To those who ask why or don’t think I need a Service Dog
Since I started my fundraiser for my new service dog prospect I have had a lot of people that are close to me and people who are not close to me say I don’t need a service dog or want to know why I need one. I’ve had people say to me that I don’t look disabled or say that I don’t need a service dog because I’m not blind. So I am writing this to clear up misconceptions about service dogs and their handlers and their disabilities so that people may understand more about them.
Service dogs are not just for the blind. There are many different types of service dogs and they can perform one of more of the follow duties.
Guide dog: To guide their visually impaired or blind handler. Most are Labs, Goldens or German Shepherds, but they can be any sturdy, even-tempered, medium or large breed dog.
Hearing dog: To alert their deaf or hearing impaired handler to specifically trained environmental sounds, including, but not limited to, alarms, doorbells, knocking, phones, cars or their name. Hearing Dogs can be trained to respond to any environmental sound or cue their handler needs to know about. Just because you can’t see what a Hearing Dog is responding to doesn’t mean he’s not working.
Mobility Assistance dog: A Brace/Mobility Support Dog works to provide bracing or counterbalancing to a partner who has balance issues due to a disability. Many BMSDs also retrieve, open/close doors or do other tasks to assist in day-to-day life or in an emergency. Brace/Mobility Support Dogs must be large enough to safely support their human partner. In general, must be at least 23″ tall and 55 pounds to perform brace/counterbalance work safely, common breeds used for mobility are Labs, Standard Poodles, Great Danes, and Great Pyrenees. Service Dog Project is a well know mobility dog program that breeds, raises and trains Great Danes.
Diabetic Alert dog: To alert their handler to dangerous or potentially deadly blood sugar highs and lows. Many dogs are trained to call 911 on a special K-9 Alert Phone if their partner cannot be roused.
Seizure/Epilepsy Alert dog: Alerts to oncoming oncoming seizure, sometimes with as much as 15 minutes warning to allow handler to take medication or get to a safe place.
Seizure Response Dog: Respond to their handler’s seizures via trained tasks. The dog may retrieve medication, utilize deep pressure stimulation to end a seizure early, fetch a nearby person to help or call 911.
Psychiatric Service Dog: To assist their handler with a psychiatric disability such as anxiety, depression or PTSD via specific, trained tasks such as deep pressure therapy, guiding their handler to a safe space or out of a store during during an episode if possible, getting help, grounding their handler via tactile stimulation, self harm interruption, and many more. Psychiatric Service Dogs are protected under the same federal laws that protect other Service Dogs. They must be given the exact same treatment and access rights. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) and Therapy Dogs are NOT the same as Psychiatric Service Dogs and are not covered under the ADA, and nor do they have any public access whatsoever.
Autism Assistance Dog: Assist in calming and grounding via tactile or deep pressure stimulation. May also assist in teaching life skills, maintaining boundaries or finding their handler if they’ve wandered off.
Allergy Detection Dog: Alert their handler to life-threatening allergens that may be in the area, especially tree nuts, gluten or shellfish
Medical Alert Dog: Alert their handler to dangerous physiological changes such as blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, and illnesses that cause dizziness or potential loss of consciousness when standing.
Wheelchair Assistance Dogs: Assist their partner by retrieving dropped objects, opening doors, retrieving the phone, helping with transfers or anything else their partner may need.
Service Dogs have many jobs and can perform one or multiple of the above jobs with tasks that mitigate their handlers disability.
I have had people ask me this question so many times or say things to my friends. I have had people say that I am not blind and therefore don’t need one. Well as you can see by the above that that they do more than just assist the blind. I have also had people tell me that I can’t have PTSD because I am not in the military. PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined as a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock, typically involving disturbance of sleep and constant vivid recall of the experience, with dulled responses to others and to the outside world. PTSD can develop from many different types of traumas and the brain is in survival mode trying to protect itself. Losing my brother at 16 was one of the traumatic events I suffered as well as a sexual assault that happened less than a year after Ryan died. I suffer from flashbacks, dissociation, severe anxiety, and nightmares/night terrors that severely impact my ability to function normally on a daily basis. Not all disabilities are visible and people need to try and understand that and not judge others.
What a Service Dog can do for me.
A service dog will be able to do many things for me that will help me manage my day to day life and return to some normalcy.
Alert to anxiety and panic attacks through their indicators whether that be my leg shaking, picking at my skin, scratching, twiddling my thumbs or rapid breathing
Crowd control by putting his body between me and other people in the form of blocking (Standing solidly in front of me), covering(Standing solidly behind me), and circling (circling around me to keep people away)
Preform Deep Pressure Therapy by applying pressure with his body to pressure points that helps calm and ground me
Clear rooms and alert me if someone is present
Turn on lights to aid in showing no one is present or to help in case of night terrors or flashback and light is needed
Get help (to find and bring help to me)
Lead me to safety or out of a building
Ground/flashback interruption
Self harm interruption that may happen during a flashback or panic attack
Alert to person coming up behind me
I did not ask nor want this. To live my life in this way sucks and I panic easily, get startled from little things, such as thinking I saw my attacker, or mistaking a shadow for a person where they shouldn’t be. Seeing a car crash is very triggering for me and can send me into a panic attack that can cripple me for the rest of the day. I can barely work, and even have to call out on the sometimes on the days that I do. I hate doing so, I love the barn, it’s a place that I would gladly spend every day at from sunrise to sunset… and my mental illnesses get in the way of what I love and I hate it. A service dog will be able to help me through my daily life and return to a normal life. I’ll be able to work regularly again and go places by myself in confidence and in safety. This was not something I decided to do lightly. After Legend was washed from training I considered not even looking for a new prospect, but talking with my therapist I knew that I shouldn’t give up. I was afraid of the judgement and what friends or family, or my friend’s families may say. I am proud to day that I have some of the best friends on the planet who have been there for me through all of this and the best boyfriend in the world who is willing to help me however he can.
I’ve had people say that I am raising this money just because I want to a puppy to play with and cuddle. I already have the best cuddle buddy in the world in my amazing boy Legend… but Legends temperament didn’t work out for him to become a Service Dog. For Legend he’s too timid and he’s protective, which I don’t mind, but that means he can’t be a service dog. It is not a job that just any dog can do. It takes a dog with a very specific temperament which comes through generations of breeding dogs for that temperament, disposition, and willingness to work. But even that doesn’t mean they’ll succeed, they then go through 2-2 ½ years of extensive training, starting with basic and going through specialized training for their task and public access training. A lot of dogs no matter their temperament can learn to perform the right tasks, but not just any dog can deal with the public, getting tails stepped on, random children running up and pulling their ears, tails rolled over by carts, people yelling or trying to hurt them, loud noises, sudden noises, unfamiliar surfaces, elevators, escalators, etc.
Why would I put that much time, effort and money into a dog just to cuddle and play with it?! I’ve been afraid of the things people would say, but I am not any longer, now it just makes me angry, but I also realize people don’t understand. So many people have the image of what they think a service dog is and what it does, but they can be any size and any breed. Yes even a chihuahua can be a service dog, I know a few handlers that have one for diabetic or other medical alerts. But that doesn’t mean that people’s words don’t still get to me or even that people I know extremely well still don’t completely understand what I am going through. I’ve had night where I’ve broken down over things I’ve been told were said about me or that I have had directly to me. Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it isn’t true. My new puppy will change my life, and yes I will cuddle and play with him, but he is going to be trained as a working dog, his job will be to be my partner and help me through the day when I can’t help myself. He is going to give me my life back and no matter what people say or think they can’t stop us from being the best team we can be.