Home Page › Blog › How to Train a Service Dog for Anxiety – 6 Important Steps
It is highly recommended to start out with the right breed for being a service dog. Some canines just do not exhibit the right temperament to do this important and demanding job.
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Can I take my service dog into the movie theater?
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I am looking at a foster dog who’s 11 weeks to work with my daughter has severe anxiety & pani attacks. She’s done a lot of research an I was a little skeptical at first. However, the more research I do it sounds like it would help our entire household! I am new to all of this so would we get a puppy from a particular organization other yhe one she has her eye on with a foster family? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Melina
I don’t know if you’ve already chosen a dog or not, but getting a dog from an organization can either be a very costly or very time-consuming experience. If you choose to purchase an already-trained dog, it can cost around $15,000 or more. No joke. If you would like to go with an organization that offers service dogs for free, they always have an extensive wait list that can take years to get to the top of. You could look into getting a failed-program service dog, which is a service-dog-in-training that, for whatever reason, wasn’t chosen to continue with the program, These are usually very well-trained dogs who either have a medical issue that prevents them from being able to continue with their program, or have a simple behavior issue which was deemed too much to try to work with. The benefit of getting one of these dogs is that they’re already very well-trained in obedience and socialization, assuming you get the dog from a good program (I recommend Guide Dogs for the Blind, as I have had personal experience with them as one of their puppy raisers), and the dog you get will likely only have a minor issue that can be worked out with time and patience. If you would like to adopt a foster/shelter/rescue dog, make SURE it passes all the behavior/temperament tests (i.e., Is it fearful? Is it confident? Is it aggressive?). Also try to find as much information about the dog’s background as you can. A super-sweet, happy puppy can grow up to be a very fearful dog if it was abused before you got it, and there is no way for you to know whether or not this will happen to your puppy unless you know its background. If you can find a full-grown (but still young) shelter dog, this would be ideal. At this point, the dog will be old enough to be put through all of the behavior tests and achieve an accurate result. On the other hand, if you can get a dog from a breeder, it will be expensive, but it’s a good way to ensure you’re getting a great dog.
Sorry for the long post, I hope it helps!
My son is 14 and has the same. I am just starting this Journey. I thought it sounded nuts but then I stopped and thought about every time that he has been around a dog. He is a different child. Any information that you run across would be a great help to me.
Thanks you. I hope that you find what you are looking for. I wish your daughter well.
Amanda
Hi my name is Jennie, I suffer from severe anxiety and PTSD. I am also diagnosed with bipolar type 1. I am a victim of domestic violence but I like to call myself a survivor not a victim. I was held hostage for 3 days by my husband. He severely beat me, strangled me and suffocated me. He held a gun to my head numerous times. He sexually assaulted me and did cruel and awful things to me in those three days. I now suffer from extreme paranoia, night terrors and extreme and severe anxiety. I am new to the idea of a service animal, but I think that I would benefit from one immensely. I am looking for a free puppy or older service animal preferably a dog to help me with my anxiety and panic attacks. Any advice on where I should look would be great! I am ready to find my partner in crime. Thank you
I have ibs and my stress and anxiety levels can trigger it. Do i qualify for a service dog? Cuz mine helped me reduce the dizziness whn my ibs kicked in. Shes only about 6months old and she knows the basics. If she qualifies for a in training what do i put her as.
I am not a professional, so take this for what it’s worth: there are two questions that a shopkeeper (etc.) is allowed to ask you to decide whether your animal is a legitimate service animal: what disability does it help you with, and what has it been trained to do to help you cope with your disability. If there are no tasks it has been trained to perform to help you cope with IBS, it cannot be a legal service animal.
You might look up “emotional support animal” (esa). That sounds like what you need for coping with stress.
Good luck
Helping to calm down a mental state such as anxiety is a service. The dogs trianing would be for the anxiety to help alleviate the ibs. So having a dog that can notice her beginning to have anxiety can greatly help her from becoming too anxious and in result minimizing the trigger for ibs. The difference is if she wants a free dog an esa would be best as they are not required to have training for a skill. A service dog would have the skill and training to not only calm her anxiety down but behave properly in public access
Hi, that’s not true, HIPAA prevents anyone from inquiring as to why you have a service animal or what tasks it performs. As far as the law is concerned the animal is a medical necessity therefor legally no one has a right to know anything more.
I am looking into making my dog Leah into a service dog for my anxiety and panic attacks. When I get nervous and I start having an attack, she lays beside me and tries to calm me down. I hope she becomes a service dog because of the fact it happens when I am alone.
It sounds like shes already perfect for it. Your next step would be to ask a doctor for a recommendation for a service animal after explaining what benefit it would be to you. From there you can train your dog however you’d like and actually legally call her a service dog. Beyond that before getting a recommendation there’s no reason you couldn’t start more extensive training right now
I have social anxiety and panic attacks. I get most of them at school and when Im around my family. I have a 2 year old dog who I wanted to train as a service dog, to help me calm down. I get very stressed when Im in close proximity to people especially my brothers.