Why Do Service Dogs Wear Vests?
We've all seen a Service or Assistance Dog walking around a store or restaurant wearing a vest or jacket. Most people assume all Service Dogs wear vests, but that's not true. Federal law doesn't even require Service Dogs to wear a vest and yet, almost all of them do. Keep reading to find out why! Service Dog Vests For Identification First and foremost, most Service Dogs wear a vest for identification purposes. A Service Dog's vest is chock full of information. Each team has different needs, so vests are often unique, but common information includes: Where the dog comes from, if they're program trained ("Four Paws For Ability") Any sponsors, if the team fundraised for the Service Dog Dog's name, if the handler feels like sharing Type of Service Dog ("Medical Assistance Dog") Service Dog Vests For Function Many teams use their Service Dog's vest to carry important documentation or vaccinations records, medication, or husbandry items like cleanup bags or treats. Allergen Alert Dog teams often have an epi-pen or other lifesaving medication in a pouch. Mobility teams often have vests that allow forward pulling momentum assistance or counterbalance. Service Dog Vests For Communication Most Service Dog vests communicate valuable, important, or helpful information. Many handlers, especially those who are nonverbal or who have social anxiety, rely on their patches to communicate for them. Most teams find that patches with legal information on them reduce access challenges. Type of interactions with the dog allowed ("No Talk, No Touch, No Eye Contact") Legal rights ("Access Required by Federal Law") Rules or guidelines for emergency interactions ("In Event of Emergency, Do Not Separate Dog From Handler") Anything else the handler or program deems necessary Instructions for assisting handler ("Epipen in Pouch") Service Dog Vests For Self-Expression Service Dog vests can be custom-made or off the shelf. They're available in thousands of colors, color combinations, patterns, designs, and fits. There's a limitless number of patches, including fandom or themed Service Dog patches. Lots of teams, especially owner-trainer Service Dog teams, value unique, funny, or quippy patches. Some collect patches that say things like, "I'm a Service Dog, not a magical unicorn!" or "I'm a Patronus." A Service Dog's vest offers a great avenue for self-expression. Some teams have several vests for a variety of purposes.
3 Reasons Your Puppy Isn’t Housetraining Quickly
Everyone wants their puppy to housetrain quickly. For Service Dogs in Training, progression relies on housetraining. Until an SDiT has reliable potty habits, public access training often proves difficult or impossible. If you're trying to make quick progress with potty training, make sure you're not making these common mistakes. You're Not Using a Schedule When a puppy gets up at the same time every day, eats on a schedule, and goes out on a schedule, housetraining becomes much easier. Not only can you predict when the puppy needs to go outside, but the puppy learns that an opportunity to go out happens regularly and they start to wait for it. Set up a schedule for your Service Dog in Training as soon as possible. Your puppy should come out of the crate and go to bed at roughly the same time every day. Meals and training sessions should occur at regular times. Puppies need daily exercise, grooming, and interaction, so pencil those in, too. You're Not Keeping Them Focused Puppies enjoy playing. If you simply put a puppy outdoors and then bring them in, oftentimes, you'll find a surprise on the floor shortly after! To prevent the "I took them out but they came inside and pottied" problem, take your puppy outside on a leash. Keep them on the leash and focused on business until they potty. Afterward, remove the leash and play. Business before play. Remember that puppies need to go outside first thing of the morning and just before bed, as well as after meals and during any changes in activity. You're Not Controlling Intake Fee feeding a puppy and leaving water down all the time is one of the top causes of house training issues. Feed your puppy on a schedule. What goes in must come out, so with time, you'll be able to predict when your puppy needs to go out. Pick up all water 2-3 hours before bed so your puppy has plenty of time to go potty before going to sleep for the night. Very young puppies might need an extra trip outdoors during the night, but older puppies are more than capable of sleeping through the night.
Why You Can’t Pet Service Dogs
Although many people know that you are not supposed to pet Service Dogs when they are working, few understand the reasoning behind this rule. Even fewer people realize that you should not DISTRACT an assistance dog in ANY WAY.
