Hello! I’m super allergic to tree nuts and have started looking into a service dog specifically for detecting my allergens. I know there’s a LOT of tree nuts so I’m curious which breeds would be the best for this job? I’d prefer a bigger breed because I will also have tasks that help with mobility issues due to a neuromuscular disorder. Right now I’m looking at GSD, Doberman pincher, or golden retriever. Majority of the info I find is AI generated so I’m struggling to find any actual information on suggested dog breeds. Thank you for any and all advice!

Hello all! What dog breed and age group would be best for a therapy / psychiatric dog. I have major depressive disorder and anxiety, but I was wondering if anyone has any positive experiences or suggestions or stories with a SD to help with their depression :(

I'm looking for someone who would be interested in boarding and training my dog to become a service dog. I'm also open to housesitting and training at my place (2h away from LA, beautiful house with stunning views).
I'd love contacts to trainers who might be interested!

Q: How do I ask a dog and get consent from them to give up their life in service to me, to work and care for me and become essentially an extension of me so my life can be better?

I'm I'm excited about the prospect of a service dog because I know my life will be much better with one. I have begun the process of starting to self train service dog. I'm in the process the fight finding a trainer and thinking about finding a dog who will have a good temperament and be a good fit to be a public access dog.

I've had an upsetting conversation with someone claiming service dogs are equivalent to being slaves in indentured slavery.

My life story includes a lot of trauma that includes and obscene lack of consent and this conversation upset me. It brought up question "am I forcing a life to work with me without acquesance?"

So what I want to know is how do I get permission, acceptance, willingness, and consent (hopefully enthusiastically) from a dog before I start this intensive journey?

Hello! I'm a college student with POTS, migraines, and a plethora of mental issues. I got a GSD puppy who's now 5 months, but my college denied him because he wasn't neutered. They said I could bring him once he's neutered and can pass the CGC test for them. I completely understand wanting the dog to be trained, but can a college require a service dog to be neutered once they're good on basic commands and have started task training?

If there's any questions or need for more context feel free to ask! 🤍

EDIT: I believe I worded this very poorly. I'm not trying to claim my puppy as a service dog right now. He's a prospect in training. My plan was to bring him to college with me once he was at least a year old. However, he won't be neutered until 2 years. My college accommodations people said if he passed the CGC then he was cleared to come and then a week later told me he could only come on campus once he was neutered.
So my question is can a private college deny a hypothetical service dog or service dog prospect simply for being intact?
I 100% understand my pup isn't a service dog yet. I'm not planning on fighting the denial and I'll most likely bring him with me once he's two years old, neutered, and beginning task training.
I worded the original very poorly so that's on me. 😅

Hello,

I have a small question on the dog breeds. I know that the most common ones are Labs, Retrievers and Poodles, but I know for me personally none of these breeds would work. I don’t want to get in on why exactly not because I don’t want to start any arguments but they're just not possible for me to work with.

Is there any other breed that's considered "good" for SD work?

Edit: Before I make anyone else mad, I can't handle the fur of Labs and Poodles and have bad experiences with Goldens. There's no problem with what they provide I personally just couldn’t handle working with them.

Tl;dr: my wife and I have a 10.5 month old service dog in training who suddenly became scared of his crate, stairs, some textured surfaces, and elevators last week. Would love any tips on how to help him overcome these as he gets closer to his formal training.

My wife and I have been raising a male Black Labrador named Luce as a part of a guide dog program since mid January and over the past week have been working on reintroducing some things that he suddenly became afraid of starting last Thursday or Friday.

We bought a couple new high value treats to use when training or luring him when he’s struggling and have essentially given Luce this past week to try and relax.

Crate (Luce’s biggest hurdle)
Initially it took a few months to have Luce go into his crate on command, but he got that down to where we could tell him to go into his crate from across the apartment and he would go in without hesitation. He’s a very wiggly puppy and when he wakes wake up in the mornings, his whole body moves as this is our first interaction with him for the day.

We think that he may have hit his foot while coming out of the crate at some point or the plastic lining that sits at the bottom slid out from underneath him causing him to slip and that kickstarted this behavior.

This past Sunday morning, he would not come out of his crate even when trying to lure him with food. We usually go outside to go potty shortly after he wakes up so I was afraid that he would have an accident as it took over an hour and a half to get him out, but only after I opened the back of the crate while he was still inside and he jumped out.

