How a Puppy Becomes a Service Animal

Service dogs are not just pets. They’re specially trained to become extensions of their owners’ bodies.

Because of their intelligence, sociability and trainability, dogs are ideal companions for people with disabilities. Mobility assist dogs, for instance, are trained to pull wheelchairs for people who cannot operate them on their own. If a person has dexterity problems, the canines can also retrieve dropped objects, or carry their owner’s possessions in a backpack. They can even open and close doors, and help their owners dress or undress.

However, a dog is not ready for service right away. There is a lengthy process involved before a service dog is placed with an owner. A working puppy can come from a variety of places, including breeders, donating families and animal shelters. Some organizations, like Ohio’s Circle Tail, Inc., www.circletail.org/, promote the use of shelter dogs for service to give the unwanted animals a reason for being.

Just like people, every dog is different. So how do you know what kind of puppy will work best for you?

Determining whether a dog is capable of becoming a service dog is dependent upon several factors. One of these is the dog’s temperament. It should be calm and “laid back;” friendly, but focused. After all, it has a job to do and can’t afford to be easily distracted. Service dogs should not be overly aggressive; owners who are disabled should not have to worry that they will attack another person or animal. These easygoing traits help make Golden and Labrador Retrievers popular breeds for service work, but German Shepherds and Irish Setters are among other types of dogs that have shown service capabilities.

Once a likely candidate is found, the puppy will be cared for by a foster family, either on a short- or long-term basis. Families whose applications have been approved by the overseeing organization become candidates to foster a puppy. Though these families need not be certified to participate in the process, an application asks perspective long-term foster “parents” questions about whether or not they have the time to care for

Deputy Executive Director Paul Tobin retrieves a pencil picked up by a service animal at a demonstration for Paws with a Cause, which provides dogs to people with SCI. the puppy, whether there are other animals in the home, and whether applicants have undergone obedience training with those additional animals.

If a long-term foster family’s application goes through, the family must agree to undertake a wide variety of responsibilities. By accepting the puppy into their home for up to two years, they agree to monitor its behavior, take notice of its temperament, and to help with basic obedience training, which some trainers may offer at a discounted rate.

Foster parents must also be willing to socialize their dog, exposing it to different kinds of social situations, to help prepare the dog for the services it will one day be required to perform. This might involve carefully introducing it to potentially stressful environments, such as a busy street corner, to test its reactions to everyday noises and crowds of people.

Teaching the dog how to act in public is an important part of this socialization, as well. This can include manners instruction, which shows it, for instance, appropriate responses to strange dogs or people that they may encounter on the job. Long-term foster families are often financially responsible for the puppy, covering both daily care and veterinary expenses, such as vaccinations.

Short-term fostering options are available, as well. Applications for this process ask many of the same questions as long-term ones. In such an arrangement, approved foster parents are required to socialize their puppy for anywhere from a weekend to three weeks, as they undergo intense training in a different location. This form of fostering, sometimes called “sitting,” lets the puppy benefit from a loving home environment and job training simultaneously. Since there is less of a time investment required, this form of fostering is considered well suited to families with active lifestyles.

Generally, the training of a service puppy can begin anywhere from 15 months to 2 years of age. Many training programs, like the one at Canine Partners for Life, www.k94life.org, start by reinforcing the basic skills the puppy learned in the foster home, a blend of positive reinforcement for desired behavior and verbal reprimands for inappropriate acts is implemented. As time goes on, the puppy will begin to trust the trainer. In some cases, puppies live in the trainer’s home, in order to become acclimated to the everyday routines of a household.

Meanwhile, the people running the training program may be sifting through applications for those who want a dog. Since the demand for service dogs is so great, qualified applicants can be on waiting lists for several years.

