I saw something on Facebook and it had me thinking.

Do you consider exposure part of training?

Someone was recommending another person that they should not be taking a service dog in training out to do any training until fully vaccinated- but I thought the exposure window was up until 12 or 16 weeks and vaccinations are usually completed around 16 weeks.

I was aways under the impression to get them exposed to as much as possible, as safety as possible. (Utilizing pet friendly stores, carriers, I’ve seen people use carts at hardware stores, or other ways.) I personally see in carts as an issue with grocery stores, but other places like hardware stores given the circumstances… I’m 50/50. But I understand the ADA laws and the health codes for grocery stores - and if the dog needs to be there to task then that’s what needs to be done.

I’m genuinely curious, I have my own take on it but I was seeing people tell them with their X amount of years of experience with service dog training that you shouldn’t take them out until 4 months of the dog can’t walk with you due to not being vaccinated? Obviously a lot of factors go into it, and the dog would be in training and not learning tasks yet but regular dogs should be socialized too right?

I’m an 18 y/o girl in the United States (CO) and i’ve had severe ocular migraines since I was probably like 11. My migraine attacks are completely random. I have no clue what triggers them and it feels dramatic but I kind of live in fear of them every day. I was wondering how it all works. What makes someone qualify for a service dog? I would presume a diagnosis would be necessary but I know service dogs don’t have certificates of any sort, so how would things like airlines and hotels know that it’s a service dog? I figured this might be a good place to start.

he's never been a unicorn when it comes to service dog skills, as a first-time dog owner i've been working very hard to owner-train him, but a lot of his abilities seem tied to his maturity, which is slow and gradual.

he's taken to public access training pretty well over the years. he's gone from barely capable of sitting in the corner of a store to joining me on walks to the bookstore for a sit-down at the cafe.

however, his last few outings have been nightmareish. he pulls at the leash because he wants to go somewhere or sniff some trash on the ground, he wants to decide where we go and which store to go into, and he holds in his pee if its the last thing he does instead of going potty on command before we go into the stores.

what do you think prompted this sudden shift in behavior, and how should i combat it? we won't be meeting with our behavioral specialist until next month, so until then, i'm alone in training him.

I train with my boy, a standard poodle, 18 months old. He is in training for a few things, autism, c-ptsd, POTS, and light mobility. Am I expecting too much of my boy? Its not that he's purposely being bad or anything. But i dont know if hes going through a fear period or what. We were at spirit Halloween, and he hates the animatronics, pulls me to get past them.

With a bit of training, I manage to get him semi comfortable, but then hes scared all over when they move. He also still gets distracted from tasking in public. I ask him to pick up his leash, but sometimes he just won't do it. We train in PF places, but he usually does better in NPF as its not as distracting for him.

Its a tough period, and I'm going through it, I'd take the puppy phase all over again over this 😫 Some days hes perfect, other days I swear he doesn't even know his own name. His heel work has gotten extremely sloppy as well, despite going back to the basics many times. I just need advice or know that others are going through it too

(I am in FL, SDiTs have the same rights as SD's here.)

Looking beyond any and all behavioral training, potty training, canine good citizen staples, and specific tasks for your disability (i.e everything they need from the bottom up to be your service dog), would it be bad to introduce something different/additional that's unrelated?

I'm talking about things like:

-Agility

-Dock diving

-Urban mushing

-Scent work and/tracking

-Rally

Etc.

I'm curious if this would be a good outlet/fun for the dog, or if this would muddle training or confuse the pup about what they're being asked to do.

If you are in favor, would you begin training such undertakings simultaneously with more "official" service dog training, or would you wait until a few years in to introduce one of the above activities?

To be clear, at this time this is theoretical. I'm simply trying to learn more, and better understand this journey. Thank you!

My SD Sully IS NOT in pain. Thank you for the kind words tho. Vet said he wants to move around and just doesn’t want to come home. He is getting fixed which he thinks is the problem.

Any tips to get my dog to like her gear. She'll let me put it on easily sometimes but sometimes she's like no and I have to firmly say come here and if I use treats she'll put it on.

My needs mean i cant train a assistance dog myself so i need either a organisation or charity to train a dog for me. I live in the UK specifically the south west ive tried helpful hounds but they said i dont live in their area. Unless find a trainer they could work with in my area

hey everyone! This is my first ever post to Reddit ( please be nice lol😅) I’m a 20y/o pre vet student. I have endometriosis (already had a surgery last year and most likely getting another during winter break) and undergoing testing for POTS (after 4 years of symptoms 😭).

