments and are able to assist with tasks including crossing streets, boarding public transport and navigating rough terrain.

Pomeranians

These cute pooches aren't the best breed for physical and labor intensive tasks. However they are intelligent, intuitive, easy to train, and are very good at detecting medical alerts with an amazing knack for identifying low blood sugar levels in people.

Cocker Spaniels

This good looking breed is extremely affectionate and very obedient, making them excellent companions that can learn tasks well. Cocker Spaniels are particularly good with hearing impaired people, as they have excellent listening skills and can alert their handler to things like doorbells, alarms and voices.

What Disabilities Qualify For A Service Dog?

Hearing Dogs

Hearing dogs are specially trained to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They can help alert their owners to important sounds like alarms, doorbells, smoke alarms, telephones, alarm clocks and people’s voices. Labrador’s, Cocker Spaniel’s, and German Shepherd’s are all breeds that have excellent perception and make ideal hearing companions.

Mobility Assistance Dogs

Service dogs for mobility assistance are trained to help people who need help with mobile tasks, particularly with wheelchair-bound people and those with stability issues. These companions can assist with people standing up, turning on lights, opening and closing doors, and they can even assist pushing wheelchairs.

Guide Dogs

Guide or seeing eye dogs are trained to assist people who are blind or vision impaired. The role these service dogs play includes guiding their handlers around hazards and obstacles they otherwise wouldn’t be able to detect, Giving these people the ability and confidence to move about the world safely.

Medical Detection Dogs

Medical detection dogs help people that have life-threatening health conditions lead normal lives. These intelligent dogs can be trained to perform a number of disease-related tasks. They can assist in helping find early diagnosis of disease in people by detecting tiny traces of an odor that a disease gives off. They can also alert of a potential emergency and preventative action can be made by detecting slight changes in someone’s body physiology, when things like blood-sugar levels drop or prior to a seizure.

Autism Dogs

Dogs are very good as companions for people with autism as they can provide safety, promote positive changes in behavior, reduce anxiety and create a calm presence. Labradors, Retrievers and Border Collies are all dog breeds that make excellent companions for adults and children with autism.

Veteran Dogs

Through their intelligence and temperament, dogs can offer comfort and emotional support to those who require it. Certain dogs are trained to assist defense veterans that suffer from mental health issues such as post traumatic stress disorder. Some of the best breeds for assisting veterans include German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and Labradors.

What Is The Difference Between Service Dogs & Therapy Dogs?

Service dogs are bred and trained to perform important tasks within the community. They help their handlers achieve a better quality of life by assisting them with daily tasks that are difficult due to their disability. These dogs are trained to perform a service and are therefore not meant to be treated like a pet dog as distractions can impede on their ability to assist their handler. Service dogs are allowed access into public spaces where normal dogs would otherwise not be. These places include grocery stores, galleries, public transport, restaurants and workplaces.

Therapy dogs are trained to provide psychological and physiological therapy to different individuals and not necessarily a specific handler. These dogs are not limited to spending time with only their handler and are encouraged to interact with different people. Therapy dogs can visit places like schools, daycares, nursing homes and hospitals and provide support to people with emotional, behavioral, mental health and developmental conditions as well as people with physical disabilities.

Training A Service Dog: Step By Step Guide

Step 1: Determine If Your Dog Is Suitable To Be A Service Dog

As with most dog training, puppies are much easier to teach lessons and train than adult dogs. That said all dogs have the capacity to become service dogs, but they do need to possess certain traits. To work out whether your dog is suitable to become a service dog you need to consider whether it has certain attributes.

A friendly and loving disposition, as well as signs of intelligence and a calm demeanor are all attributes that a service dog will need to possess. Your dog needs to have a good attitude towards work. If they appear to be happier going for a walk and out at the park than they are lazing around the home, it means they are eager to do things and could be suited to an assistance role. A service dog also needs to be comfortable and non-reactive in different environments and not be distracted by other dogs and stimuli.
Consider the following things when deciding if your dog is suitable as a service dog:

• How old is the dog?
• How is the dog's temperament?
• How is the dog's attention span?
• What limitations does the dog have?
  
  

Step 2: Teaching A Dog The Basic Commands

The basic commands and skills a dog learns act as the foundation to training a service dog. Whilst the following skills are things that are taught to all dogs, it is important that you get the basics right before moving your prospective service dog onto more challenging tasks.

The following three skills are what you need your dog to learn before starting them off with service dog training:

Obedience Training

Obedience training should begin as soon as your puppy arrives home. It is important that your puppy views training as a positive experience that they can look forward to every time. Trust and consistent routine will help a puppy become more confident they can rely on you. Not only is this type of training fun and stimulating for the dog, it instills good behaviors in them from an early age and creates the foundation for further, more complex lessons.

The best way to teach your puppy obedience is with reinforcement. Using rewards like treats or a puppies favorite toy when they exhibit a desired behavior will help the pup associate good behaviors with being rewarded. When starting out obedience training, short frequent sessions are the best way to help your pup learn. For more information on training your dog the basics, check out our article on obedience training for puppies. (Please add a link to the US article once live)

Socialization

Socialization is one of the most essential lessons a puppy needs to learn, without it can lead to behavioral problems. It is important to expose a dog to the external world, particularly during their developmental period. Socialization training means getting them used to being around other dogs and humans, as well as getting them comfortable and giving them confidence in different environments and situations.

