Choosing a service dog or an emotional support dog.

Did you know that you can train your own service dog?

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This is a very lengthy process that doesn't always work out, but there is a whole community that does it.

The first thing to do is to consider the breed and size. If you have motion disabilities, you will need a larger dig that van hold your weight.

You want the best for your service dog to be sure to choose a breed with the right coat for your climate. Consider your needs and decide whether you need a reactive dog that would alert you of fire alarms and door bells, or a non-reactive dig that would be able to help calm you down even when you're surrounded by lots of stimulus. For detection dogs and allergy dogs, you'll need a dog with a superior sense of smell.

Other things to factor in when you meet your service dog is to first go to a reputable breeder so you can meet the parents and see where they are up and how they play with their littermates. The first thing I will do is perform the Voldhard temperament tests. These are a series of tests you perform on the dog to gauge their reaction. You have a scorecard and choose which out of 5 smashers best describe your potential dog's reaction.

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If your dog scores well on the tests, the next step is to consider individual characteristics of the dog.

Here are things to look for.

 

Drive for work: your dog should be happier on a walk or playing fetch (retrieving objects) than laying in bed.

 

Intelligence: you will want a dig that can learn commands and be able to chain commands together. I will not work with a dig that can't learn the "sit" command withing 5 mins without me having to touch his body and Push his butt down.

 

Calmness: your dog will have to be calm in all situations. They can't get startled and bark at loud noises unless commanded to or have a tendency to chase squirrels. They also need to be calm around other people and animals at all times.

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A loving dog: dogs are hardwired to please their owners but some dogs are more independent than others. You need a dog that will trust and rely on you as much as you will come to trust and rely on him.

 

Training.

Academies will often take 1.5 years to 2 years to fully train a dog, but you can also train your own and depending on your needs, you can have a trained service dog in as little as 6 months (with 120 hours of training during that time, which calculates to 2 hours a day but as training sessions should stay short, 6-8 sessions a day) and up to over 2 years. This takes time and a lot of dedication, training log books and training supplies.