Colonel Underpants Becomes a Service Dog

Chris said:
Amazingly, he trained himself.
Click to expand...

Congratulations on this new adventure!

You likely already know this but do keep in mind that any natural behaviours will have to be put on cue and shaped to be considered a trained task. This is important because a dog's task(s) or job(s) must be individually trained in order for it to be a service dog. The ada defines itithis way: "a service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability."

This distiction is needed because there are a great many things dogs do in response to changes in environment. For example, many dogs sense and seek out their owner when a storm approaches. This doesn't mean the dog is alerting but rather following a natural instinct to be with it's pack. Likewise, many dogs will forcefully exhale through their noses when walking into smoke. This isn't to tell others that the smoke exists but rather a physiological response to clear it from their noses. The same applies to when a dog senses a change in the medical condition of its handler - the dog behaves in a way that is meant to change the perception (eg. clearing a scent from their noses), gather more information, calm the situation, protect, and/or seek reassurance from its handler. These are normal instinctual behaviours and can even escalate to being a liability if the dog is protective or finds the change anxiety producing.

On the other hand, performing a trained response is a strong indicator that the dog is not stressed by the event or environment and therefore unlikely to act in a way that jeopardizes the safety of the public, first responders, and it's handler. A trained response that is proofed is also more reliable as it doesn't depend on the dog's perception of what is most important at that moment.

Shelties are so in tune with thier handlers that it's not unusual for them to respond to changes. This makes them a wonderful choice for a service dog. On the other hand thier skittish and sometimes protective nature often makes public access training the larger challenge. It's really important to work on this to ensure a safe and confident team that shares many working years together. I am sure you must be aware of the standards but for anyone that may be interested the industry standards for public access training in service dogs can be found here: http://www.iaadp.org/iaadp-minimum-training-standards-for-public-access.html

As an aside, and again for others who may be interested, here are two lists of tasks that service dogs perform:

http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html

http://www.iaadp.org/tasks.html

Finally, please be sure to seek out a reputable gear maker if you decide to use vests etc. So many scams are on the internet claiming to certify pets and offering fancy looking vests and fake ID to anyone willing to pay. This trend is making life really hard for legitimate teams as certification and gear is not required in the US. The DOJ's position on such scams is that "these documents do not convey any rights under the ADA and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal." If you need some names of reputable gear makers I would be happy to refer you to some excellent and very talented members of the service dog community who maintain thier financial independence by designing and selling high quality gear.

Wishing you and your husband the very best on this new adventure! Always nice to see another sheltie joining the SD community!
 
Thanks, great information. We "get" your points, and are ensuring we comply. Also, we're wise to the scams and have a good gear supplier.
 
Our youngest son has TBI that he received in 1974 when he was 17. He is 50 now and hasn't lived at home since his accident. When he was living at a head injury facility in VA we took Amber to meet him while she was less then a year old. Our son was a little rough with her,not being mean it was part of his TBI. With Amber being so young she was very loving and gentile with him. She knew he was different. She keep licking his face and nuzzling him.With us all she wanted to do was play,but with him she was a different dog. Yes shelties are a very special breed indeed. Amber is our second sheltie. Amber will be our last sheltie. We are both 75+.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top