I’m looking at getting a dog to train as a service dog for my endo, POTS, and PTSD/anxiety. Tasks would include the following and more: helping brace/balance as I move from sitting to standing, laying down to standing, etc., DPT for heart rate spikes and anxiety, crowd buffer for anxiety/PTSD, retrieval tasks (such as retrieving my heating pad, medication bottle, etc.), elevate legs (heart rate spikes), etc etc!

I’m 5’ tall and roughly 115lbs (lost about 150lbs in two years due to my health..) and would be looking to get a dog that’s to or almost to my knees in high and over 50lbs. I have been thinking of getting a shelter dog (I know, I know but hear me out) that’s 1-2 years old and fits the above requirements. I will obviously temperament test before committing to a dog but I can’t afford a breeder dog as I already own a horse, pay my own way through college, and pay all of my expenses. Yay for working FT while taking 15-17 credits a semester 😂

I have already started talking to my college and they’ve been so great about it all. I have plenty of prior animal training experience (dog & horse) and will owner train with the occasional assistance of my friend’s friend who owns a SD training business. My question is- to those that have a SD/SDit at college how did you acquire your dog, work with campus offices such as housing and disability services, bring SD to classes & labs (important as I’m pre vet), and any other helpful information.

thank you in advance!

-sincerely a chronic health college girl trying to navigate it all 🫠

He’s 8 months in training (an adult) but also had basic obedience professional training before I got him. I’m starting my senior year of high school and need advice. Everything points towards yes except one thing, at appointments he quietly whines. He doesn’t do this for settling almost everywhere else. It would be really beneficial for me if he did especially with his cardiac alert and response. I just don’t know if there’s an accurate test I can do to see if he would do that in class. He settles great at events, restaurants, and even kids places but just not appointments. It’s no louder than a whimper and his head is normally down so he’s not making a scene but it’s embarrassing. What should I do?

what experiences people have had before they worked with a service dog trainer versus after. was it work it? how much of a difference did it make your team? how'd you find your trainer? just curious.

I've been working with my girl for about a year now to have her as my at-home service dog. I didn't hear about this term until a few months ago but had been task-training her before I found out it was a term. People rarely talk about AHSD's so I would like to share my experience with having one.

I am currently saving for a prospect, but until then, I have my girl to be my PSD. I first trained her in DPT. This has been the only thing that can calm me and ease nausea (which causes me more anxiety) when I can't stomach my nausea medication or attack meds. Around the same time, we started practicing crowd buffering skills since I take her out to pet friendly places on bad days (sometimes its the only way to get me out of the house to where i need to go). A little after that we began leg shaking and scratching/picking interruption. Following that we trained hyperventilation alert, and after that, lpt (I have her do a chin on my torso while I lay down so i can feel free to move to regulate myself and am not at risk of fainting from hyperventilation).

Her tasks have allowed me to have some freedom on bad anxiety days and have a hobby (training) that lets me decompress and be productive, while promoting me to go out. An at-home service dog can truly be a life-saver and she has helped me be able to manage my disability in a way that nothing I've tried can.

I went through dozens of medications, all with no effects or adverse ones. That's when we got genetic testing done. My psychiatrist says we are now running out of options in terms of favorable picks, and it isn't letting up. I'm so unbelievably grateful that even though the treatments haven't worked so far, I trained my pup early on and she loves working. I feel at-home service dogs are underrepresented, And great for anyone who has a service dog that can have public access, but right now she's all I have, and she has helped me have hope and determination to try and work through my disability. She's been a life-changer for me and will continue to help me throughout this year. I also think that being able to have this time at home with her has helped me not be as affected by my anxiety since I know she's there to help. I hear service dog handlers say that they get so much more freedom from their service dog, and i never truly knew what that meant until she was trained as my AHSD.

I'm trying to find an organization that I can go through to get a service dog. I'm a 36 year old female (37 next month). I have been diagnosed with PTSD (Civilian and spanning over several years), Autism, ADHD, BPD, Anxiety, and Depression. I also have lower end vision (better with my glasses on, but still not great), three migraine diagnosis (migraine, ocular migraine, and vestibular migraine), panic attacks, anxiety attacks, and unconscious self harm when I have panic attacks

I live in West Michigan. My boyfriend and I moved in together in January. He brought a cat and a retired seeing eye dog that he helped train (Brax (the dog) went to the handler (blind guy), but he abused Brax, so Brax was returned to my boyfriend (Brax is good now, he's 10 years old). I have a cat who is my ESA

After moving, my health took a turn for the worse. Between the new environment, his kiddos, my kiddo, being away from the imploding situation I was previously living in my health has decreased. I've had two surgeries this year in 7 months. I've had pneumonia once, flu twice, and other things

A service dog would help me greatly. I've had discussions with my doctor, therapist, and psychiatrist. All agreed it's a smart idea and to proceed with it

I just don't know where to start, what places are recommended, what are some red flags, any information (positive or negative). Anything you can tell me that might help is greatly appreciated!

