Here at AZTEC Financial Group, we love our pets. The animals in our lives give us unconditional love, companionship, and entertainment. But for certain animals, their role goes further: they are specially trained to help their person function independently.
September is National Service Dog Awareness Month, so let's spend a little time learning about these hardworking canines! But first...
What isn't a service dog?
Emotional Support Animals (ESAs), therapy dogs, and working dogs are not considered service dogs. This doesn't mean they're not valuable; quite the contrary! ESAs— which can be any domesticated animal — provide comfort to owners by their presence. Therapy dogs visit people in hospitals and other facilities that need some companionship, and may not be able to have a dog of their own. And working dogs do everything from explosives detection to identifying cancer by smelling a person's breath or bodily fluids.
Obviously, these roles are crucial! They are just different.
What is a service animal?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines service animals as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities" (ADA.gov). As an example, say someone has anxiety. They can have either an ESA or a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD).
The ESA is a normal pet that has not had any training, and its mere presence brings comfort to its owner. The owner has a letter, possibly from their doctor or another medical professional, that states that this ESA is beneficial to the owner's mental health.
However, the PSD has been individually trained with specific skills, such as detecting anxiety attacks before they happen, or applying physical pressure as a living weighted blanket. As you can see, although the goal of comfort is the same, the level of support is different.
How are service dogs trained?
Although service dogs can be trained at home by their owners, it is much more common for them to be professionally trained. Not every dog can be an official service dog; personality and behavior play a huge part in their success. Many service dog organizations specially breed dogs from bloodlines that have proven to have the needed qualities to do their jobs properly, such as calmness and reliability. Breed matters less than behavior, but the most commonly seen breeds are golden retrievers, labs, poodles, and labradoodles.
As soon as these puppies come into the world, they begin training, aka enjoying human cuddles, adventures, and playtime. The goal is for them to become familiar with and unbothered by the big world they've entered into.
Each organization has their own timeline for the next steps of training, but one organization's, called Canine Companions, will be described going forward as an example.
Once the puppies reach eight weeks, they go on to the next stage: moving in with voluntary puppy raisers. For the next year and a half, they will be helped to grow into calm, well-behaved, and reliable adults. It's much like raising a child!
Interestingly, these puppy raisers aren't always behind white picket fences. There are many programs that bring puppies into prisons for approved inmates to train and socialize. This benefits everyone involved; it gives inmates purpose, new skills, and happiness, and it fills the slots of much-needed volunteers. One former inmate named Shannon described the experience this way: “I always had something to look forward to each and every day. Being a puppy raiser was a self-esteem builder for me and kept me from becoming hard hearted. I learned discipline, how to put something ahead of myself, and finally, I took responsibility for my actions" (canine.org).
Whether raised behind a white picket or barbed wire fence, these pups are monitored to ensure they have what it takes to be a service dog. They need to be obedient, easily trainable, and calm. It's ruff work! They also must have a clean bill of health; vision or hearing problems, structural issues like hip dysplasia, and other long-term difficulties disqualify them from becoming a service dog.
Those that are decidedly not cut out for this high-pressure lifestyle become adored pets. Their career-oriented siblings, though, head off to boot camp, aka service dog school. For the next six to nine months, their skills are refined and specialized, depending on the type of service dog they'll become. Even at this point, some prove that they don't quite have what it takes, and become emotional support or therapy dogs.
The pups that make it through this stage can finally fulfill their life's purpose: helping their person. Each service dog is carefully matched with a client, and then the duo spends a few weeks training together. If all goes well, they graduate and head off into the world.
Whew, it's a long process! Unsurprisingly, only about 50% of pups make it all the way through. There's a good reason for it, though: these dogs are put in a multitude of high-stake situations, even life-or-death ones. Dependability and compatibility matters!
Who can have a service dog?
The most commonly known disability that qualifies for a service dog is blindness, but anybody with a disability as outlined by the ADA can qualify. From physical disabilities, like epilepsy or life-threatening allergies, to mental disabilities, like autism or PTSD, there are vast reasons why a service dog would be needed. These needs can be physical, emotional, mental, or psychiatric, from needing the stability of the dog for walking to needing the dog to alert you when your blood pressure drops. They can do amazing things! Some dogs can even detect seizures before they happen, although the jury is still out on how this is possible.
A four-legged hero named Carolyn
Service dogs can save lives, and a smart canine named Carolyn did just that. At two months old, she was paired with a man in Illinois named Robbie Stouffer. He had adopted her from Freedom Paws Service Dogs Foundation, an organization that provides trained service dogs to veterans and first responders with PTSD. About a year later, Carolyn alerted Robbie to an emergency. Unknown to him, he was having a heart attack. Robbie trusted the legitimacy of her warning, called 911, and was instructed to unlock the front door — which he did, right before passing out on the floor. He was soon transported to the hospital and treated, but if Carolyn hadn't alerted him, he might not have made it.
Stouffer commented, "It's better than your best friend. I can't really really explain the security and the feeling that someone's there" (newsweek.com). Their story is just one of many that prove how special service dogs are.
Complications
The sad reality, though, is that there are many people who would greatly benefit from a service dog, but can't access one. Why? Two reasons: cost and availability.
Cost. Although there are organizations that provide service dogs at no cost, many don't have that ability. After all, the sad fact of life is that everything costs money, from the training to the boarding to the vet bills. A person interested in getting a service dog can expect to pay up to $50,000, depending on its specialties.
Thankfully, there are funding options available, such as community fundraising, and grants and scholarships. And if all of that doesn't work, a person can consider training their own service dog.
Availability. Because of the extensive amount of work needed to train service dogs, as well as the failure rate mentioned earlier, there are more people in need than dogs to match with them. Most waiting lists are 1-5 years long, especially for no-cost organizations.
Can we do anything to help?
Yes! The whole purpose of a national month is to bring attention to a cause, and National Service Animal Awareness Month is no different. Below, I'll list practical steps you can do to support these organizations, from least to most involved.
1) Educate others. Did you learn something new in this blog post? Tell someone about it! The more people that take in knowledge about these needs, the better!
2) Donate. Whether you buy a pack of tennis balls from an organization's wish list or leave your entire life savings to them in your will, it makes a difference (although if you do the latter, this bullet point should drop to the bottom of the list!).
3) Volunteer. Simply give your time. Of course, this isn't always an option, depending on your location and the nearest service dog program. Still, it's worth a Google search!
4) Donate a puppy. That's right; breeders may be able to donate a puppy to become a service dog.
5) Become a puppy raiser. You can have the privilege to train and socialize a puppy, from eight weeks old to around two years. What a wonderful privilege!
All things considered, hopefully this blog has taught you something new today, and maybe even inspired you to lend a hand. Happy National Service Dog Awareness Month!
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