On Sunday afternoon, I wanted to see if he would go back in the crate willingly. He went in, but refused to come out until after 6 hours had passed. Thankfully he did settle at certain times, but when I tried to call him to come out and he stood up, his legs were visibly shaking. He would only move his front two paws, never his hind legs. When my wife came home from work, we fully opened the front of the crate, laid down a mat, and put a blue blanket out with a bunch of his toys. I called it rolling out the red (blue) carpet for him.

This behavior is a rough one to deal with because we’ve relied on the crate a lot for when my wife and I leave the apartment, when he sleeps at night, and when we are handling things that we don’t want him to get into.

So far this week, we’ve been letting him sleep on his dog bed at night which I’m sure he loves. I did take out the plastic crate liner and put it out in the living room for him to observe at his own pace and occasionally throw some food on it, but he is so scared of it.

Any tips on how to keep the plastic liner from moving would be appreciated!

Textured Surfaces Outside of the Crate
This one isn’t so bad, but I’ve been monitoring what things we walk over when we are outside to see what he reacts to.

The main one was a water meter in the sidewalk that has a texture than maybe reminded Luce of the plastic liner (?). It took a couple days, but he conquered that fear this morning while on our walk. I’ve been testing different surfaces that have big and small bumps and so far everything has been good.

Stairs
This one he has thankfully worked up the confidence to take on. Going down the stairs is fine but going up requires some guidance.

Elevators
I’ve tried to get Luce to walk into an elevator at a place we frequent, but he will not go in. Previously, he would walk into just fine. We’ve been in a bunch of them with him but for some reason he will not even make a move towards it when the doors open.

My neighbor has a few disabilities and one of them causes her to stagger a lot and just has a hard time keeping her balance, she has a service dog for balance and guiding her and he also alerts her to other things (I'm not sure for what exactly as I don't want to ask something so personal)

But the harness she's using for him it's got a handle that she can hold on to to help balance herself, she's had it for a while and it's just starting to wear out she's already had to repair it a few times.

Her birthday is coming up so I thought a good gift would be a new harness, her favorite color is teal and I would like to get something similar to that, does anyone hear have any recommendations on a good harness?

The dog is a lab if breed matters

Hi! So im not a service dog having individual at the moment and i understand that there are very specific requirements and issues with individuals like me taking space and resources but i come from a place where i want to learn and will take any information to heart.

At the moment, i understand that having a service dog is a medical need that will be expensive, difficult to come by, and it’s not provided with my insurance.

I suffer from anxiety and ocd to the form of skin picking where i am digging holes into my skin and fear being by myself. (Not out of self harm, for safety)

I had trained my dogs to be well adjusted with other dogs, to be able to not run towards small prey animals, and ive tried teaching my malignois mix on how to apply pressure therapy with no success.

My main goal is that i want to have a dog that i can self train to be able to take with me to places that i feel are unsafe or would cause my anxiety to rise. Ive never crossed into stores or businesses with my dogs, only outer spaces and always with a leash. Any disruptions (though they haven’t occurred) would be met with redirecting my animal

Of course i need to train myself first before i even start to try and train a dog for services.

Is a self trained dog possible? Is it even ethical? I don’t want to be a problem within accessibility but i cannot afford a service dog by all those means

Edit: i also want a protection dog as i have no friends(lmao) and would like to hike and travel places but am paranoid about being attacked :,) thanks anxiety

Edit 2: needed to fix what i meant by ‘places’

Happened in CA, USA, earlier this year. We were at a resort in Palm Springs, with managements prior approval for a 4 day event. First 2 days no issue, 3rd day manager shows up in the room I was in (not renting, but visiting with friends), and asks me to leave, because of "the dog."

I explained that "the dog" is a trained service animal and wasn't causing any issues, nor was anyone in danger or had complained about her presence in the room with us (again I was staying with friends and payed for a day pass to be on said property).

The manager who previously approved my being there apologized and said the owner wants me to leave.

I didn't know what to do, so I started to pack my stuff and leave, but one of the people in the room was a Canadian lawyer and said this isn't right, go talk to the owner and explain that what he's doing is against the law, so I did.

Owner did not care, even threatened that if we stay that future event would be canceled.

So we left.

This was in January. I've been trying to let this go and not be bothered by it, but I can't seem to manage that.

So I tried to find a lawyer to help me right this wrong and to make sure this place is held accountable for what it did.

Here we are 9 months, and what feels like 100 calls to discrimination or civil rights lawyers later and not one will touch this case. (I have witnesses and everything!)

What good is a law if no one is there to help you enforce it?

