# Teenager Daughter has questions



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

If a member of your family needs a PTSD service dog, you would need documentation from the doctor treating her or him and that person might have links to reputable organizations for more info. 'According to the ADA, “service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.” The dog must not be a pet but is to be specially trained to assist the handler with tasks directly related to his or her disability.' So if you're wanting a prescribed service dog, it's not going to be out hunting on weekends or running in competitions and it would need to be with the person in need, performing it's job. Traits like high prey drive which make for a terrific hunting dog will wash a puppy out of a traditional service dog academy like CCI. 

Goldens are extremely versatile dogs, but personalities and temperaments of individual dogs may make them better suited for certain jobs. You might want to discuss with the doctor treating your family member what kind of specific skills are needed and discuss this with the breeder you're talking to. Some PTSD dogs are trained in nightmare and anxiety interruption behaviors, it just depends on what your family member needs. The links below might be helpful for learning more about what different things are trained or might have info they could send to you.

This Able Veteran

Assistance Dog International

Canince Companions for Independence


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## teamco (11 mo ago)

nolefan said:


> If a member of your family needs a PTSD service dog, you would need documentation from the doctor treating her or him and that person might have links to reputable organizations for more info. 'According to the ADA, “service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.” The dog must not be a pet but is to be specially trained to assist the handler with tasks directly related to his or her disability.' So if you're wanting a prescribed service dog, it's not going to be out hunting on weekends or running in competitions and it would need to be with the person in need, performing it's job. Traits like high prey drive which make for a terrific hunting dog will wash a puppy out of a traditional service dog academy like CCI.
> 
> Goldens are extremely versatile dogs, but personalities and temperaments of individual dogs may make them better suited for certain jobs. You might want to discuss with the doctor treating your family member what kind of specific skills are needed and discuss this with the breeder you're talking to. Some PTSD dogs are trained in nightmare and anxiety interruption behaviors, it just depends on what your family member needs. The links below might be helpful for learning more about what different things are trained or might have info they could send to you.
> 
> ...


Thank you for this information. We will certainly have a family discussion about this. We don't have anyone in our family diagnosed with PTSD, but we are a military family (almost retirement time!) and a lot of our compassion goes out towards those fighting the silent fight. We just don't know what it takes to raise a Golden to prepare for service dog test and also, if we would be able to part ways with a pup trained for said purpose going to work for what he was raised for. 

My husband and I lean a little more towards hunting companion/field trials because that is what we know and would love to try and raise a pup to excel there. I'll include my daughter in research for that and take her to an event to observe. She enjoys shotgun shooting, so I bet she would love this route.


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## Coastal Pup (Jan 30, 2021)

Another avenue to explore if you want to give back to the community could be therapy work with your pup. To my knowledge, most therapy dogs are “working” during the day (visiting with patients at hospitals, nursing care facilities, rehab centers, schools, etc.) but come home with their handler at night and are your regular family pets in the evenings. The caveat is that typically therapy dogs have to have a very calm and even temperament, which can go against a working field dog’s temperament as they typically have more drive. That’s not to say that I don’t think both can be done, since a lot of it comes down to training and adequate exercise, but something to consider.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

Sounds like you are actually looking at a therapy dog, as opposed to a Service Dog. Service Dogs assist one person. For example, a PTSD dog might be trained in getting space in a crowd, deep pressure, stopping repetitive, destructive behaviors, etc. Therapy dogs do not perform specific tasks, rather they calm, provide affection and even distract.









A Therapy Dog vs a Service Dog l Alliance of Therapy Dogs


Here's an explanation of the differences between therapy dogs and service dogs and a look at the roles these dogs play in the lives of those who need them.




www.therapydogs.com


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## Golden Gibby (Jan 8, 2011)

FWIW. Have a dog that has runs at a Master level in hunt tests and is quite a handful when running tests. She also serves as a therapy dog at a local nursing home where she is extremely calm and gentle. I have seen her upon request, crawl in bed next to patients and just lay with them, or give kisses whatever the patient wants. Just saying a dog can be high drive in the field and still be very calm and gentle in a different environment. She was probably mature enough for the therapy work at around 3 years old.


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