# 15 weeks service dog training?



## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

Therapy dogs are trained to go with their handler into settings such as nursing homes, hospitals, schools, etc. to provide comfort and companionship to those who could benefit from it. Service dogs are trained to provide specific types of assistance needed by a single disabled person. Service dogs generally require more training than therapy dogs. I think there is a third category, emotional support dogs, who provide help much like a therapy dog but to a single person, their owner. General access to restaurants, stores etc. is permitted for service dogs only, not for therapy or emotional support dogs.

It sounds like you could use a service dog. Your current trainer could teach you and your dog most of what's needed to get certified as a therapy dog but seems not to have experience training service dogs. You might check Pet Partners®, the site of Delta/Pet Partners for info on therapy and service dogs. Hopefully others with service dogs will have some advice for you.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

A service dog legally is a dog that has been trained to perform a task that assists with a disability. In addition, they must be trained to perform those duties anywhere they are brought and to display proper public behavior. What is considered proper public behavior for a service dog is much more stringent than a pet dog. You can look up info on the Public Access Test to be able to see what kind of things the dog should be able to do in addition to whatever trained disability tasks he has. It generally takes 2-3 years of training before a dog is considered a full fledged service dog. Until that time, the dog has no public access other than what a pet dog would have. 

Be very careful putting any weight on a dog (bracing, using to stand); it is being found that a lot of damage is being done to dogs structures because they are not built to have extra weight pushing down on them. Absolutely no weight bearing exercises at all before the growth plates are closed, usually around a year and a half.


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## USAFWife74 (Jan 13, 2013)

I can post a little more later. My girl Ellie is working towards service. Right now, your puppy is too young yet to be sure she will be suited for service. Yes, bracing for mobility will come far down the road. Ellie is not quite 16 months, she knows the command brace, but I do not bear weight on her. She's not old enough and I will not do that until her body is cleared by radiologists. 



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## USAFWife74 (Jan 13, 2013)

Laws vary by state on what Service dogs in training can do. Service dogs in training in the state of ca are allowed the same access as a full service dog. But we have to be very responsible with this. If Ellie is not ready I do not take her in. If she's nervous I let her calm fall first. I never take her on an outing if I can't leave should she misbehave. But she doesn't. 


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## USAFWife74 (Jan 13, 2013)

Here is a good link I just found. 

http://www.iaadp.org/iaadp-minimum-training-standards-for-public-access.html


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## jägers_mom_jypsy&sunni2 (Jul 26, 2013)

I know she is far to young to bear weight and it wasnt till my 4 year old showed me to use her to get up that I did. She was over two cause it was after jager was born I fell in the living room and couldnt get up she came licked me and sat down giving me this look of come on mom you can do it like I give her when she was scared. But she only does it if im close to her and dont get up right away. She investigates first lol. I will have to research this a lot more over the weekend to see what exactly is required. Thank you so much.


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## USAFWife74 (Jan 13, 2013)

Best wishes to you!!!! These dogs are amazing to have as partners!!!


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## tcamp33 (Nov 7, 2013)

AKC/pet partners has a listing by state of reputable service dog trainers. Rylee is 17 weeks and we have two trainers: one for obedience, agility, etc. and the other to build on that training for specific service/task oriented work that will qualify her as a service dog virus therapy or emotional support dog.

Technically it is from Pet Partners, which is one of the primary therapy dog organizations and on of the offs AKC used when setting up its TD program

http://petpartners.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=452

Our SD trainer has us focusing on obedience and manners, although Rylee has been so quick to learn, she can sit, lay down, back, shake, heel, up, fetch and recall without treats, and stay, watch me, roll over, with treats. Obviously some of these are just for fun and not service/task oriented.

She recommends really honing in on the manners and to build foundation to task oriented training without actually introducing task training until they are developmentally ready, between 1-2 years depending on breed and dog (goldens can be earlier). Based on Rylee's evaluations, she will start at 6 months. She'll start her scent classes at 5 months as foundation.

The reason that reputable SD trainers, including ours, are reluctant to do too much before 1-2 years is because research has shown that pushing/training too early can result in the dog refusing to work altogether when they ARE old enough, which is why our trainers focus on the foundational training that, with a few tweaks when she is developmentally ready (mental, emotional and physical maturity), can be task-oriented, "officially" qualifying her as a service dog.

