October 9, 2009 Service Dogs

Service Dogs

It never ceases to amaze me the talents of dogs. Many people have heard of Seeing Eye dogs, but I recently talked to a lady who told me about her son’s service dog. A Standard Poodle for her son who has juvenile diabetes and has Down’s syndrome. Jazz is a male standard poodle. He came from Missouri, he was a Seeing Eye Dog School drop out because he was too “in tuned” to everything going on around him. The people training him noticed he was very close to children and if they were crying he was right there. So he became a service dog for autistic children. Christie Vandivier and her son Josh age 8 found Jazz this past summer. Jazz was the perfect dog for them because if Josh is moving, so is Jazz. He stays with him constantly and comforts Josh during a meltdown. They also found that Jazz will smell her son’s face and starts licking his hand to alert that he needs to check his blood sugar. He wasn’t trained to do that but they found it’s one of his hidden talents.

When they visited Christie’s sister Angie who is pregnant, Jazz came up to her and started licking her hand. It was then that Angie found out she had gestational diabetes.

If a dog has a temperament for a service dog, but doesn’t have the skills for one area, they are tested in other areas.

I have a friend who is a groomer in southern Indiana who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to her former job as a mail carrier in Chicago. She was attacked from behind twice in her career and as a result, can’t stand for anyone to be behind her. Her service dog Sophie will lie down in the aisle at a store and keep other shoppers several feet away from her. When the disgruntled shoppers say, “Hey lady, your dog is in the way”, she simply says, “She’s working” and goes on about her shopping.

There are many kinds of jobs that service dogs can do, and many family pets have been known to alert their owners when something is wrong. Sometimes you just have to know what they are trying to tell you.

I know of one man whose 9 week old puppy woke him up as he was having a heart attack in his sleep. There are other dogs that can be trained to pick up objects and open things for different disabilities. There are even emotional disabilities such as bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder that can have service dogs trained for them. There are dogs that can alert to cancer! Seizure alert dogs come in very handy for those with seizure disorders so they can alert the person one is coming on and to get on the floor so they don’t fall and hurt themselves, and can be trained to go get help as well.

While visiting public places, many proprietors may ask a person with a service dog to show proof their dog is indeed a service dog, it’s actually against the Americans with Disabilities Act to ask for it. According to the Delta Society www.deltasociety.org what a proprietor may ask is:

Ask the handler, “Is this a service dog?” You may also ask what tasks the dog has been trained to do for the handler. A service dog can be any breed or size.

There is no Federal requirement that the dog wear any special gear or identification. Also, there is no requirement that the handler carry any certification papers showing that the dog has been trained as a service dog. You may not ask the person about the nature or extent of his or her disability.

However many of those with service dogs choose to put a vest on their dog to identify it as a service dog just to keep questions to a minimum.

Service dogs are allowed everywhere, and cannot be denied access to restaurants or any other building, however if the dog isn’t well behaved or poses a problem they can be asked to leave.

Remember, if you meet someone with a service dog; do not just automatically try to pet the dog. Many dogs have specialized tasks and they are working, so petting a service dog may be strictly off limits. Always ask the person if you may pet their dog first. They may tell you “No, he’s working”. Please respect their wishes. No matter how well trained a service dog is, it’s not fair to tempt them to get off task. Please be respectful.

Dogs are just such amazing creatures, they can hear for us, see for us, open and close things for us, and help us to walk, help us to balance, help us to get control of ourselves, help us for any number of medical problems. I don’t believe there is a task out there that a service dog cannot be trained to do. No wonder to me that dog is just God spelled backwards.