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Service Dog Training Guide – The Basics

07 December, 2017

Service dogs can be of great help to people with disabilities. However, in order to get the most from these loyal companions, they need to go through extensive service dog training.

Just to give you an overview of requirements, the dog needs to be able to perform a disability-related task for their handler/owner. In addition, you must be familiar with acceptable training techniques and be educated about canine care and health. Furthermore, understanding of local public access laws and proper behavior is a must.

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Other than just being your living medical device, these dogs will also become your best pals. They will take care of you, but they will also depend on you to provide food and shelter. You can build an incredible bond with your service dog and make both your lives better.

Basic rules about service dogs

Service dogs are recognized by the law as trained working dogs that perform tasks for persons with disabilities. Disabilities can include both physical and mental impairment. It’s critical that the dog can perform specific tasks that directly relate to owner’s disability. This can include anything from opening doors for people in wheelchairs to warning the owner of an impending seizure.

They are not considered pets and must be desensitized to distractions. Service dogs need to focus solely on their owners and ignore all distractions such as traffic, children, etc.

Although training is essential for service dogs, that doesn’t mean that you can’t train the dog yourself. Many people choose to train their service dog themselves because professional service dog training can be a long and expensive process. And in the end, even professional trainers can’t guarantee that your dog will be able to become your service dog.

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Service dog training can take up to two years and these dogs usually wear a vest in public for easy identification. Any dog can enter service dog training, regardless of breed or age. However, unless they have a certain set of characteristics, they might not do well.

Service dogs need to be:

Willing to please
Ready to follow owners everywhere
Calm and friendly
Alert
Socialized
Nonreactive to public and strangers
Quick to learn
Able to retain information

Guide dogs

Guide dogs go through specific service dog training to help people with a visual impairment. These dogs bring a new sense of freedom and safety to their owners by:

Helping avoid obstacles and moving vehicles
Signaling changes in elevation levels
Locating persons or objects on command
Retrieving and carrying objects

Hearing dogs

Hearing dogs assist people with hearing impairments by:

Alerting to sounds or presence of other people
Retrieving dropped objects
Carrying messages
Warning people to approaching vehicles

Service dogs

As stated before, service dog training enables these loyal animals to perform a variety of tasks. Depending on the owner’s disability and needs, service dogs can undergo training for mobility assistance and medical assistance. Medical assistance can also include autism assistance and psychiatric assistance.

Service Dog Training for Mobility Assistance

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What these superhero canines can do for their owners is amazing and it’s all achievable through training.

Check out a list of service dog tasks and services below:

Open and close doors, drawers, and cabinets
Turn lights on and off
Help people get dressed or undressed
Assist persons to an upright position
Move feet and arms onto wheelchair footrests and armrests
Prevent falls and provide stability
Call 911 in case of emergency
Identify and alert to symptoms
Bark or find help on command
Find places, vehicles, or their owner when disoriented and bring to safety
Assess owner’s safety and guide away from stressful situations
Help with insomnia and interrupt nightmares
Interrupt flashbacks and prevent self-harming behaviors using tactile stimulation
Detect allergens, low and high blood sugar levels
Provide deep pressure therapy

General service dog training

As you can see, some of these behaviors are pretty complex for a canine (such as calling 911 in case of emergency). And some of these behaviors are something that even humans couldn’t do (sense and alert owner to seizure or diabetes attack).

For those reasons, service dogs require extensive and complex training. Even then, there’s no guarantee that a dog will be able to become a full-time service animal.

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As for the US, there are no specific regulations regarding service dog training. However, international standards prescribe at least 120 hours of training over six months. Out of this quota, a minimum of 30 hours should include public access skills. Sometimes, service dog training can last up to two years as all dogs are different. Some canines need more time to learn to heel while some have a problem with handling distraction. In addition, learning specific complex tasks can be extremely time-consuming.

