Service Dogs: Why Service Dogs Can Help People

-crowd control. Due to my claustrophobic induced anxiety attacks, having a service dog who is trained to stand their ground in crowded situations to form a "personal bubble" would be good for me.

There are between 45 to 55 million dogs per household in America (American Humane Association 2012). Furthermore, according to a national survey, the majority of dog owners chose to get a dog for the companionship as the major reason for having a dog (American Animal Hospital Association, 2004). After all, dogs are nonjudgmental, give unconditional love, can be trusted with our most intimate feelings and emotions, and are highly intelligent. These dog characteristics can significantly enhance the lives of thousands of youth and adults, especially those with disabilities and/or those who live in continuing care facilities. There are approximately 20,000 service dogs in the U.S., which includes 10,000 guide dogs (American Humane Association 2012)

At first sight, service dogs look like any other dog. They are furry. They walk on all fours. They have a tail. But they have many differences from other dogs. Service dogs are well behaved and are obedient. They wear clothing that no other dog wears such as a vest to make people aware that they are service dogs. Service dogs perform tasks that no other dogs can do, like paying for meals and carrying objects for their owners, sometimes in a vest compartment like a backpack. Service dogs are unlike other dogs because they are trained to do tasks that human beings normally do, but can’t because of some disability. Service dogs help their owners navigate the world they live in by assisting their owners in overcoming day to day

Service dogs also help their children sleep at night by helping reduce the chance of sleepwalking and nightmares. With the dog by the child’s side, the remainder of the family has an opportunity to get adequate sleep.

Not all service dogs are allowed in all public places. This paper explains all the reasons

These dogs learn many tasks so they are specialized for their certain patient. Therapy dogs learn special tasks to decrease the anxiety in a patient during certain situations, so “Stanek trains his dogs to perform 10 or so PTSD-specific tasks. Some of them are designed to ease concerns about blind spots, not unlike the way a military unit designates someone to watch troops' backs or to scout ahead. Stanek's 2-year-old Catahoula mix, Sarge, for example, has been trained to check around the corner to see what's in the next aisle at a store.”(Thompson 3). When therapy dogs are in public areas, they tend to use tasks like checking around the corners at stores. Those with PTSD sometimes believe there are attackers around the corner. This helps relieve stress of the war veteran by assuring that when the veteran turns the corner they will not get hurt. Not only do the dogs go through training to become perfect for their patients, but they also have to become trained in “normal” tasks, whether their patients use it or not. A therapy dogs may be complicated or not but either way “To qualify as a service animal, dogs must be trained to do work or perform tasks like providing safety checks and room searches for a person with PTSD.”(Thompson 3) . When dogs successfully pass the tests to become a therapy dog, people know therapy dogs are effective at reducing symptoms due to all the standards they must meet. People can usually tell when it is a therapy dog or a pleasure dog just by how they act. Therapy dogs tend to be much calmer and are very good at calming people down. The special training dogs go through make them not only able to but also extremely talented at decreasing a PTSD patient’s

In her book Reporting For Duty: True Stories of Wounded Veterans and Their Service Dogs, she shares the stories of veterans who use a service dog to help cope with different disabilities. Libby also covers topics such as the history and use of various types of service dogs at military facilities and the organizations and processes that help to produce a service dog for the veterans that need them. The cost of training a service dog can range from $8,000 to $70,000 depending on the training required and whether it comes from a shelter or breeding program (172). According to Libby, “the average cost of a guide dog, for example, runs about $60,000, whereas training for a therapy dog averages about 10,000” (189). While training a service dog can be expensive, several organizations supply service dogs to veterans at no cost through individual donations, fundraising, and other similar methods (174). The book uses pictures of dogs performing various jobs on almost every page and is well organized and detailed. This will be helpful for my essay because it covers how what factors determine costs for trained service dogs, who pays those costs, and the history of changes that have occurred in the military with service

It is misunderstood that service dogs are only for the blind but this is not true. Service dogs assist people with many types of disabilities. According to Dr. Demling, Certified Behaviorist at Pet Wellness Academy, dogs also provide “Unconditional love. A 100% acceptance without judgment when a person is depressed, anxious, lonely, wearing the same clothes as yesterday and can’t get out of bed helps people feel like they have a true friend during their difficulties.” (qtd. In Bennett). There are service dogs for the blind, deaf, people with anxiety, depression, people who have seizures and people with autism. Service dogs make their owner’s lives happier by helping them overcome their disabilities and

Veterans should be able to adopt their service dog. Service dogs and there handlers have an unbreakable bond. In addition, these dogs can provide support while injured veterans heal.

Imagine life in darkness. Imagine feeling around unstably, reaching out for the wall, the door, the person in front of you. Imagine the fear of not knowing where you are or if you are in danger. Now, imagine that you have a loyal, trustworthy guide. You are no longer afraid. You no longer worry about finding your way. You are safe in the hands of a close friend who is with you all times of the day. This companion is not a human however, it is a loyal guide dog. Guide dogs around the world assist humans who have disabilities. Guide dogs are not the only animals who help humans though. Service animals, therapy animals, and even pets all can assist and affect humans in many ways. For years animals have aided in the medical field and new ways for animals to help humans continue to be discovered today. Animals positively affect human health by benefiting humans with their general well being, with physical disabilities, and aiding in the recovery of veterans.

Service dogs are a type of dogs that are specially trained to do specific responsibilities to help people who have disabilities, such as people with visual impairment. The dog’s role in this case is to guide them around the obstacles, stop at step ladders, and help them cross the street. Also, service dogs trained to help people with hearing impairment. They trained in a way to alert their partners to sounds and lead them to the source of it. On the other hand, service dogs help people with mental illnesses to take their pills at certain times of the day and carry medical supplies for them.

Dogs can be trained to be service dogs to help blind people do things more independently. These dogs can help someone cross the street or help them pick up things that they may have dropped. Things that might have been difficult for them to achieve are much easier now with the assistance of their service dog. Dogs can help people physically and emotionally.

The cost of a service dog can be very expensive, if not obtained by an organization that receives donations and helps the family out. The average annual cost to maintain a dog was $1307, with a range of $195-$5134 (Davis 134). The daily routine changes in some of the families affected the dogs negatively. The dog would have bathroom accidents in the home, which were frowned upon by the family. The stress of the day to day activities with the child would be too much for the dog to handle at times, fatigue and attitude changes were apparent. The majority of problems faced with a service dog can be eliminated, with a set routine and normal breaks given to the dog.

The first picture shows a dog who is carrying a basket for his owner. The dog is doing an everyday chore for his owner.These details help you understand more about how these hero dogs help veterans in everyday life.The dogs go through training that teaches them to do simple commands and much more. At 8 to 12 weeks, they join the Hero Dogs and begin training. In the article, it states, "At 18 months, the puppies learn special skills. Injured veterans often struggle with things that used to be easy, such as walking up stairs, shutting doors or turning light switches off and on." This shows some of the many things these dogs learn.

Bergin university of Canine studies is a sanctuary that has all the essential elements to raise service dogs and assistance so that they’ll be the best companion of their owners in any difficulty they have in their lives. Their mission is to create a helpful relationship between human and the world most helpful canines, so that veterans can get all the assistance without becoming dependant on it. The overall strategies and training courses are based on deep research and studies conducted on Dogs and the process that are implemented are based on practical implementations, rather than just theories.