Again, financial considerations must be examined. Some organizations, such as Sirius Canine Assistants www.siriuscanine.com, offer sponsorship programs to aid people with disabilities who cannot afford a service dog. Similarly, Texas Hearing and Service Dogs, located at www.hearingdogs.org, accepts public donations to offset the cost, which can amount to thousands of dollars. That is why programs like the Assistance Dog United Campaign, exist. The California campaign, www.assistancedogunitedcampaign.org, raises funds for dog placement and for grants to support research of the service animal industry. They set aside a portion of the donations that they receive to use as vouchers for dog user applicants. Some organizations, like Carolina Canines for Service in North Carolina, www.carolinacanines.org, enlist corporate sponsorship donations to cover training costs. At www.adionline.org, the Web site of Assistance Dogs International, a chart of other necessary expenditures is shown.

The International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, www.iaadp.org, stresses that health screening tests for adult dogs (18 months to 3 years) are more indicative of the candidate’s overall well-being. It can cost
up to $400 to complete this health screening. These tests include X-rays to check for hip dysplasia (HD), a disease that causes malformed hip joints. A veterinary organization called the Orthopedic Foundation of America will rate a dog’s condition in relation to this disease with a good, fair or excellent designation. If needed as a result of severe dysplasia, hip replacements can be expensive, at more than $2,000 per hip. Candidates should also receive regular eye exams, and be monitored for heartworms, breed-specific diseases, parasites, and heart and thyroid disease. Keeping a dog’s vaccinations current is important, to avoid any problems with diseases like rabies or distemper. It is also recommended that the dog be spayed or neutered before its placement with an owner.

In time, the dog’s training may expand to include honing retrieval skills and pulling a wheelchair, asserts Canine Companions for Independence, www.caninecompanions.org. If the dog seems to be able to handle these tasks, it will be allowed to move toward Advanced Training. In this phase, the dog is typically taught some of the commands that will be unique to the service of people with disabilities, such as “light switch,” for turning lights on or off. As the dog is exposed to the real world with increasing frequency, it may be required to perform these tasks in public, to get used to the rigors of what will soon become daily work.

At this time, preliminary matches with perspective partners may be made, as well. According to Carolina Canines for Service, this process takes, on average, six to eight months, but could last up to a year.

The recommended age at which the dog can begin serving seems to vary from three to five years, depending on the requirements of its training program. When the dog is ready for work, it can begin team training with a program-selected partner. To aid in the matching process, one-on-one dog training can be important, as described at Sirius Canine Assistants, so that the trainer can learn the many facets of a puppy’s personality.

It’s also important to try to match the dog’s personality to the recipient. For example, if the recipient is someone who likes to lounge around the house, a hyperactive dog probably wouldn’t suit that person. This involves both group lessons and individualized instruction, as the person who is disabled learns the commands that his dog will need to assist him. In this method, the person must also find a way to move his or her wheelchair and manage the dog at the same time, suggests Olympic Assistance Dogs, www.olympicassistancedogs.org. This process can last for three to four weeks.

As dog and partner get to know each other better, frequent follow-up visits are made by staff members of the organization that matched them. These visits enable them to monitor their progress as a new team, and to check for any unforeseen problems that may have arisen since the team was originally formed. Gradually, as the team finds its rhythm, the visits become less frequent.

Finally, the big day arrives when the service dog, his foster family and his new owner participate in a graduation ceremony. During the event, service dogs are presented with their certification credentials. These include a laminated identification card that states the dog and owner’s names, and shows a picture of the dog. Thereafter, the dog and his owner are required to take a public access test, which helps determine whether the dog is well-behaved enough to function in public. The dog is also often required to display some kind of sticker or logo that declares it to be a service dog.

The process of obtaining a service dog can be harrowing, but, if successful, it can help people with disabilities to achieve a level of independence that they may not otherwise reach. The attainment of this goal, in conjunction with the bond that arises between the dog and his owner, can enrich the lives of both parties immeasurably.

Lori A. Wood is a frequent contributor to Orbit. She lives in Council Bluffs, Iowa.