100 Unique Service Dog Names
Naming a Service Dog can be highly personal. Many people choose names that carry meaning for them. Others choose names from a TV show or book that they particularly enjoy. Still others research names extensively and choose names from another language or culture that convey something they want to always keep in mind. Here's a list of 100 unique name ideas for Service Dogs! Attribute Service Dog Names Aart, Dutch - "powerful as an eagle" Abelino, Germanic / Old English - "bird" - good for a light, lithe Service Dog Adelmar, Germanic - "of noble strength" - good for a Brace Dog Adelrik, Germanic - "powerful and strong" Adira, Hebrew - "strong" Aegius, Greek - "protector" Alba - "white" Aikin, Old English - "like an oak tree" - good for a strong, powerful Service Dog Blaze - good for a dog with a white stripe on their face Cyan - good for a dog with blue eyes Dakota, unknown - "friendly companion" Drojo, Old Saxon - "ghost, phantom" - good for a white or silver Service Dog Hagan, Old English - "strong warrior" Hazel - good for a dog with brown/green eyes Jade - good for a dog with green eyes Jedrek - "strong, manly" Jett - good for a very darkly colored dog Kieran, Gaelic - "little dark one" Lenna, Old German - "lion's strength" Mazaran, French - "dark blue" - good for a dog with richly blue eyes Remo - "the strong one" Roux, French - "red, russet" - pronounced "Roo" Saffron - golden-brown color Sienna - rich brown color Takeo, Japanese - "strong as bamboo" Xanthe - yellow - good for a yellow Labrador Meaningful Service Dog Names Aapeli, Finnish - "breathing" - good for someone who needs a constant reminder to just breathe Ace, Latin - "the best one" Agni, Sanskrit - "from the fire" - good for someone seeking growth or a new way of life Aurora, Latin - "dawn" - good for signifying new beginnings Beacon, Old English - "signal light" - good for an alert dog Eos - Greek goddess of dawn Genesis - beginnings Huchon, Gaelic - "heart, mind, spirit" Imanu, unknown African origin - "spiritual guide" Jodo, Indonesian - "buddy, friend, mate" Jomei, Japanese - "spread light" Kaibigan, Filipino - "friend" Katlego, unknown African origin - "achieving" Kiran, Sanskrit - "beam of light" Maika'i, Hawaiian, "calm" Nura, Arabic - "blazing light" Oralee, Hebrew - "my light" Paena, Hawaiian - "partner" Tadeo, Aramaic - "gift" - good for a Service Dog who will give the gift of independence Valerian - herb known for its calming effects Zen, Japanese Service Dog Names From Books, Movies, TV Akasha / Akki - Vampire Chronicles Albus - Harry
5 Awesome Things Your Dog Does That Aren’t Service Dog Tasks
Science proves living with a dog carries many physical and mental benefits. Blood pressure goes down, people deal with less anxiety and generally speaking, just feel better. Dogs offer great emotional support, help us get more activity, and give the best snuggles. Benefits aside, though, simply having a dog who helps you feel better doesn't make a dog a Service Dog. Only trained tasks do that, along with proper behavior, manners, and temperament. Without further ado, here are 5 awesome things dogs do that aren't Service Dog tasks. Provide Emotional Support When it comes to unconditional love, acceptance, and pure joy, not much beats a good dog. Science agrees that dogs provide incredible emotional support and health perks. Be that as it may, though, emotional support, relieving anxiety, or helping with depression are not, in and of themselves, Service Dog tasks. Service Dog laws specifically exclude emotional support resulting from natural behaviors as a task. Service Dog tasks require specific training and cannot be natural behaviors any dog is capable of doing. Help You Get Things Done Lots of people struggle with daily chores and activities, including things like just getting out of bed. Having a dog can provide the boost some people need to get things done. After all, the dog needs to go out, be fed, and get some exercise. Having a dog can be a great help when dealing with some of the more difficult mental illness symptoms. However, helping you get things done is not a Service Dog task, unless the way your dog assists you is the result of specific training that is replicable on cue. Encourage Outings Walking a dog or going outside to play offers a great way to get some exercise and sunlight. For people who struggle with anxiety or who have phobias, getting out and about can be near impossible. Having a dog can make some of those activities easier. However, daily activities all dogs do aren't Service Dog tasks. Require Interaction Many mental illnesses and chronic disorders result in apathy or a desire for less interaction. Living with a dog usually means providing touch and contact, since dogs need that to be healthy, and so do humans! However, simply interacting isn't a Service Dog task, unless it's a replicable behavior that's trained to assist in a concrete way. Snuggle Snuggling is great. Snuggling with a willing canine companion can be quite relaxing and soothing. No matter how much it helps
