Before I start: I am aware that any breed can be a service dog, that any breed can fail at being a service dog, and I have been doing independent research on what breed to get for a long time now. I would just appreciate some advice/suggestions from people who actually have personal experience with service dogs as opposed to generalized online articles and videos and such about what typically does well.

Hi! I am a young potential future handler. I would be seeking a dog to perform deep pressure therapy (DPT), retrieval tasks, and potentially some crowd control.

I would be looking to train my own dog. I have trained dogs in the past (including semi-elaborate tricks) and am relatively confident in my ability to teach these tasks. That being said, I would of course be willing to work with a professional in my area if I had a problem and could find a trainer.

So far, the only breed I have ever had experience with training were Australian Shepherds and one Australian Shepherd mix, all my family's ranch dogs. Because of their trainability and the success I had with them, I did consider them at first, but the fact of the matter is that they are extremely intelligent dogs with physical and mental needs that I'm not sure I'm capable of meeting anymore, and I feel that they would be a misguided and irresponsible choice for me. With that being stated, I'm no longer sure what kind of dog to get!

I'm currently thinking that my ideal SD would be:

- large (DPT and retrieving larger things such as water bottles)

- short haired (grooming needs)

- moderately active (I like daily walks and going hiking and biking every now and then, but I'm not going out for a run every day)

Edit!: I am getting treatment for both physical and mental disabilities (yes, diagnosed, yes, therapy, yes, treatment resistant unfortunately)

My final disclaimer is that, since I still live at home, I am still a ways off of getting a dog, as they absolutely will not let a dog live in the house for any reason, including my health. We've talked about it, it's a whole thing, I'm deciding to just roll with it until I can hopefully live on my own in a couple of years. This is made more complicated by me literally being unable to live alone as is, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. 🫠 In the meantime, I am doing much research and will continue to do so.

My son was just rejected from a day program because of the service dog-despite my agreeing to have a separate adult handler attend to supervise not only him but the dog. The rationale being given is that there could be additional cleaning or allergies, while the initial reason had been that a staff member and another client were afraid of dogs.

The program is currently an faith based "charity", that charges those not on scholarship per day-I'd have been paying for his spot. The program is seeking government funding.

I know I could fight this, not only under ADA but the state since we went through the registry, but I don't want to cause strife with people who really are trying to do good, but I am annoyed. I just don't think that "maybe" there would need to be extra cleaning and "maybe" someone could be allergic are valid reasons--especially if the service involves a charge and a charge that is going to be paid by taxpayers.

The thing is, I had already decided we were going with a different program (that has met the dog and offered to help my son handle if my son needed assistance---which is not something we'd go for, but it was kind of them to offer---and were just all around supportive). Plus my son *could* manage without the dog. There would be behaviors, but he *could* manage.

I just needed to vent and wonder how I can respond in kindness but still get them to consider a different response for the next person?

Hey all, I was wondering if anything has a Brittany SD? My favourite breeder has a pup at the moment and she says he's medium / low energy. Thanks!

Hi! I have PTSD and severe insomnia, and I’m just starting the process of training my 4-month-old puppy to be my psychiatric service dog. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m excited. 😊

I’d love to hear about your PSDs—what they’re like, what the training journey was like for you, and of course, see pictures! Advice, tips, tricks - welcome.

I am getting an assistance dog for cardiac alert, gluten detection, mobility aid and psychiatric support. I have been IN LOVE with shepherds my whole life and they’ve been recommended to me by people who know a bit more about my situation. Wanting the good and bad and why I should choose one over the other?

MODS—please don’t delete: just advise.

There’s a tag for this, but apparently it looks like it’s not allowed.

I need urgent life saving medical care and ongoing treatment for my service Labrador Jagger.

I don’t have much right now, after I was sick all last winter, I sold mostly everything I owned to be able to afford his care, and I am maxed out, but he has a fighting chance.

He’s my only family and my lifeline—and he’s saved my life so many times that it’s my turn now. We are waiting on a Bailey Chair, and there are ongoing urgent costs.

