r/service_dogs

I currently have an owner trained Standard Poodle. He’s turning 6 this year so starting to plan for a successor. My condition has worsened significantly since training, so I’m considering going through an org for my next dog. Of course I’d likely be getting a Lab or Golden, the only problem is the shedding. I don’t have allergies but I cannot stand hair on my clothes or floating around the house. I do all my poodle’s grooming myself, so I have a fully equipped grooming studio and am more than happy to do whatever it takes to keep shedding to a minimum. Is daily brushing enough? Would regular blowouts with a HV dryer be beneficial? How about deshedding shampoos? Any other creative approaches that work well? Just trying to figure out if it’s manageable or if I need to figure out some way to get another standard. TIA!

Hi, I'm 15F and have been considering a psychiatric service for DPT, orbit, tactile stimulation, and behavior interruption (I looked it up so I could remember what they were called). I have (at the current moment undiagnosed) anxiety, mainly in the form of social anxiety. I'm in online school, but in a year I will be going into running start. I have daily church classes and tend to have anxiety attacks there... at one point, my parents started waking up in an attack... or overstimulation... causing me to get limited sleep at that point... my parents are divorced, and I go back and forth between their houses every other week, which would make having a service dog... hard for it. I've found I'm always at around a 3 of anxiety and have gotten used to the slight stomach aches... my feet or knees never stopping moving (from the fight-or-flight response, I believe).

I own a few Comfort plushies I bring places because I've found the texture and sensation of petting fur has helped, but it definitely doesn't fix it.

This is me asking anyone willing to ask questions or willing to look into their experiences to help me know if I should look into getting one or not. I don't want to tell people, "I'm looking into a service dog" or "I was wondering if a service dog could help me in the future," if it's really not something that would be a good idea to look into. (I'm saying in the future because if my parents somehow agreed... I'd be paying for it, and I'm not in the position of a job until half a year, so this would most likely happen when I'm 17-18.)

I tried to be very careful with my wording, because people already don't deny access to this community, and I don't want to say things that would effect it in a worse way.. which is why i'm asking people in the comunity.

i’ve seen SD ‘advertised’ (idk what the right word is) for ADHD. I myself have severe ADHD but i do NOT think i need a service dog to help me manage it due to medications. What exactly would a service dog do for someone with ADHD. I’m just genuinely curious and i hope this is the right place to ask something like that.

Im a autistic young adult with anxiety and i want a service dog because I hate running my errands alone and sometimes I get anxious bussing places and being outside because there's no one to accompany me but I was thinking of getting a service dog im not sure if I meet the requirements or to where to start.

I’ve had my GSD Czech working line for about 3.5 years. He was trained out on property, and I too lived out in the woods. For the last year I’ve lived in the city; he’s highly socialized. Where I go he goes. Just this past month I’ve noticed a change in behavior that I know I’ve caused but I don’t know how to fix.

- it started when a larger man was stretching a way that to an animal looked quite aggressive. ( imagine arms spread out as wide as possible and then hunched on his knees like he’s going to lunge)
He began growing and let out a yip.
-I figured it was just a bizarre animal instinct

-Just the past month he has started letting out yip or barks. At someone openings door into my room that I’m in.
-then again when someone when someone clearly walked up wanting to touch him.
Just yesterday he did it to someone in the gym who knows him and I both very well… but they weren’t trying to let him, they just got close to both of us to start conversation. I think he wasn’t paying attention and it spooked him…but still it’s becoming a pattern.

-I mentioned the city specifically because when waking down town and people in drugs approach us he doesn’t like it and I also stiffen up… in-Fact I have encouraged a bark when the person felt dangerous Normal people have never been a problem, public spaces are still not a problem.
-but the occasional yip he’s learned is effective to keep people away and I’m trying to catch it before it gains anymore traction.

(Using different names) My roommate Delilah and I (both 20 F) are concerned that our other roommate Briana (also 20 F) might be abusing her service dog. We are not the most knowledgeable on service dog trainings but a lot of Briana’s actions toward the dog seem cruel. Delilah also has a friend with a service dog with similar tasks/training and the friend does not act like this with their dog. We do not know how to bring this up to her, because Briana is heavily autistic and feels emotions very deeply. We do not want to upset her, but we feel uncomfortable because it seems abusive. She constantly yells at him over the littlest things, and Delilah, who has a dog herself, is concerned because you can see his ribs through his skin, and apparently Briana only feeds him once a day. He's a fairly large dog (yellow lab) and we don't know if one bowl of food a day is enough. Also the other day, I saw her smack his nose and it was HARD. I have also seen her push/shove the dog in a way i’d consider more forceful than necessary. You could hear the contact of it. We do not know what to do, as we know Briana isn't a malicious person and don't want to hurt her feelings. We don't think she is aware she's abusing him, and dont know how to bring it up because she CLEARLY loves the dog, but it doesn’t sit right with us how she treats him. Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

edit:
Thank you everyone for your advice! The conclusion me and my roommate has come to is to talk to her this week (my roommate is currently home for the weekend). My friend who owns a service dog and me also had a chat about this since she knows both my roommate and her dog passively. My friend has helped me a lot as well as all of you! We figured out together what program my Briana got her dog from and have contacted them, with hopes to get her some refreshers on training. From what me and my friend can tell based on knowing her, It seems she hasn’t been properly keeping up with his training leading him to act out/misbeheave and causing her to get overwhelmed and frustrated at the dog. During our talk I will be sure to mention all of our concerns to her and will try to make sure she improves. The dog is also close to retirement so I might talk to her about that possibility being a solution to her growing frustrations with him. Thank you all for your support and advice! I will do my best to make sure the dog is well taken care of and loved while we are roommates and for the rest of his life :)

Hi! I'm looking into an issue involving the retirement of guide dogs and other service/assistance dogs. Before forming a stronger opinion about a possible policy proposal, I'd especially like to hear from disabled people who currently use or have previously used one.