If you want to train the animal yourself, an ideal service dog training guide would include a few things.

First, you should assess whether your dog is fit for the position. Secondly, it’s important to establish a sequence for training. Less complex tasks and commands should be taught first.

This means the fundamentals include standard Service Dog commands such as “come“,“sit“,“stay“,“lie down“ and “heel“. Then, you should test the dog’s obedience in different environments and ensure that he follows commands no matter where you are and what’s going on around you. Finally, you can start teaching the dog specific tasks you want him to perform.

Arm yourself with lots of patience if you decide to go down this path rather than getting a trained service dog. If you get stuck, ask a professional trainer for help.

Disability-related service dog training

If your dog behaves well, is eager to please and intelligent, he’s a good candidate for service dog training. Focusing on their handler at all times and performing disability-related tasks is not all service dogs do. Other than these, they need to perform a number of other tasks on command. In order for the dog to pass a test, he must respond to handler’s first command 90% of the time, regardless of the environment.

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This even includes potty on command. Yes, you heard that right. Instead of staying outside forever, when you give the order to go, the dog must do his deed. Sounds like every owner’s dream, right?

Public access skills are another requisite and you need to train the dog in a variety of different settings. This part of training is called desensitization. It’s basically teaching your dog to ignore all distractions and to focus on his handler and tasks.

As for the specific disabilities that can benefit from service dogs, they include a number of conditions. These conditions can be either physical or mental, obvious or not obvious.

Here’s a list of common tasks service dogs perform for their handlers:

Guiding the blind
Alerting the deaf to noises
Pulling a wheelchair
Retrieving items
Alerting to seizures or diabetes attacks
Reminding persons to take prescribed medication
Calming people with PTSD during anxiety attacks

Keep in mind that if you have a service dog, you can access all public areas with your companion. In addition, people can’t ask you about specifics regarding your disability. All they can ask you is whether your dog is a service animal and what tasks he can perform for you. You don’t need to answer any other questions or show them what the dog does for you.

21 comments

Keith Lamoureux says: February 21, 2019

Looking for a grant to make my dog a service dog and an Emotional support dog. So I can take it into nursing homes and hospitals to help kids and other patients with supports

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- DAWN MCDANIEL says: March 7, 2019
  
  These are completely different types of dogs. To be a Service dog, he must be concentrated on his handler. A Therapy dog (what you’d want to take to nursing homes since emotional support dogs too are concentrated on their handler) is trained to focus on others, NOT its handler. You must decide which type of dog you want to train your dog to be; it can not be expected to be two or three different kinds of dogs depending on the day. It wouldn’t be fair.
  
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  - Troy says: October 18, 2019
    
    Fantastic response! 100% agreed! I would like to just add too, that if you try to train a dog to do long, emotionally exhaustive days being a therapy dog and then a kind of part time sorta out and about the town service dog, you will burn your dog out. Please be careful not to overwork your dog. They are strong, resilient, loyal and ready to please friends and workers. They have emotions, wills, desires too, and they need time to be a dog.
    
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  - Christen says: January 6, 2020
    
    This is not entirely true. My daughters dog supports her at home and during tough social situations but she is my classrooms therapy dog and does fantastic.
    
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- Sheryl Eaton says: March 10, 2019
  
  What you describe sounds more like a therapy dog, rather than a service dog. There are several organizations that you can test your dog with to become a therapy dog – TDI – Therapy Dogs International, Pat Partners, etc.
  
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- Abby says: March 23, 2019
  
  That would be a therapy dog. My puppet is training for this and I would recommend training at places like PetSmart. I take mine there for training sessions, and after our session of walking through the store using treats to reinforce behavior, she gets to pick out a toy if she’s been good. You might also want to teach your dog things like jumping on the bed when commanding and (s)he should be able to be pet by a toddler waving a candy bar around without any issues.
  