Dogs Can be Trained to Detect and Assist with Medical Conditions
Dogs are capable of noticing the slightest of changes in human bodies through scent — and we're just beginning to discover their capabilities. It's estimated that dogs have a sense of smell that is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than ours. James Walker, the former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, who's team rigorously tested dog's scenting ability explains, "if you make the analogy to vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well." Here's an overview of how dogs can be trained to detect and assist with medical conditions. How dogs' sense of smell can assist with medical conditions Dogs are capable of noticing the slightest of changes in human bodies caused by various systems including, hormonal changes and any volatile organic compounds that our bodies release from, for example, cancer cells. The great news is that scientists and dog trainers are leaning more and more about how dogs smell and applying training techniques to sniff out and assist with medical conditions. Assisting with diabetes Dogs can be trained to help people with diabetes realize that they are experiencing blood sugar levels spiking or dropping. Scientists have discovered that human breath has a natural chemical called isoprene that rises notably when a person with type 1 diabetes is going through a period of low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia. With training, dogs can alert their owners and give them time to take their insulin when they see that their blood test confirms the warning as accurate. Detection of cancer Heather Junqueira, researcher at BioScentDx conducted a study titled, "A highly sensitive test for detecting cancer could potentially save thousands of lives and change the way the disease is treated." She present this research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting during the 2019 Experimental Biology meeting. Junqueira and her team used a a type of clicker training to teach four beagles to distinguish between normal blood serum and samples from patients with malignant lung cancer. Three of the four dogs correctly identified lung cancer samples 96.7 percent of the time and normal samples 97.5 percent of the time. "This work is very exciting because it paves the way for further research along two paths, both of which could lead to new cancer-detection tools," Junqueira explained. "One is using canine scent
This Service Dog Short Film Is Worth Watching
This beautiful Service Dog short film by Southeastern Guide Dogs chronicles the (mis)adventures of Pip, a guide puppy in training. Pip's story features lots of ups and downs, triumphs and failures, and, ultimately, a selfless act of pure heroics no one ever could have expected.
Short Answer Series: What Kinds of Jobs Do Service Dogs Do?
Service Dogs, also known as Assistance Dogs or Service Animals, help people with disabilities. These highly trained dogs offer their human partner independence and peace of mind. Keep reading to learn more about the tasks and jobs Service Dogs perform to help their partner in day to day life! Every Service Dog performs different jobs since their handler's needs vary. Some Service Dogs pull wheelchairs or provide bracing. Other Service Dogs open and close doors or retrieve dropped items. In general, Service Dog tasks support, mitigate, or substitute activities or chores the handler needs. As an example, if someone cannot reach down to pick something up, their Service Dog does it for them. The Service Dog serves as a substitute for the handler's own action. If a handler cannot move from a sit to a stand on their own, but they can with assistance, their Service Dog may provide support for the action by serving as a stable counterbalance. If a handler suffers from debilitating flashbacks when approached from behind while in public, their Service Dog may mitigate these symptoms by serving as an early warning system or physical barrier. Service Dog tasks must be specifically trained to help the handler with their specific disability. There are hundreds of possible tasks. The ways a Service Dog can help are limited only by the trainer's or handler's imagination and training capability. For ideas about Service Dog tasks, check out our guide to task work. The International Association of Assistance Dog Partner's guide to tasks also contains great information.
