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Q: What is a service dog?
A: A service dog is a dog that is trained to preform tasks to help an individual with a disability.
Delta Society-Facts to Know about Service Dogs
Service Dog Articles
Q: What is a disability?
A: A disability is any physical or mental condition that prevents an individual from major
life activities.
Q: Are these people and their dogs protected by law?
A: Yes they are protected by the Americans with disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.
Info to help if you are denied access because of a service dog
Q: What do service dogs do for a disabled person?
A: Services dogs can do so many tasks for disabled people, like leading the blind, assisting
with mobility, being a persons ears, retrieving items for people, assisting a person with balance issues, alerting to a certain
medical condition, and so many other things.
Lists of Service Dog Tasks
Q: Do service dogs have to be large?
A: Service dogs can be any breed or any size. Infact a service animal doesnt even have
to be a dog. There are a huge variety of different species of animals out there that are used.
Some examples:
Ferrets and Rats and some birds have made great medical alert animals.
Monkeys have been used as helping hand animals.
Miniature horses have been used as seeing eyed animals.
Service dogs come in tiny packages
Q: Do service dogs have to be certified?
A: Service dogs DO NOT have to be certified by any state or agency. But
you can register them with such places if you wish. Here is a link to a place that registers service dogs if you so
wish.
Service Animal Registry of America
Q: Can I train my own service dog?
A: You can train your own service dog to your own specific needs. There are many people
that have done this. Owner trained service dogs are just as much service dogs as one that comes from an agency.
There is a wonderful group on the web that helps people with training their own service dogs.
Dog training links for assistance dogs
Dog Training Tips and Information
Stuff You Might Need to Train a Handler-Trained Service Dog
Q: Do poodles make good service dogs?
A: Poodles make excellent service dogs whether they be toy, miniature, or standard
in size. They are highly intelligent and very easy to train. The poodles instinct to bond tightly with their human
makes them wonderful service dogs. Most poodles also have a high retrieval instinct that aids in service dog training.
Poodles have also shown an uncanny ability of alerting to certain medical conditions such as; blood sugar issues,
cancer, anxiety attacks, seizures, and more. Poodles have also excelled at being seeing eyed dogs. Also the
non-shedding/hypo-allergenic trait of poodles makes them another great candidate for service dogs. The only
draw back is the amount of grooming this breed requires.
Q: Have any of your poodles been service dogs?
A: Currently one of my toy poodle puppies has gone on to become a service dog for her owner. One
of our standard puppies has gone to be a hearing ear dog for her new owner and yet another of our standard puppies has
been purchased for a potential mobility service dog for his new owner. I have also trained Brooks to be a
service dog to assist me with my mobility or other issues. He also alerts me when my blood sugar is dropping.
I would love to see more of my puppies go on to be service dogs or therapy dogs.
Brooks in his mobility harness. Harness was purchased from Bridgeport equipment. You can see he is comfortable
enough in it to even lay down.
Q: Is there are certain test used to help you pick the right puppy for a service dog?
A: There are some great ones out there. Here are a few.
Volhard's Puppy Aptitude Test
Dr. P's Dog Training Links
Are there more sites I can visit to learn more about service dogs?
There are a lot of great sites out there.
Commly Asked Questions about Service Animals in Places of Business
Mental health condition amenable to psychiatric service dogs
Paws to freedom assistance dog team training
Prescription Protocols for Psychiatric Service Animals
Psychiatric Service Dog Society
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