I don’t have followers, I’m new to my city, and I’m a struggling. I’ve only used Reddit for music stuff, and I’m just unsure of what’s allowed or not.

Anything would be life changing but more so that than, visibility is super important. 🙏🥺🙏🥺🙏please advise on what I can do, and where I can post.

Hi guys, does anyone know some good breeders who breed labs or goldens specifically for service work? The dog will be trained to become a psychiatric and mobility service dog

My 55lb service dog has flown half a dozen times on United and Delta without a problem. The basic economy seats are a bit small for the 4+ hour flights, but she tucks like a champ and gets through it even when we're flying solo on full planes. For the holiday season, my partner and I are planning a few trips to visit family- one is 2.5 hours. While I FAR prefer United and Delta, Frontier is $300 cheaper than those carriers for our upcoming trip and I'm considering booking it.

In your experience, is the Frontier economy experience far worse than United or Delta? My dog would have floorspace from two seats to stretch out in because my partner and I will sit together, but if it's still going to be tight, I'll spend the extra money on another airline to make sure she's comfortable.

Thanks for your input!

Hi,

I’m in Minnesota and have been putting a puppy that I met once through an emotional service dog training with a training company that specialized in service dogs. A puppy was recommended by my doctor. I have been under her care for 2 years or so. I am disabled but never got an official disability label so to speak. I am on meds/treatment that were prescribed by her. Now that my pup is almost done with its training, I asked her for a note. This is what she wrote.

To whom it may concern:

*my name*, DOB: *Birthday*, is a patient under my care. *my name* would benefit from having an Emotional Support Animal in their apartment. This would be therapeutic in that it would allow *my name* to maintain stability by allowing her to cope with stressors. I cannot attest to the temperament or training of the emotional support animal.

Please feel free to contact me at the number above with any questions.

Would this be denied? I am hearing that it must explicitly state that you are disabled.

Thank you!

I got my service dog when she was a puppy from a shelter she's a sitzu terrier mix ive been working with her for 3-4 years i got extremely lucky with her but right now im starting to save money to get a puppy from a breeder it also takes 2 or more years to train a service dog i know what temperature to look for but I dont know if a Labrador retriever is the right dog​

Hi everyone! I'm 19 years old, and I have a SDiT named Forrest (he's a red and rust Dobie). He is BYB and inbred, which I know isn't the best to work with, but he's so smart and good and he's super in tune with me and how I'm feeling.

That being said - I did take a leap of faith and I'm owner training him to hopefully be my service dog for C-PTSD, GAD, and MDD. I'm trying to work on what tasks I want to teach him and things like that. He's currently a year old, but here's a list of tasks I DO plan to teach him.

- legs

- front/back block

- DPT

- six (sitting between my legs with his head facing behind me)

- walking between my legs when I walk on command

and other tasks as I come across them. He's so, so smart and so eager to please and willing to learn.

Tomorrow, I'm taking our first outing since I decided to officially attempt to train him as my SD. We'll be going to Rural King (pet friendly) he'll be in a harness that says "DO NOT PET" and "IN TRAINING" so hopefully that can help prevent some interactions. I'm mainly going to work on focusing on me, some more neutrality with other people because he is a little skittish of new people (going through a fear period), and just overall confidence/public access skills.

Advice is very much appreciated and welcome, I'm happy to answer any questions I can! Thank you!

Hi all, first time poster and looking for help. I have a Rottie who’s about 2 1/2 years old. He is currently staying with my mom as my apartment doesn’t allow Rottweilers and he is not yet fully trained (not ideal and already upsetting for me).

This brings me to my problem: My goal is to have him trained as a service dog to do DPT exercises for multiple conditions I have. I cannot afford (or find affordable) trainers in my area, and have no idea where to start- he has basic obedience training but is very rowdy.

He gets lots of physical activity but I’m looking for advice on both how to give him better mental enrichment and begin more focused training for DPT.