10 Ways to Be a Better Service Dog Team in 2019
As the holidays wrap up, it's a great time to reflect on your 2018 and resolve to do better in 2019. Here are ten simple steps that will help you and your Service Dog become a better team. Happy New Year! 2019 Service Dog Goals: Check Your Gear Is your Service Dog gear clean, serviceable and still relevant to your needs? Now is a great time to sit in a warm house and clean gear, spruce up those leather harnesses with some saddle soap, and make sure that that really nice backpack doesn't chafe your partner's underarms. Check the fit of collars, boots, coats, and other working gear. Make sure ID tags are up to date. Since you're probably working on taxes or your budget for the coming year - now's a good time to consider if you'll need to replace or upgrade any gear in the coming year. 2019 Service Dog Goals: Make a Service Dog Binder This is more important than it sounds. Include things like a current vaccination record, microchip information. AKC, breeder, trainer, or even rescue information could be included also. A list of all of the tasks your dog performs for you, and a list of all of the commands and behaviors that your dog has mastered could be included too. Other ideas include a current series of photos that show your dog both dressed and from the front and side, in case you ever need them. There are lots of ideas, these are just a few. 2019 Service Dog Goals: Do a Service Dog Skills Check It's a good idea to evaluate your partner's skill set multiple times per year, but a large scale audit is good at least once per year. This is a good time to see if you need to focus your training anywhere specific, or to simply update your list of what your dog knows. Getting video is a good idea too. 2019 Service Dog Goals: Update Your Service Dog's Task and Behavior List Now is a good time to update their Task/Behavior list. Cell phones make it so easy to get good quality video these days too. It's a really great way to log that your dog can demonstrate a skill when needed, just mak sure that there is sufficient lighting and the behavior is visible with minimal cues and distractions. Storing these files on a USB Drive or even a SD Card makes life a lot
What Are the Assistance Dogs International Service Dog Training Standards?
Assistance Dogs International (ADI) publishes standards for Service Dog training, behavior, ethics, organizations, programs, trainers, handlers, and clients. They also define standards of behavior and training for Guide Dogs, Hearing Dogs, and Service Dogs for veterans. Read on to learn more about ADI's Service Dog standards. As of November 2018, 140 programs worldwide held ADI accreditation. Additionally, dozens of unaccredited Service Dog training organizations, programs, and individual trainers claim adherence to Assistance Dog International's standards. Please note that any Service Dog organization claiming adherence to ADI standards without actual ADI accreditation has not been evaluated by Assistance Dogs International for adherence to standards. Per the Assistance Dogs International website, "ADI Standards have become the benchmarks to measure excellence in the Assistance Dog industry. Assistance Dog users trust their lives and safety to their dogs so everything related to the training of both the dogs and people must meet extraordinary criteria." When an organization or trainer says a dog meets "industry standard" expectations, most often, they're referring to the ADI standards. Sometimes, though, they may be referring to the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP). The IAADP also produces regularly utilized standards for Service Dog training and behavior. In a nutshell, the ADI standards outline expectations for a training program that is professional, ethical humane, comprehensive, and reliable. Assistance Dogs International expects programs to select, screen, train, and place dogs suitable for Service Dog work. These dogs should be of sound mind and sound body, with specific, well-trained skills and behaviors. Once trained, the Service Dogs should be carefully matched with their future partner. Both Service Dog and handler should undergo extensive team training prior to solo work. They should receive support from the placement organization throughout the team's working life. ADI Minimum Standards and Ethics All standards cited below come directly from Assistance Dogs International's document "ADI Minimum Standards and Ethics." That document can be referenced on the ADI website. We have changed the order of the sections contained in ADI's document for easier grouping. We've placed ethics and standards for programs, clients, and partners at the top, with standards for each type of Service Dog at the bottom. ADI Ethics For Dogs ADI believes that any dog the member organizations trains to become an Assistance Dog has a right to a quality life. Therefore, the ethical use of an Assistance Dog must incorporate the following criteria: 1. An Assistance Dog must be temperamentally screened for emotional soundness and working ability. 2.