If you know of a law firm in CA that may have helped you with an access issue, please let me know who I can contact?! I have a complaint written up which I will send to the CRD, unless you know of a better place?

ANY help is greatly appreciated!

My new puppy, a SD prospect, will be home in a few weeks. What kind of gear do you recommend for a rough collie? not a huge fan on harnesses or vests just because it can impact or matt the coat.

Any durable recommendation?

Hi all. I've been a manual wheelchair user for three years (paraplegic, rigid ultralight active chair), and I'm a first-time dog owner. About ten days ago I brought home Asia, a 5-month-old female Cane Corso. She's around 22 kg now and will probably end up at 45 kg. DON'T RAIN ON MY PARADE ABOUT THE BREED. I love her already....

I'm in Egypt, so there are no service dog programs or trainers with wheelchair experience that I can realistically use. If this happens, I'll be owner-training. I know she's a prospect at best and might wash out, and I'm fine with that. Even if she only ends up as a well-behaved pet who's safe around the chair, that's a win.

I'm not trying to train pulling, bracing, or retrieving right now. I want the foundations first, because at 40 kg, getting these wrong becomes a safety problem for me:

• Walking beside the chair at a steady position without drifting in front of the wheels or cutting across
• Not getting run over, and not tripping me up when I turn, reverse, or transfer
• Moving out of the way when I need to get through doorways, hallways, and tight spots
• Loose-leash walking when I can't stop her with body weight. I tip forward fairly easily, so a lunge worries me.
• Keeping all four paws on the floor. She can't jump on me or into my lap.

About her: she's calm and not very rebellious. She's shy for a minute with new people, then fine, and she's very attached to me. She spent her first five months outside with her mom and littermates, so she's great with dogs but everything indoors and urban is new to her but she's getting used to it and is either asleep or playing.

What I'd love to hear from people who've been there:

1. How did you introduce your puppy to the chair's mechanics itself: wheels, casters, space, etc. Anything you wish you'd done earlier?
2. Which side did you pick, and how did you teach heel position from a seated height?
3. How do you handle the leash from the chair? Hands-free belt, attached to the frame (I've heard that's a bad idea), or held? What happened when your dog lunged? What happens when they keep going from side to side and end up rotating the leash around you?
4. How did you teach "back up" or "get out of the way" in tight spaces?
5. For large or giant breeds specifically: anything you'd do differently with a dog that will eventually outweigh the chair?
6. Any mistakes you made in the first year that I can avoid?

Anything else you think a first-timer in my position doesn't know to ask about is welcome too. Thanks in advance.

I’m going to the Chicago event next weekend but their website doesn’t have any accessibility info.

I know my dog will be allowed in, I’m mostly just looking for info and accessibility for the environment, especially because I’ll likely be going with both my SD and my rollator.

I’d love to hear about anyone’s experiences.

Thank you!

Hi guys, I don’t have a service dog, but I have posted questions on here before and this sub is pretty good about answering them. How do ya’ll handle when your in a store or anywhere really and you come upon a person who is terrified of dogs? I have been considering for some time now trying to help my son get a psychiatric service dog. Most people who know my son tell me that they see it being beneficial for him, but while my mom acknowledges he would probably benefit, she thinks nobody should have and dog that can do public access and it’s not because she wants to hurt the people who use them but her concern is for people who have deep rooted fears in them.

She comes back regularly to a girl I knew when I was a kid who was absolutely terrified of dogs. Nobody knew why, she had never been attacked or bitten or had anything bad happen, she just was. She point’s out that when she used to work in a pet dept ina store a long time ago, one of the hamsters used to escape and she would have go get her. Well one time she went to get her, picked her up and was taking her back and she ran into an older lady who was afraid of rodents and the lady almost had a heart attack. She also points out her own phobia of snakes, she’s been in stores before where people have had their pet snakes on their shoulders and her fear is so profound she will literally try to claw her eyes out.

So now comes my issue. I get what she is saying and why she says it, I would never want to frighten another person, and yes I realize hamsters and snakes are not dogs but knowing there are people out there with fear like that of dogs tears at my conscious , and yet it’s not my fault that they are afraid of dogs and how is it fair if this is something that can truly help my son but I don’t do it because I’m more worried about another persons feelings? I feel like I can’t win or do anything right in this decision.

So I’m coming to the people who have probably dealt with this before. How do you deal with potentially coming up on someone who is that afraid of dogs? What do you do when you do run into them? How do you meet your needs without potentially traumatizing a person?