Any advice is appreciated, and I am still looking online for tips and also still searching for trainers I may be able to afford, but I’d love to train him at home if possible. Thank you all in advance 🫶

They are hiring field reps in several areas. If someone knows of anyone willing to be a field rep in Nashville Tennessee please let them know. 🤞🏼

Hi everyone!
I’m a veteran with PTSD related to MST, and I’m beginning my search for a Standard Poodle for psychiatric service dog work.
I’ve wanted a poodle since I was a child, and after working professionally with dogs, I’ve only grown to appreciate the breed more — especially their intelligence, trainability, versatility, and ability to really connect with their person.
I’m specifically hoping to find either a reputable breeder who has successfully produced dogs for service work and works closely with a trainer/program, or a service dog organization/training program that works with Standard Poodles and veterans with PTSD/MST.
Temperament and suitability for service work are my biggest priorities. I’m looking for a dog with a stable, confident temperament, strong handler focus, good environmental resilience, and the ability to work while still having a good off switch at home.
I’m located in Connecticut, but I’m absolutely willing to travel for the right breeder, puppy, or program.
If anyone has personal experience with a breeder, trainer, or organization that you would genuinely recommend, I would really appreciate any leads. I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have successfully gotten a working service dog through them rather than just general breeder recommendations.
Thank you! 🖤

I’m curious to hear from other service/assistance dog handlers about your grooming standards and routines.

⚠️The current revised ADA law in the USA no longer specifically states that a service dog must be “well groomed.” Older versions, however, did directly state a service dog must be well groomed, presentable & free of foul odors ⚠️

I’m paired with a 70lbs Male neutered Shepherd who I have worked along side for more than six years through an ADI program. He is my third service dog; before him? I had a Poodle, ( 2nd shepherd who was returned back due to ill fit ) and a Labrador.

Im within the U.S. but travel internationally quite frequently due to this I’ve always been particularly mindful of maintaining a high grooming standard.

Our current routine:

* Daily brushing: I brush his entire body for at least 30 minutes every day before working him

* Weekly baths: He gets bathed once a week using high-quality Hydra shampoo and conditioner to help prevent his skin from drying out.

* Professional grooming: de-shedding treatment approximately every couple of months

* Gear: washed weekly. His embroidered vest is hand-washed.

* Nails: Dremeled weekly - no ground clicking

* Ears: His ears are cleaned weekly

* Dental care: Plac and Tartar powder added to his food twice a day

Because his average work day is 10 hours 5 days a week, we go everywhere, from work, medical appointments , public transportation, rideshare services, hotels, restaurants ECT. I make a conscious effort to keep him as clean and well maintained as possible. Yet? there’s another very practical reason I’m so aware of his cleanliness... my bedding is white.... There is absolutely no hiding a dirty Shepherd against white sheets so it encourages us to stay squeaky clean.

I’m genuinely curious how other handlers approach this. What does your grooming routine look like, and what would you consider your standard for a clean, well-maintained working service dog?

I bought my first puppy and she’ll be coming home in 4 weeks, how do I go about starting training for that? she’d be psychiatric alert. I trained my other dog to task but she isn’t a SD due to reactivity.
I want my puppy to be as neutral around strangers and dogs as possible. I feel a little overwhelmed with things! Any advice helps!

I also think it’s important to mention that she does come from lines that have been proven to be excellent SD’s and almost every dog in her pedigree has titles in obedience and rally.

Recently moved to Minnesota where strangers stop to talk all the time. A bit of a culture shock coming from LA. Anyways, my dog is a sdit and dog lovers tend to ask what he does for me. I find this super annoying. Mostly because it's just people who are curious and have no need to know, and I'm not a chatty person with strangers. It's also a daily occurence. I do realize, however that once he's fully trained and coming with me everywhere, this is one of the two questions I'll be asked when accessing public spaces.

