Training My Service Dog

Are you wondering how one would train a dog to do all those wonderful things I mentioned in my last post?  Yeah, me too!  Seriously, I have an idea about how dogs can be trained to do some of these things, but others, I have no clue.  That’s why I will be working closely with a professional dog trainer.

There are basically two ways to get a trained service dog.  One is to go through a program that trains service dogs and places them with disabled people.  The other is known as owner training, and it means you find a dog yourself and train it, usually with assistance from a professional trainer.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways.

I’m going to be doing owner training for several reasons. 

There are a limited number of programs that train psychiatric service dogs, and those that do exist have very long waiting lists.  Veterans with PTSD are often able to get psychiatric service dogs now because the Veterans Administration will pay for them, at least under certain circumstances.  Anyone else needing a psychiatric service dog will have a long, long wait.

I am impatient.  I know it takes a long time to train a service dog, anywhere from one to two years.  So even if I went out today and got myself a dog, I would not have a service dog for quite some time.  However, I think I can start to get some benefits from having my dog before the dog is fully trained.  For instance, I’ll have to walk the dog from the very start, so I’ll be getting that physical activity that I need.  Also, I think having something to really focus on intensely will be good for me.

Also, there are no local programs currently accepting applications that train psychiatric service dogs.  There is a program in Seattle that looks pretty good and only has a two year waiting list.  But I would be expected to travel to Seattle to pick up my dog and to stay in a hotel there for two weeks while I learned how to work with my service dog.  I don’t want to fly to Seattle.  I don’t want to fly anywhere.  Flying makes me nervous.  I’d most likely have to go by myself, too, because I don’t think my partner could get that much time off work.  It would be awfully hard to come up with the cost of the plane ticket and a hotel room and meals for two weeks.

I am also hoping to save money by owner training, although I am aware that’s not necessarily the more affordable way to go.  I hope to adopt a dog from a rescue organization, so there will be an adoption fee.  It will be much less than purchasing a dog from a breeder, though.  I’ll have to take the dog to obedience classes, which aren’t too expensive.  The private trainer will be costly, however.  About $50 per hour.  And that’s where the dog will learn to perform the specific tasks I need it to do.  I hope to minimize that cost by doing a lot of the work myself.  The trainer will have to show me what to do, but I plan to work with my dog every day and do most of the “leg work” myself.  I have no idea how many hours of private training I’ll end up needing to pay for, though.