I have a few questions. You don't have to answer all of them:

1. Have you ever retired a guide dog or service/assistance dog? What was that transition like for you?

2. After retirement, did the dog continue living with you? If not, how was that decision made?

3. If your retired dog stayed with you, what was it like to start going places without them — or to start working with a successor dog while your retired dog stayed home?

4. Would you want to retain the ability to enter public places with your retired dog, even though the dog was no longer working or expected to perform any tasks?

5. In your experience, could continued public access interfere with the dog's retirement — for example, by making it harder for the dog to understand that they are no longer expected to work?

6. If some form of public access for retired service/assistance dogs existed, do you think it should apply:

— only when the retired dog is accompanying the disabled person they previously assisted;

— also when the retired dog is accompanied by another handler/caretaker;

— or should public access end when the dog retires?

7. Would requirements such as identification, proof that the dog previously worked as a legitimate service/assistance dog, and continued veterinary/behavioral suitability make such a policy reasonable?

8. Is there anything about retiring a service/assistance dog that people who have never used one tend not to understand?

I'm not looking specifically for answers that support this idea. I'd especially like to hear from handlers who think public-access rights should end at retirement as well.

This discussion came up because we're looking at Brazilian legislation concerning assistance dogs and considering whether there should be legal recognition of a "retired assistance dog" status. One possibility would be to preserve some public-access rights without requiring or expecting the retired dog to continue performing any work.

Before advocating for a solution, I'd like to understand how people who actually live through this transition experience it.

If you currently use or have previously used a guide/service/assistance dog, your perspective would be particularly valuable.

Hello, because of restriction of keeping my spine neutral, my high reinjury rate, and a strict 15-pound weight limit, I still get the joy of pain even when following all the rules from doc and pt. My social circle has become more and more aware of how limited I am. They have decided they will do much of all the tasks they can to help me. Now, for many activities, I get to "hold the flashlight," so to speak. While I truly appreciate the effort everyone makes for me, I am failing at accepting this new reality and the sudden decline in safe things to do. I am restricted from many things at the house and farm. Running chainsaws is brutal vibration—even my Stihl 194 is too much, and it is all I can do to use a DeWalt battery mini 8”. I can no longer cut or do things myself. Walking is limited, but I can travel slowly in a Side-by-Side (SxS). Now my daughter is pushing for fall detection even though i have no history of falling. folks are trying to make sure i am not in on farm alone. I feel my independence slipping away and am hating the dependency
So, I am exploring whether a service dog could help me save my energy and get through the day with less pain.
I need the dog to pick up/move clean bundles of clothes or gear straight up to my waist so I do not have to lean over. The dog will also need to retrieve everyday items from the floor/ground, like my keys, some electronic devices, wallet, or tools, so I do not have to strain my back to grab them. On walks or around the house, I need the dog to gently press or brush against my leg to warn me before I step off a curb, an edge, or a step. The goal is to remind me that I am near a critical balance point, and then I will handle the walking or falling myself. To help calm down my back muscles when they lock up or flare up, I would be interested if the dog could try deep pressure therapy to see if it would help me to any degree.
Is there anything I am missing from this list? Thank you for your advice in advance.

Hi!

Just to preface this I am actively training my dog not to eat stuff from the ground but until he is bullet proof I would like to use a tool to prevent him from doing so. Also, side note when he is vested he doesn't do it. It's really only an issue in his free time.

He is a havanese (around 6kg) so his face is quite small and I couldn't find a good fitting one in my surroundings so I did some research and found this? Not sure if it is good or not. I am worried he can't sniff or breathe properly. Does anyone have experience with this?

Also he is so low to the ground that it's so hard to sometimes distinguish between him sniffing and eating. Plus since his mouth is so small getting anything out is impossible. Drop or trade works very well when it's not edible but as soon as he finds something slightly edible nothing is more rewarding than what he found.

Picture in the comments

Edit: he doesn't eat poop, only food items or dead anmials

So, for context, this was a dog friendly event. My service dog Jasper and I were at one of the tables to sign up for the dog costume contest when another person with their dog labeled as a service dog came up. I could tell by the dogs body language that it wasn’t friendly and the owner was allowing it to approach my dog and I was moving mine out of the way.( my dog was also labeled as a service dog) when suddenly, their dog growls and almost bit my dog on the face. My dog moved out of the way as he will never retaliate at other dogs or people. They don’t even apologize for their dogs reaction. Then, as they were turning to leave, their dog lunged at mine, growling. Yet again, their owner did not say anything about their dogs reaction or even try to correct their dog. Could this have been an actual service dog? Possibly but even then, it can not be aggressive and can not distract another service dog. My dog luckily moved out of the way quick enough and avoided being bit by near centimeters. I checked him over once they left and he luckily was not injured nor was he shaken up. He even made a bunch of new friends and if a dog would bark right at his face, he would move away rather than bark back. Overall, I was super proud of him as people were allowing their dogs to approach any and all dogs and two dogs had even gotten off their leashes and ran up to other dogs.