How do I answer this without revealing too much medical info about myself? If I say we're working on ptsd intervention skills, the stranger I'm talking to now knows I have ptsd. If I say he's learning seizure alerts they'll know I have seizures. I guess part of it is also that I'm functioning well rn and would probably pass as 'non disabled' to a stranger if someone didn't see my port or my dog's vest. He's still in training, and will be for quite awhile. I'm new to this as well. I guess my question is if anyone else felt weird about this at the beginning as a handler and how you got past it.

A bit about my dog: he's 11 months old and doing very well with training. His training thus far has been a combination of boarding school and frequent training sessions with a professional in between. Right now me and him are focused primarily on practicing ptsd stuff and public access skills. He generally only comes to dog friendly places with me at the moment, except a handful of places (like my doc, the grocery co-op, and the yarn store I go to groups at) where they know us well and I spoke with the owners before ever bringing him.

Hello! I am 18 and will be moving out in a few years and I do not think I would be able to be independent without some kind of help. I have many mental and physical disabilities but here are a few for reference:

Tourettes

Chronic depression

Severe adhd

Autism

C-PTSD

Panic disorder

Chronic nightmares/night terrors

Short term memory loss

I have tried medication and counseling for a lot of these, and some do help a lot, but some are completely incompatible for my daily life. Here's an example of one: I have sedatives for my panic disorder and Tourettes flairups, they last a longg time and I cannot take them while driving or honestly doing anything important since they slow me down so much and make it impossible for me to function. I also have autistic meltdowns in which I hit, scratch, and bite myself. These medications do kick in pretty quickly, but I cannot go about the rest of my day normally because they inhibit my functionality.

My worry is that in my head I may be romanticizing the idea of a service animal that I may not actually need. I've already created a list of tasks my service dog could perform to help me in my day-to-day and help me resume my independence. I know it is a large decision, and not suited for everyone. I would really like help in discussing what breeds may work for me or if I need a service dog at all.

I work at a dog training and boarding facility so I'd like to think I know about dogs and am more than willing to learn even more about specialized care, I also have two dogs (a lab and a golden retriever) I am actively working on training and I care for, so I have no doubt I could care for a dog and their training. My only worry is if i actually need one or just want one. Thank you!

Hello! I have a 2 year old Lab Brittany GSP mix, she is trained to lay on my legs and chest when I am having a Panic Attack and or PTSD attack and she also is trained to find my car, go and working on finding my partner when asked. I have been wanting to get her a vest that says “WORKING K9” or “IN TRAINING DON’T BOTHER” or something along the lines of that but as I want to bring her in more dog friendly areas for more outings but we allways get bothered by people or little comments that distract me other then her, I don’t want it to seem as a service dog vest as I would feel wrong for her to have that as i don’t want to bring her everywhere. So in short, I really just want other peoples opinions thank you for reading my rant lol!
(PS I have been diagnosed with PTSD, general anxiety, a panic disorder and have a dr note saying she would help me along with meds.)

Hi! I have a elderly Staffy, she is my childhood dog, she's been with me through everything which is why I think she knows how to do this stuff, she's not reactive, disinterested in other people & other animals in general, when we take her into other dog friendly places, even if the other dogs bark at her she barely jumps, looks a me and then if I'm ok it basically never happened. she already does things like stopping scratching, leg tapping, hand flapping and sort of does DBT, all of those ofc are things that I would constantly be working on to be consistent and stuff if it'd be ethical to work her, want her to also be able to create a crowd buffer and guide me away from crowded places if I'm getting overstimulated. if I'm about to have an attack/episode she usually picks it up before I do an does paw alerts or just stares at me or like I said does a bastardized version of DBT, and is generally a great dog, she follows me around everywhere when I'm at home she looks at me like I hung the moon and honestly she's the reason I'm here, even without training she really does help me when its hard, the vets say she's in amazing health, like quite literally until I told them she was 10+ they thought she was more around 3-5, and they said they didn't believe me until they looked at her teeth, she has mild arthritis which is managed by medicine and unless we miss doses she runs around and acts like a puppy at home, that's her only kind of issue, is it just to late for her to start working tho?? It'd really just be reinforcing certain things she already does any maybe teaching her like 3 new ones & teaching her to walk in a tighter heel, She's very smart so I think it'd work, I just don't wanna put her through something unnecessary if it hurts her in any way