I have my MPH in health policy from Yale (studied joint degree law and public health) and have been a policy researcher (legislative advocacy) for years, so when recently diagnosed with an illness and ADA designated disabilities, I've opened up my research focus to include policies for those with "invisible disabilities" although my primary research area is health disparities and food security.

here are some other resources I found helpful:

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

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

Let me know if you'd like to know the service tasks we've identified for Rylee. It is such a joint effort between different health providers, SD trainers, etc to figure out how to do it and we all need each other to make it work well and with enough support!

As far as whether or not your pup would be suited as a therapy or service dog, only you and your doctor can determine your need for a service dog versus therapy dog, and your dog will tell you whether or not she is suited for either/both. It sounds like Sunni is already therapeutic for you, and even without titles and designations and certificate, and this is important! Quality of life is so critical and helps during those "gloom" moments and can make them lesser in duration and frequency, which will likely help the other physical symptoms as well (it does for me, and for most!)

I've done quit a bit of research on what types of work SD can do, and Goldens can do all of the tasks I've been able to research thus far. This is of curse contingent upon setting up circumstances for success. For example, if trained to retrieve a type of medication, the access place needs to be easy enough for a large dog to navigate . Of course, having a large breed dog as a SD has its advantages, which is why we selected a golden to begin with. For those prone to anxiety or pain mitigated by heat, a large breed can be trained to "hug" which essentially is to lay on top of large muscle groups which provides pressure and heat that allows the autonomic system to trigger to relax, which can reduce the duration and/or severity of the attack. SAs can be trained to recognize onset and preventatively carry out this task, reducing the need for medication, therefore reducing side effects, etc.

What might be helpful for you would be to work with your physician to determine the disabilities you have that require assistance, and then make a list of those. I prioritized mine, so that we could focus training on first things first. You can always message me privately if you want to discuss some of your needs (current and what you anticipate) and I can probably point you to some really good, specific resources. My company HR and ADA office has also been great at identifying some good modifications for me (although I am still on medical leave currently), but these resources (from ICAN) have been really helpful for my providers and me to figure out what my needs really are to help determine Rylee's course of training.

As far as being in the hospital, you may find it valuable to get Sunni certified as a therapy or emotional support dog (which most won't do until 1 year of age) which will allow her to go into hospitals (now this is a little fuzzy in interpretation and i can explain further) and I would recommend that you expose Sunni to hospital equipment if you can, including the beeping, loud noises, etc. what you can also do is ask the hospital administration for a waiver to allow Sunni to go with you. Since Sunni is not officially an SD she will not have the access rights that an SD has, but the hospital may be willing to work with you, especially if you can show that she is CGC. Hospitals care about liability and risk when it comes down to it, so trying to work with them to mitigate that risk will only help you.

Also, few states have regulations specific to the in training versus full sd designation (California is one such state with substantial regulations), so this may be a non issue for you depending on your state in addition to registrations (which FYI, there is no federal regulation or statute requiring SD registration, so states and local governments cannot really "require" this, although some people find it helpful to comply just to prevent the hassle from business owners or others). 

I know this sounds overwhelming and confusing, but it gets easier the more you read and of course, the more puppy kisses you get. Rylee was bred and selected specifically to be a service dog, so if you find that Sunni is not fit to be a service dog, it is already clear that she is helping you tremendously. Obviously it would be great for her to be able to help you get out of the house if your are physically able to, and Sunni helps you with that,but I think people get very caught up in the designations and certifications and forget that at the end of the day, the most important thing is getting us all to be able to live our lives and thrive in spite of disability and illness. She is already there and so are you. Please don't feel pressure on you or on her to achieve any sort of status yet and continue to do as you have--focus on your bond!

Obviously even though Rylee was bred for this and currently shows the signs for it, you never know because animals are as unpredictable as people and we can only do and hope for the best.

As far as working on training when you are physically unable to do so, if you have a training partner, they should come to all of the training classes with you so Sunni knows how to listen to both on voice command. If your hospital denies Sunni access, can you try face time or Skype so you can still see and hear each other? Sunni should also continue her training 2-3 times a day in short increments according to her age (10-15 minutes is all you may get out of her at this stage, but once she masters the "watch me" command, you will see her mental attention spa increase exponentially!!! So I totally recommend this!!!) so even on days when you cannot do this yourself, hopefully your partner can. Rylee knows how to listen to my husband, but is much quicker to hop to with me 



Best of luck from Rylee and me!










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