Displaying items by tag: train Service dogs

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One of the fastest growing areas of service dogs are those being trained for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety or Panic Attacks. They are typically called Psychiatric service dogs. Most people associate PTSD with veterans, but it happens to a wide variety of people of a wide age range. People who have been raped, people who have been traumatized by their families as children, people who have lived with people with addictions (alcoholic, prescription or street drugs, gamblers, sex addicts etc.), people who have seen atrocious things done to other people or animals. Sadly PTSD affects a wide range of people from those with low education income to highly educated high income. No part of society is exempt.

My most recent video is dedicated to anyone who has suffered a traumatic event that affects their life and would like to train a service dog for others or their own dog to either alert them to an oncoming anxiety attack, or interrupt one as it is happening or interrupt them when they are doing harm to themselves as a result of the pain they are feeling. 

Note: Before starting the process of training your own service dog for PTSD or anxiety, first make sure you have a dog that is suitable for these types of tasks. The dog must have a solid temperament, have excellent physical health, and be emotionally resilient. Both confidence and sensitivity are important characteristics as well.  Ideally, start with an adult dog 18 months or older that has been raised in an emotionally stable (functional) environment so the dog has that normal baseline to draw from when interacting with you. Choose a dog that has an exercise level that matches yours. Allow your dog to be a dog before starting to train the tasks. 18 months would be the ideal age to start training.

You, the owner-trainer and handler, must be stable in your condition. If your condition is not stable, there is a real risk you will negatively and permanently affect your dog's ability to learn to help you and function in public since all of his needs may not be met. You need a team of many people to help you access resources, take care of and train your dog to become a functional helper. Talk to your health care professionals and a local trainer to see if they think you have the necessary skills, boundaries and abilities to train your own dog. It is not a project to start on a whim. 

Your dog needs to be a dog first, family member second and service dog third. 

If you meet these requirements, check out our self-paced online anxiety task class as well as our foundation another classes.
Registration and classes start the first Wednesday of each month. https://www.servicedogtraininginstitute.ca/course-catalogue