Basic socialization training starts with getting them out for walks everyday. Let them explore and learn about new environments and introduce them to new people and other animals. Sending the right signals with verbal praise and encouragement will instill in them the right composition going forward. You can get more detailed information about this in our guide to socializing your new puppy. (Please add a link to the US article once live)

Toilet Training

Toilet training is important for service dogs as it will teach them composure, restraint, and to go on command in appropriate situations. This becomes useful for times when there are more important tasks required of them. Crate training is a method that works very well when toilet-training puppies.

The idea of the crate is that dogs are clean by nature and like to keep their personal spaces clean. Keeping your puppy in the crate will not only give them a safe space to retreat to as they learn about their surroundings, they will also take ownership and respect the space, not wanting to soil the area with their own urine. When a puppy needs to go, they will scratch and try to escape the crate. When this happens, act swiftly and take the puppy out to their designated toilet area. With time and patience, they will learn to control their bladder and give signals to their handler when they need to go. Read more about the crate method and toilet training your puppy. (Please add a link to the US article once live)

Leash Training

A service dog's focus needs to be on their handler and not on external distractions. Teaching a dog to stay within the distance of their leash and close to the handler will help them learn about boundaries and limits. Leash training can be taught to a puppy from as early as eight weeks and the concept is pretty easy to grasp for them.

This technique is taught by taking the dog out for a walk and giving them free time to sniff things, change sides, explore, and do anything other than pull on the leash. If they pull on the leash, stop, pull them back and start again. They will begin to learn to stay close by within the range of the leash. When you're leash training it is important to be patient, positive and consistent with your pup. You can learn more about leash training with our guide to leash training puppies. (Please add a link to the US article once live)

Step 3: Teach Your Dog To Focus

Focus training for dogs is about getting their attention and keeping it. This is an important trait to learn for their training and obedience if they are to become service dogs. This training can best be done with treats and clicker training. Hold a treat in front of your dog and get them to make eye contact with you. Slowly bring the treat away from them, maintaining eye contact. This will eventually teach them to respect and to give you attention.

Step 4: Off-Leash Training

Depending on the type of role they perform, some service dogs are required to be off-leash, particularly if part of their role is to seek out emergency assistance. Off-leash training takes time and repetition and should be managed with rewards. Begin off leash training in a closed and safe area, giving them commands and monitoring their behavior. Slowly build the space and distance between you and the dog until you are confident for them to be off leash in an open space.

Step 5: SpecialiSed Training

Once your dog has learned the basics, the training becomes more specialized depending on what sort of service you are looking for the dog to perform. Each area requires a specific series of coaching to develop these distinct skills. by using the reward and clicker method.

Hearing service dogs will be taught to learn and respond to different sounds such as doorbells, alarms and phones by using the reward and clicker method. Psychiatric dogs can be taught by simulating different situations like a panic or anxiety attack, then rewarding them according to their responses and actions. Mobility assistance dogs can be taught using rewards for identifying and responding to various commands and situations.

How Long Does It Take To Train A Service Dog?

The time invested into training a service dog is entirely worth it for what they give back. With a lot of attention and care, it can take up to a year and a half to train a service dog completely. Once fully trained, a service dog is unflappable in its ability to perform their jobs.

FAQs About Service Dogs

How Much Do Service Dogs Usually Cost?

There are a few different options for someone that requires a service dog. A fully-trained service dog can cost between $17,000 and $40,000 from puppy to fully grown. Training a service dog by a professional can cost between $150 and $250 per hour which can vary depending on the type of service they are teaching. There are many not-for-profit and government organizations that can assist with funding and grant applications for those who need financial assistance.

How Do I Apply For A Service Dog?

To qualify for a service dog, talk to your healthcare professional about your needs. They will be able to provide you with the paperwork stating that you have a physical or psychiatric disability and would benefit from the assistance of a service dog. Specialists can point you to local service dog providers.

How Do I Get A Service Dog For Anxiety And Depression?

If you meet specific criteria, a doctor or licensed mental health professional can give you a recommendation letter to apply for a dog to help with anxiety and depression. They can also direct you to the organizations that specialize in mental health dogs.

How Are Guide Dogs Matched With People?

Guide dogs are matched with people based on their individual needs, including their personality, mobility and lifestyle. Guide dog organizations and trainers take the time and care to make sure the guide dog and handler are the right fit for each other and there can often be a trial period to see if the match works.

The next time you see a service dog with their companion on the street, you’ll realize what a special pooch they are. There’s no doubt that service dogs play a very important role in many people’s lives. These loyal companions can be extremely helpful in providing people across society with many different forms of assistance including help to those with physical and mental disabilities. Service dogs are on the go all day, meaning they require the best nutrition available. Eukanuba has a number of products that meet the nutritional needs of service dogs, assisting them with superior energy levels and brain health, so they can take care of people in need.