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- Heather says: September 12, 2019
  
  That is a Therapy dog. Service dogs work for one person only. ESA is an animal that stays at home to give their owner/s happiness. Therapy dogs also do not have public access, so you have to set up times to go to places. They can’t go into stores or places that are not dog friendly. Most of the information you find online is crap. You can find great TD groups on Facebook.
  
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Carleen Bergman says: March 2, 2019

I have had two brain surgeries and trigeminal neuralgia attacks.. I had a 14 year old goldendoodle who suffered right along with me when I had attacks she would simultaneously pant and circle me, she recently passed, and I have a new puppy a goldendoodle who is intelligence. How do I find a training so she can alert me?

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- Service Dog Certifications says: March 2, 2019
  
  You can either find a local trainer that has service dog training experience or you can train the animal yourself.
  
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- Heather says: September 12, 2019
  
  Find a group on Facebook. There are lots of handlers on there that will be happy to help. DO NOT get any papers online. They hold no value and are not needed. I hope you can find a group that can help. Thanks a Service dog handler.
  
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- Nessa Daly says: October 31, 2019
  
  Scent training. When you get an attack, suck on a cotton ball and put it in a container and into the freezer. Then when training, let the dog smell it and give a a preferred alert command (paw, nudge, jump) the dog will then associate that command with the scent. Make sure to change the sample frequently
  
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Victoria Loring says: April 12, 2019

What signs do I look for in selecting a puppy, bernedoodle.?

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- Heather says: September 12, 2019
  
  Get on Poodles and Doodles on Facebook. There you can get lots of help. I’m on it because I’m a SD handler. You can write my name down then page me if you want .
  
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Hesper Fang says: April 20, 2019

Hi, I am considering adding a dog to my physical therapy clinic and training him to assist with treatment in specific ways, for example playing tug or fetch with them to work on balance, or helping them with gait training and fall prevention. Would he be considered a therapy dog or a service dog? Thank you.

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- Heather says: September 12, 2019
  
  That is a Therapy dog. Service dogs work for one person only. ESA is an animal that stays at home to give their owner/s happiness. Therapy dogs also do not have public access, so you have to set up times to go to places. They can’t go into stores or places that are not dog friendly. Most of the information you find online is crap. You can find great TD groups on Facebook.
  
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- Heather says: September 12, 2019
  
  That would be Therapy dog. They go through lots and lots if training. I would find a TD Facebook page and have them help you. Most it not all( I haven’t found any yet) the stuff you find online for TD’s ESA’S abd SD’s are a scam. Please research and find the right way to DI this.
  
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- Helena Lewis says: October 27, 2019
  
  Hesper Fang, he would be considered a Facility dog which is a type of therapy dog as he would be concentrating on your patients instead of you. Therapy animals can still receive specialty training to assist other people.
  
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  - Hilary Bennett says: December 23, 2019
    
    I have a question. I have been told that clicker training your dog is a fairly quick and easily learned way to train your dog. Is this true?
    
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Aura Michel says: October 29, 2019

Can you refer me to a service dog trainer in Nevada? I just can’t seem to find one.

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Pam Chapman says: November 6, 2019

I am a Vet with anxiety due to PTSD. I have a 9 month old boxer who I would like to have trained to be my service dog. There is a trainer who can do it, however, it is very expensive. Do any of you know of grants or scholarships that can help me pay? The only thing I’ve found is monetary aid for dogs who are already trained.

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Anna says: January 13, 2020

I posted this on someone else’s as a reply, sorry! I have a question on service dogs:
I have a 9 month old Goldendoodle who I Am training as my stability service dog. I wanted to know, is she allowed to travel with me on a plane while in training? The airline has only asked me her breed and weight and what service she is providing. However, I want to do everything the right way.
I have already trained her to help me when I walk to keep my balance and prevents me from walking in a zigzag pattern. She is NOT completely trained, but helps me more than my cane does and allows me independence.
Thank you in advance for your prompt response.

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