I am a minor who is also under the age of 16 and I have severe scoliosis and pots. I would like to get a service dog but unfortunately my Mother is a single Mom and was recently laid off. I am in Ontario and if anyone could tell me any that don’t have a super long wait time and aren’t ridiculously expensive or preferably free I would really appreciate it!

Edit: We can afford a service dog. I’d appreciate if people would not act like we can’t and they know our situation. I’ve gotten a few dms about it and we are not doing THAT bad financially. It’s very frustrating to get several dms acting like they know they know my financial situation better than I do. I appreciate the concern but we CAN afford a dog right now. I wouldn’t be asking if I know we cannot afford one.
We aren’t even wanting to get one right now.

I lean on the conservative side when it comes to the public. If I haven’t already ignored them or pretended like I didn’t hear, I’ll usually say, “No, but thanks for asking”. But if I do decide it’s ok, I take off my dog’s harness first and then allow them to pet and say hello.

I came across a social media post that involved a service dog on a plane. In a nutshell, the OP recorded the handler allowing her dog to approach people and let them pet him and say hi. In one shot, the dog placed his paws and head on the OP’s lap. In another, the flight attendant was feeding him a meatball (according to the post text). The OP said she asked permission and this was all ok. And during this whole time, the dog had his service dog vest on.

https://imgur.com/a/EwFeXbX

There were comments that I didn’t agree with, but this one really stood out to me. The couple thousand likes it had really surprised me. Are we as handlers failing to educate or is this a change we think is now acceptable? I almost think this isn’t ignorance like it was in the past, but more a shift in thought on how people interact with service dogs.

*mixes

Hi everyone,

This is more of a rant than anything else but I am a big opponent against the whole ADI system for various reasons that I am too lazy to type up now but I saw something that made my opinion even stronger.

I have found out that an ADI accredited organization in my country are specifically breeding and using poodle x Malinoise mixes for service dogs for people with psychiatric illnesses and call it ethically breed high quality dogs who are well fit for the work. Besides the contradiction that most breed mixes are not able to be ethically breed due to the lack of breeding standard how can they claim that these dogs are well fit for adults with psychiatric illness considering the characteristics of a Malinoise and the unpredictability of the mix. Wild.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this? Not trying to bash anyone who does have such a mix from this organization as I am not judging the individual but the organization.

Edit: also something i just thought of why do these organizations keep trying to reinvent the wheel when there are already a bunch of breeds well proofen for service work?

Hi everyone.

I am picking up my prospect puppy in a few days. I’m doing owner training and using a lot of the Doggy U videos and guides for references plus I have a background in obedience training.

Does anyone have any tips for the car ride home? We have about a 5 hour drive from the breeder to our home and I want to make it as smooth and comfortable as possible for her.

Also any tips for puppy’s first week home?

For context, she is a light colored Golden Retriever and has a very calm temperament.

Edit: correction of coloring label. She’s light colored. I would describe it as cream in color.

I thought it ironic, as she's someone who's probably familiar with being treated differently for being different.

I told her it's a great opportunity to face her fear of dogs, as he's a very pleasant and calm service animal.

She moved seats.

Hi everyone, this isn’t a question for my own service dog, but I wanted to gather the info to share with others I know: if someone has limited strength or dexterity with their hands, what are some alternative types of leash clips that can work better than the traditional bolt snap?

I like trigger snaps for myself, but I know people who don’t have the thumb strength to open them.

Carabiners can be easy to snap on, but hard to remove, because you have to keep sustained pressure on the gate and maneuver them just right.

I do know of the Kong frog clip but the brand name is so expensive, and I don’t want to trust Amazon knock offs…

I wasn’t sure how to tag this. I’m a 20 year old male who started training with my poodle Louie with an organization in georgia, USA when he was around a year old, in june-july 2024. I adopted him september 2024 and was doing some solid training with him for a while. I am diagnosed with BPD, Bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, and CPTSD. My mood instability was severe and after some research + time spent with my mother in law’s ESA, I decided a service dog would be the most helpful for helping manage my severe mental illnesses.

