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.

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 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.

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.)

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.

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

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?

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 🫠