servicedog

You can test for recovery time by randomly dropping an object such as a metal bowl, book, chip bag, or anything that may cause a startled reaction. If the dog darts away and cowers, s/he will most likely not be a good candidate for service work. If s/he startles and ducks but resumes his/her natural posture, this is a good indication that s/he will take less energy to adapt to new environments and stressful situations. S/he will do well once the desensitization training starts. Bonus points to t...

Service Dog Laws and Tests : First and foremost, any responsible service dog owner/handler should be well versed in the legalities respecting the service dog community. In this chapter, we will cover what is going to be expected from you, your companion, and the general public from here on out. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service dog is defined as, “A dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.” Disabilities...

6-Sit on Command: There will be three individual times you will be asked to sit your dog. Each time, the dog should respond quickly with no more than two repetitions of the command. The first sit will be situated next to a plate of food. You are allowed to verbally or physically correct your dog for sniffing the food but once this has been done your dog should remain sitting and ignore the food completely. S/he will not be taunted by the food. For the second sit, you will be asked to sit your do...

Selection Is a Very Important Step Just as I stated in the introduction, each dog is unique in a way that its trainability may vary from Forest Gump to Albert Einstein. The good news is you can improve on this through training. However, there are some traits a dog could possess which are not easy to manipulate. This is why it is important to remember that genetics play a crucial role in the training process and overall outcome of your service dog. Think back to the bulk of service dogs you’ve ...