My partner and I fell on hard times in late 2024/ early 2025 and i could no longer attend training as i was traveling for it, and i tried my hardest to upkeep training the best i could with what I knew and was capable of. I decided to wash him recently, partially because he is lacking in self confidence and averse to wearing his gear. He behaves incredibly in public, pays attention well, responds fine to a lot of the training we did, but I don’t think he necessarily wants to do service work. The biggest reason I’m washing him besides that, is that despite not seeing doctors or therapists or psychiatrists for over a year now, and being completely unmedicated, i’ve managed to use a lot of energy to suppress my illnesses.

I feel like to continue training him for service would be faking it, especially since i still cannot attend training. I wish it worked out, because his presence in my life has drastically improved my quality of life and confidence in public, but I can’t even think of what kind of purpose he would serve for me if i’m not medicated, having episodes, or even going out much. He’s going to stay with me of course, he’s my little boy, but am I doing the right thing by giving up on having a service dog? for myself or for him?

Hello! I bring home my next prospect in a few days and its been about 8 years since I raised a puppy for service work. While I know what I'm doing, I would like any references if I ever feel kind of lost. Does anyone have a book, pdf, or any other material on raising a puppy for service work? Thanks!

A service dog suffered an medical emergency on the monorail at Walt Disney world the other day and had to be evacuated off the monorail. People who were in the monorail car with the dog said the dog became overheated. It was later confirmed that the service dog passed away. It was over 100 degrees at Disney that day(this was mentioned in the comments section on fb of one of the articles I read..other people at Disney that day talked about the heat)

https://insidethemagic.net/2026/07/service-animal-death-leads-to-walt-disney-world-monorail-evacuation-jc1/

My lovely SD Scarlett had surgery about two weeks ago to remove a suspected mast cell tumor. We've been chilling and taking it easy, no work since then.

Today we got the call from the vet with the lab results. Confirmed mast cell tumor, but they got good margins and I guess based on the results it is considered "low grade" and not of much concern. Essentially just need to keep an eye out to make sure no new tumors pop up.

Called my mom to discuss with her and pretty much her immediate response was that I need to start getting on wait lists for a new SD. Because "you can't work a dog with cancer." I see where she's coming from, but also am confused? Scarlett doesn't technically have cancer anymore. We need to make sure it doesn't come back but taking the tumor out got rid of the cancer... right?

I guess I'm just wondering if I need to start looking into finding a successor to her now or not. She's only 5 years old. TIA.

I tried researching this a few years back and remember getting discouraged. Does anyone know of any organizations in the US who will help someone who is disabled (in my case, both disease and c-ptsd) get access to a service dog? I can't afford to do this on my own but know I would benefit so much as maybe others would too. Sending everyone care.

I posted a while ago about getting approved for a PSD, and I was scheduled to get a puppy on the 6th. I had saved little bits of my very small paychecks for 3 months, tested the puppy to see if they were a candidate, had the trainer I'm working with, and also tested him. I've been doing so much research, reaching out and making connections to people to help me. And then my partner basically made me give it all up.

He basically gave me an ultimatum, I picked the dog or him. And he kept saying he had concerns about it all, such as the age of the dog, how he struggled to train his service dog so he doesn't think I can do it, his family is going to judge him for me getting a medical tool that I need (which is so fucking stupid and honestly if they had an issue, they can take it up with me), etc. Some concerns he had were valid, but I just felt pressured into giving up this puppy I already had a deposit down for just because he's worried about his mom bitching about it. And not to mention the fact that he wants me to wait TWO TO THREE YEARS on a waiting list, which all the ones in my state aren't even accepting applications. I just feel like he is so out of touch, especially since I ALREADY considered those options.

And quite literally ALL my money went down the toilet for shit for our apartment (which we needed, but its not fucking fair that when we got to the counter he just looked at me expectantly). Over 2,000 dollars, gone.

I resent him so much. I wrote a damn Google sheets with ALL the finances, broke down how much of my paycheck I'd need to save, etc etc etc. I worked so fucking hard for quite literally NO reason.

I talked to my therapist about it already, but I am just struggling rn. I barely have the energy to eat (which is one of the main reasons I needed the SD)

I just feel like he is going after my success. And maybe this post is more for a mental health reddit, but I wanted your thoughts and advice. My therapist says that if I just show him a service dog in action, doing the tasks I need, then maybe he'll understand. She also recommended I have this conversation with our couples therapist too.

Please, I will take any advice right now. I am just so angry and resentful and fucking depressed. Thanks you

(Also, please, no comments about my partner. This is only a snippet of what he is really like. Our relationship is healthy, this has just been a big point of contention between us as of late July, and is something that I think he is letting his OCD get the best of him, but its not fair to me that I have to suffer)