[meta-description: It’s possible to train and register your dog as a service dog as long as they can handle the training and perform a specific task. Learn more about how to make your dog a service dog.
Service dogs help millions of people around the world find relief from physical and mental disabilities. These canine companions are known for their intelligence, training, social skills, and ability to read their owner’s emotions. While many dogs are good at understanding their owners, service dogs take this to the next level. For this reason, not just any dog can be a service dog unless you go through the necessary training and registration.
The good news is that we’re here to help. Read on to learn about how to turn your dog into a wonderful service dog companion.
What Is a Service Dog?
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dogs are highly-trained dogs that help people with a disability; they’re treated as a type of treatment and protected under several laws. For example, service dogs can accompany their owners in public, on airlines, and in housing that’s not usually pet-friendly.
Service dogs can be trained to help people with mental disabilities or physical disabilities and can perform tasks that include:
- Opening doors
- Fetching medications
- Getting help from emergency services
- Guiding people through rooms
- Reminding someone when it’s time to take medications
- Performing deep pressure therapy (DPT)
Aside from these tasks, service dogs can be trained for an individual’s specific disability as long as it’s something reasonable that a dog can do.
Who Can Have a Service Dog?
People who have physical or mental health disabilities can have a service dog. Some examples of disabilities that qualify include:
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Seizures
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Autism
- Epilepsy
- Paralysis
- Multiple sclerosis
These are only a few examples, and other disabilities may apply. It’s important to get a recommendation from your doctor or a licensed mental health professional.
How to Make My Dog a Service Dog
It’s possible to make your dog a service dog, but it’s important to start when they’re a puppy. Choosing the right breed and registering your service dog is also essential. Learn more about how to make your dog a service dog below.
Step 1: Select the Right Breed
First and foremost, you need to select the right breed for your situation. If you have a small dog, they might be great for mental health disabilities, but useless for tasks that require physical assistance. Therefore, it’s important to choose a breed that meets your needs.
Also, some breeds are easier to train than others, so you’ll also have to keep this in mind. Still, any dog can become a service dog if you’re willing to commit to the training and registration process.
Step 2: Train Your Dog
The most important part of making your dog a service dog is the training. For a dog to become a service dog, they must be able to perform a task that directly improves someone’s quality of life. For example, psychiatric service dog training may include training a dog to recognize when someone is about to have a panic attack and escorting them out of a public setting to safety.
It’s possible to train your service dog on your own, though, in that case, it’s best to work with a course that was developed by professional trainers, like this one.
Step 3: Register Your Dog
There are no laws that state that you need to register a service dog. However, it’s still a good idea to register your service dog and take the public access test. This can prevent you from getting in trouble for having a fraudulent service dog, which is punishable by hefty fines. While nobody can ask for your paperwork in public, enough complaints may result in an investigation.
Following these steps will guide you through your journey to train and register your service dog.
Make Your Dog a Service Dog Today!
There aren’t many rules about what makes a service dog, but that doesn’t mean you can throw a vest on and call them a service dog. Training your service dog, passing the public access test, and having them registered is the best way to avoid fines, complaints, and other problems. Plus, your dog will be able to help you with your disability and behave in public.
While the process may not always be straightforward, get started by finding the right breed and working with a professional service dog trainer today.
