By: Cassidy, Sydney, and Hailey

*Service Dogs

*What Service Dogs Are

Disabled individuals can obtain a service dog through organizations that train and place these dogs.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a service animal as "any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability..."

Service dogs can guide blind individuals, alert hearing impaired people, pull wheelchairs, protect a person who experiences a seizure and perform other specialized tasks.

*Service Dogs for the Blind

Guide Dogs for the Blind assist’s sight-impaired individuals as they navigate the steps needed to get a guide dog. After the organization approves an application, they will assign a dog and create a training course that fits the individual's needs.

Training includes formal training and caring for the dog. Students may undertake the training sessions at either of Guide Dogs for the Blind's two campuses, one in San Rafael, Calif. and one in Boring, Ore.

The organization may also facilitate training in an individual's home, when necessary. The organization provides the dog and its equipment, transportation and room and board at no cost to the student. In addition, regional field staff’s, including veterinarians, are available for post-program assistance.

Probably the most familiar type of service dog is the guide dog that is trained to help blind or visually impaired people.

*Service Dogs for the Deaf

A service dog that assists deaf people is also known as a ‘hearing dog.’ These dogs play a significant role in the lives of many deaf people. They enable members of the deaf community to have more freedom and feel secure as they travel to various places. In addition, the freedom offered to a person by a hearing dog allows him or her to stay connected with deaf culture by meeting others with the same experiences. The following looks at the role of these dogs within the lives of deaf individuals as well as the particular qualities that make for an effective service dog.

In order to be as independent as possible, a person with deafness needs to be aware of what is going on in the environment around him or her. Years of deaf education teach deaf people about the various types of communication, but many still need help in becoming independent.

What types of qualities are found in a service dog that assists people in the deaf community? This is a common question asked of many organizations that train service dogs for deaf people. There are a few qualities that make a dog a likely candidate to become a hearing dog. An effective hearing dog is alert, possesses a reasonable amount of energy, and has the ability to focus on its owner.

Finally, a service or hearing dog certainly doesn’t have to be a purebred to be useful to a deaf person in his or her daily life.

*Service Dogs for Depression

Have you ever wondered how a dog might help a person living with a psychiatric disability? A psychiatric service dog is a specific type of service dog trained to help their owner with a psychiatric disability, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, or schizophrenia. Like other types of service dogs, a psychiatric service dog helps its owner mitigate his or her disability through trained work and tasks such as:

•picking up/retrieving objects or aiding with mobility when the owner is dizzy or has a tremor from medication

•waking the owner if the owner sleeps through alarms or cannot get himself/herself out of bed

•alerting to and/or responding to episodes (i.e. mood changes, panic attacks, oncoming anxiety, etc.)Alert the person.

•reminding the owner to take medication if the owner cannot remember on his/her own, or with the use of an alarm

•alerting to and/or distracting the owner from thoughts

•as well as other tasks directly related to the owner’s disability

Purchasing a psychiatric service dog is expensive and the use to many people living with a psychiatric disability. A psychiatric service dog can cost between $10,000 and $20,000 because the dogs chosen for psychiatric service dogs must have a certain temperament and then it takes months or years to train that dog for specific tasks. An other is to find a trainer experienced in training service dogs and work with that trainer to train a dog for specific tasks related to the psychiatric disability. Pets don’t always make good service dogs, so it may be better to adopt a dog and work with a trainer on the specific tasks related to the disability. Look for a trainer who has experience training assistance/hearing dogs and is also and obedience trainer.