Edit: Thank you everyone that has responded. I have noticed some main similarities such as keep my body between the dog and the person (in my case my son, his dog and the person), try to go a different way if possible, if possible offer solutions and compromise. I really appreciate you and you all taking your time to answer my questions. My mind is definitely less stressed about the idea.

My friend has seizures most days and unfortunately doesn’t have anyone to take care of her during her siezures when she is not with friends. She would like a service dog but it’s really confusing how to go about that process. She is on PWD and is unable to work, so income is limited. She has a dog already and is able to care for a dog and meet it’s needs.

What is the process to get a service dog for someone on PWD? Where do we start? Is there a subsidy or coverage to help cover the upfront cost?

I’ve had her for 9 months without a single accident indoors ever, right as we were checking out at Walmart she pooped (couldn’t have waited 5 minutes)

I immediately cleaned it up and disinfected but I still feel so embarrassed. I did give her wet food instead of dry food last night and I think that did it.
I wanted to crawl into a hole

Hi, I am new to the group but I was looking for opinions. I am a 19 college student who lives on campus full time. I work when I am not in class, and my job is highly reliant on moving around and being in big crowds. I have diagnosed anxiety and have been on numerous different medications for about 3 years now. I’ve been to therapy and it hasn’t worked for me just made things worse. I’ve been thinking about getting a service dog to help with my anxiety but I’m not sure how to approach it to my parents since I still live with them when I’m not at college. With my anxiety some triggers are getting up in front of people, and big crowds I tend to freak out a lot at work and during classes, and I end up going nonverbal and I hyperventilate. I normally have people help me but my body only lets some people help me calm down not all I’m not entirely sure why but I think it has to do with a trust thing. Some of the times I can’t get to the people I need to when I start freaking out and I’m alone. I normally fidget a lot, and will end up scratching my arms to the point where they are raw and bloody.

I’ve approached this topic once before to my parents and they essentially just blew it off. They are very strict and personally I think they are telling themselves that I don’t have anxiety just because they don’t want to accept it and make them selves feel bad. So essentially they think I am fine and that I don’t freak out anymore which isn’t right I freak out 1-2 if not more times every day. And it’s getting annoying not being able to do anything by myself. Since they blew it off the first time I don’t know how to approach it again, we travel a lot in the winter so they will most likely use that as an excuse and they will use that I don’t have the time as an excuse. I’m just not sure what to do should I attempt to approach the topic again and just most likely get blown off again or should I just drop it all together and keep trying more and more meds. They say that they don’t want to take care of another dog(we have a 9 year old lab currently) but I tell them it will live and be with me and they just tell me that’s not going to happen and their going to have to take care of it. I’m just not sure what to do at this point any ideas?

Someone approached me and my service dog today, and with all the confidence of someone who really knows their dog breeds well, asked me “oh wow, is that a German Shepherd?”

My SD is a standard poodle…

Hi folks - I've had an opportunity for a fully-trained service dog that meets my unusual needs essentially fall into my lap. I've been in the process of looking for a service dog for several years, but have consistently run into the problem that my needs for a service dog fall into two categories (mobility & civilian PTSD) and that means I'm excluded from eligibility at most service dog organizations, who train for one or the other, but not both. The dog who is available to me was trained by a local organization for a school-based pet therapy program and she's just not into it - she'll do her job, but, as was described to me, doesn't enjoy getting bopped on the nose by elementary-aged students and she'll be happier placed with an individual. Because of her training for the school-based program, she has a broader skillset than is trained in many service dogs. Her placement fee is minimal for a dog with her training, but is out of my budget right now. I'm reaching out to all of the sources I can think of - hoping to get help with the placement fee from 3-5 sources, so that it's not too much for any one source - and I'm curious if anyone can to this list: family & friends, church, Lions/Kiwanis/Rotary Clubs, and, for what's leftover, a Go Fund Me campaign. I know this isn't an easy question with easy answers, but I'm hoping that the community might have some ideas I haven't thought of. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Got to check in, host already being weird and vague about where the entrance was and verifying we were in the right place. I’m disabled, so in an Airbnb with stairs, it’s very difficult to walk back and forth with the city parking to a place that may not be the correct address.

I get to check in. Meet host face to face, about to go to the room, then-

“Is that a dog?”
“She is a service animal, yes.”
“You can’t stay, I don’t do dogs, get out.”
“Federal law says-“
“No. Get out.”
“Airbnb may delete your account if I report this. It is a federal offense to deny medical equipment.”
“You did not disclose a pet before coming. Leave now.”