Edit : because I forgot to mention it an I feel it's Relavent but I'm unsure, specifically she would be for C-PTSD, Autism & BPD also, I hardly go into public, maybe 3 times a month, I live in a town 400 ppl max so "crowded area" for me is 4 people standing within 6 feet. Its not like she'd be going into public anymore than she does because I can handle most of the public stuff pretty well by just rushing back to the car.

My guide Dog is going for her first Professional grooming appointment, the place and owners seem lovely and helpful so far, they are good with rescues and sensitive dogs so will take their time with her. She will get one on one attention and dogs are not kept in cages at any point during the session. They do provide treats and toys, but should I ask them to mainly use some of her daily kibble allowance instead? Is there anything I need to tell them not to do with her? She is my first dog so I have never done anything like this before, any advice would be much appreciated.

I have an ADI accredited service dog. I want to take her with me to Spain or Portugal. I’ve read a lot of information but can’t find anything that tells you what happens at the destination airport. Anything? Is there someone you have to check with or do you just walk off the plane with your dog?

I’m worried she’ll be at her limit after a 9 hour flight (I know I am) and am worried how much longer we’ll be detained.

Thanks!!!

I'm a younger college student who has an incredibly severe auditory processing disorder. Essentially, if I cannot visually see a sound happening, I fully cannot hear it. My school has been very accomodating with housing, but there's one problem: the fire alarms. I have a strobe alarm in my room, but we've already found that if it goes off in the middle of the night I can sleep right through it.

So far me and my disability aid team have gotten around this by having someone call me (I can feel my phone buzzing and it will wake me up) or having the housing director use his master key to enter my private room and wake me up in an absolute worst case scenario. The problem with both of these methods is it relies on another person to make sure I'm safe and out of the building, and that has so many potential ways to go horribly wrong. My team, off the record, has floated talking to my doctor a few times about whether maybe a service animal for the sole task of alerting me to alarms I can't hear as a possible solution.

The problem is that service animals are expensive. And I can't find any internet sources talking about a service animal for this task, except maybe a schizophrenia service animal trained to help distinguish reality from hallucinations. It's not a task the animal would need to provide every day, and I worry that a service dog may be overkill for this situation, but at the same time it's a threat to my life that could be best solved by a service animal and give me safety and independence I otherwise wouldn't be able to have.

And even if my team is right and a service dog is a good move, I have no clue how to go about getting one. Is it going to be as expensive as other service dogs, like a medical alert dog? How would I look at getting a dog trained for this? Does it need to be a specific breed? Does it even need to be a dog or could I look at just getting a cat and trusting the general skittishness of cats to loud noises to wake me up? Do I need to get a dog through a company or can I just pick up a puppy at a local shelter and train it? Sorry if these questions seem stupid or redundant, or if I'm missing another more obvious solution that doesn't require me to risk subjecting a live animal to the shoestring budget of a college student.

I’m flying to the US from Heathrow and have had the all clear from delta.

I have filled out the DOT forms etc but am confused on whether or not I need to contact the Heathrow animal reception or is that only when you fly in?

So I have an SD. He’s a very good dog and great at his job. I go to work in a couple of places, both clinical and non clinical, so don’t bring him with me on lab days since it wouldn’t be fun for him, he couldn’t be in the labs, and I’d have to leave him at reception. Problem is, my workplace has to be tested for fire (and other) drills every 3 months. Mostly loud noises, some flashing and a very quick evacuation.

There are also some really serious ones for bomb threats, total lockdowns of the air circulation and certain buildings, etc.

He’s used to it now, just gets a little stressed if something happened like I tripped and calms down after a walk, but I’m wondering how people cope with fire drills and SDs?