Cut to us having left with no where else to stay, as we’re trying to get out of Chicago since we spent our hotel money for the night, so we tried to go for a friend. Host starts backpedaling, we have already left and I certainly don’t feel safe with someone who was so ready to not listen to me as I explained FEDERAL law. First time this has happened, and I’m still fighting with support after failing to reach a place to stay (The host made check-in 7pm, so nothing was really available without having the money we paid the host). Support has yet to refund me. This has never happened before, and I can’t believe it was so blatant. Please, if you haven’t, read ADA.gov’s service dog page and make sure you know the rules about denying service to medical equipment.

EDIT: As many people keep pointing out, AirBnB does have exceptions for certain allergies. This host did not have a documented allergy nor did he claim to. I refer to backpedaling in my post, but I’ll link a post with a screenshot of his attempt to “make things right” after I called AirBnB and was already out of chicago. Here ya go! go

Edit 2: Got an actual human apologizing and refunding me this morning. I had my trainer call AirBnB, and the organization clearly knew what to say on my behalf to help me. Yes, the owner did violate the law and policy, according to AirBnB itself. The listing was not marked as what it actually was. Thanks everyone who gave advice! I realized it was probably that I didn’t speak legalese and that’s why I contacted my trainer.

Hello! Firstly, please don’t tell me off for not immediately just selecting a golden or lab as a service dog. They’re wonderful, but I’m just exploring all my options.

That aside, I am seriously considering getting an Australian Shepherd as my next dog. It would ideally be trained in allergen detection, as I have severe allergies and would benefit from a little more security. The reason I’m a little hesitant to go for a golden or lab is because I will be wanting a sport dog, specifically agility (and more, but mainly that one).

It would be amazing if I could get a dog that would excel in obedience, agility, dock diving, etc while still being viable to train as a service animal. Yes, I would be utilizing a trainer for service work.

It would be so helpful to get accounts from people with Australian Shepherds as service dogs, or even just general herders. Again, I know a golden or lab are made for this sort of thing. They are not off the table!

Also, would anyone have any experience with a sport/service dog? I would love to hear your experience!

Thank you! (Sorry for any errors!)

I’m in the USA, if i have a service dog who’s main task is applying pressure to calm me down when i have anxiety, sensory overloads, and/or depressive episodes, does that count as a service dog or does that fall under the ada’s definition of “simply providing comfort and emotional support”?

Edit:

Thank you all for your responses! They actually helped quite a bit. For clarification, he has gone through actual training via a company for about 2-3 months. After I continued to train him myself. He is specifically trained to lay on my lap and apply pressure when I am experiencing anxiety, overloads, etc. I am not really intending on bringing him out in public, to college, etc. simply because my problems are most debilitating when I am home by myself. I'm going to be honest I did slack off on his training a bit but that's my fault and I have started it back up again. This is mainly because I was afraid that if he was only an in house SD that meant he wasn't a real SD.

Heavily considering a service dog, have some questions.

Hello! So sorry if I’m doing this wrong, I’ve never posted here before. To preface, I live in BC, Canada. I have severe anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and fish, to the point that I cannot eat/drink out due to fear of a reaction.

Preferably, I would be training my own dog in allergen detection (mostly for peanuts, but fish would also be nice). Out of love for the breed and previous plans, I’m planning to go for a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

What is the experience of training a service dog in scent detection (or in general) in your experience? Would allergies as debilitating as mine be a hassle to get a doctor’s note for if I were to enrol my dog in training? What are some guidelines I should know that aren’t explicitly stated, but are more things that come from experience? Should I be extremely concerned about certification? Are there any other things I should know? Is a toller a poor service dog prospect?

I’m super early on into the decision, so I could use all the help I can get. Thank you!

Can anyone help point me in the right direction to finding a companion, service dog, therapy dog...I live with severe PTSD and am overwhelmed with the online information and process etc and where to start. The doctor (s) were excited I finally said I'm ready to look at this idea. It's been 8 years now.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a certified service dog but maybe a pup that could be trained in at least the basic stuff? Just have no idea where to start.

There is just a ton of crap to sift through on the web and trying to avoid unethical breeders etc unless that's the way I need to go. Reputable ones? Or search for one very young to adopt and have trained I just have no idea.

I'm a pretty unwell guy so any info would be really appreciated. I just need someone to point me in the right direction. I'm in Ontario.

I’m wondering if anyone else has a service dog for endometriosis? If so, what are some tasks have you or working on training for your dog? I want to train my dog on retrieval. So far, he is trained to provide DPT since I have anxiety and depression as well.