Service Dog Training Proram Shut Down, Dogs in Need of Help

K-9 Assistants for Independence was a training program for service dogs located in Texas.  The organization trained service dogs from start to finish, and they also helped people that were owner training by keeping dogs for weeks or months at a time to work on specific aspects of their training, and they also offered board and train services for pet dogs.  Just recently, news broke that dogs in the facility were being neglected, mistreated and abused.  Dogs were going home from the facility seriously underweight, sick, infested with ticks, suffering from contagious illnesses like coccidia (which causes terrible diarrhea), anemic, malnourished, in terrible shape.  They were also fearful, suffering from separation anxiety, showing signs of having been physically abused such as flinching or cowering when someone reached out to pet them.

The facility has been closed down and dogs returned to their owners or placed in foster homes.  There are probably several dozen dogs affected, though, and the cost of treating their health problems is significant.  So a fundraiser has been started to raise money to help the owners and the foster homes to care for the needs of these dogs.  Please, help if you can.

Help the Dogs from K9AI

How Do You Get a Psychiatric Service Dog?

Psychiatric service dogs are dogs that are trained to assist people with psychiatric disabilities, like major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. Not all people with mental illnesses such as these are disabled by their conditions, of course. To qualify for a service dog, you must be disabled by your psychiatric illness.

Psychiatric service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks for disabled people; for instance, they might bring medication to someone suffering an anxiety attack or wake someone with post-traumatic stress disorder from a nightmare. Simply providing comfort is not considered a trained task and does not make a dog a service dog.

If you think you might benefit from a psychiatric service dog, discuss it with your treatment providers, such as your psychiatrist and therapist.

Psychiatric Service Dog Programs

Unless you have extensive experience training dogs, including working dogs, your best bet is to find a psychiatric service dog program and apply for a fully trained service dog. When you get a service dog from a reputable program, you get a dog that is well-trained and that has also been screened for potential health issues that might affect his ability to work. You should also receive training in how to work with your dog and have access to a trainer in the future for advice or assistance when needed.

Most service dog program charge a fee for trained service dogs, which can range from $1,000 to $10,000 or even more, but they often have scholarships that cover part of the cost for low-income applicants and they usually provide assistance with fundraising, so a service dog may be more affordable than you think. A program dog usually ends up being less expensive than training your own dog in the end.

Unfortunately, there is more demand for psychiatric service dogs than there are program-trained dogs available currently. You may have trouble finding a program in your area that trains dogs for the sort of tasks you need a service dog to do for you. Consider traveling to another area of the country if necessary to get a service dog. Most programs have one to two year waiting lists, but keep in mind the fact that it would take that long to train a service dog yourself, too, and if you train your own dog, there is no guarantee the dog will work out in the end.

Psychiatric service dog programs all have their own policies and procedures, but typically they will require you to complete an application, to provide documentation from your doctor verifying that you are in fact disabled and could benefit from a psychiatric service dog, to provide reference letters from people that know you verifying that you will provide a good home and care for a dog, and to attend a face-to-face interview. Most programs provide a period of training, sometimes done in a group format, in which recipients of their service dogs learn to work with their dogs.

Training Your Own Psychiatric Service Dog

If you have experience training dogs and you want to try to train your own service dog, you must start by finding an appropriate dog to train. An animal behaviorist or a professional dog trainer, one with experience training service dogs, can help you select an appropriate dog.

It takes about 18 months to train a service dog. Your dog will first need to be trained in basic obedience. Then he’ll need to learn to obey even in very distracting circumstances. In order to be allowed to take your service dog into public places with you, like grocery stores and restaurants, he’ll need to learn to heel closely, not to sniff people or objects, not to attempt to get to food or to eat food even if it’s dropped on the floor in front of him, and to ignore distractions like people calling him or attempting to pet him. Finally, he’ll need to be trained to perform specific tasks that mitigate your disability. For best results, work closely with a professional trainer during the training process.

Can Your Pet Become a Psychiatric Service Dog?

Your pet dog might be able to become a psychiatric service dog, but it’s unlikely. Most dogs simply do not have the temperament to be good service dogs. You can have your dog evaluated by an experienced professional trainer to see if he might have the right temperament. If he does, he’ll need about 18 months of training in order to become a service dog.

Sources:

Service Dog Central.Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSDs).

U.S. Department of Justice. Service Animals.

Aggressive Dogs Do Not Make Good Service Dogs

I came across this article today.  A prisoner was participating in a program that trains dogs as service dogs.  There are a number of such programs across the country and I think it is often a good thing for both the dogs and the prisoners.

But in this case, the dog bit the prisoner training him.  Turns out the dog had a history of biting and the people in charge of this program knew it.

And they were planning to give this dog, that they  knew had a history of biting, to a disabled people as a service dog.  And the dog would have likely bitten his disabled handler or a member of the public when the dog was taken into public. 

Why on earth would you plan to place an aggressive dog as a service dog?  I'm sorry the prisoner was bitten but I am glad he won his case and I hope it makes whoever is in charge of this program reconsider trying to train aggressive dogs as service dogs.  That is dangerous to everyone.

Is it Cheaper to Train Your Own Service Dog?

I've heard from a lot of people lately that are training (or trying to train) their own service dogs.  Now, I suppose owner training, if you know how to do it.  I seriously considered owner training myself, which you know if you read this blog in its early does.  I am so glad I didn't try it, though, because I'm pretty sure I would not have done it well.  I don't know nearly enough about training a working dog. 

I think most people don't.  It's something that takes a lot of skill.  I hear people say things like "it just takes time and patience" and that's just not true.  It does take time and patience.  But it also takes knowledge and skill.

And then I hear people asking things like, "How do I teach my dog to retrieve things?  How do I teach my dog to lie down under a table at a restaurant?"  Well, if you have no idea how to teach those things, which are pretty basic things, then you probably do not have the knowledge or skills to train a service dog.

But is it cheaper?  Many people say, "I'd get a dog from a program but I can't afford it."  But let's look at the actual costs.

Dog - if you get a dog from a breeder (which increases your chance of success), that might cost you about $1000.  If you get a dog from a rescue, it would be cheaper.  Let's say $200.  But that increases your chances of the dog washing out.

Behavioral evaluation - unless you're an animal behaviorist, you should have a dog evaluated to see if he has the right temperament to be a service dog.  Let's say that might cost $200.

Vet exam - you should also get a comprehensive vet exam, including x-rays (to be read by an orthopedic vet) to make sure a dog is physically fit to be a service dog.  Let's say that might cost $400.  Now, if the first dog the vet examines doesn't make the grade, you'd need to have another dog examined.  So you might pay $400 a few times, but let's say you get really lucky and the first dog passes.

So you'll have spent somewhere between $800 and $1,600 before you even get the dog home.  Well, some programs only charge $1,000 for a fully trained dog!

Now, it takes about 18 months to train a service dog.  If you train your own, you'll have to pay for food, vet bills, everything for those 18 months.  If you only spend $100 a month, that would be $1,800.  If you get a dog from a program, of course, that's all covered by the program.

So now you've spent at least $2,600 or as much as $3,400 by the time your dog is trained.  Many programs charge less then $3,000 for a fully trained dog.

But you'll need to take your dog to obedience classes as part of his training.  Let's say you do beginning, intermediate and advanced obedience classes and each class costs $75.  So that's another $225. 

Unless you're very skilled at training dogs, you might decide (wisely) to hire a trainer to help you out for an hour a week.  Let's say that trainer charges $50 an hour.  An hour a week for 18 months is about $3,600.

Now you're up to at least $6,425.  Not many programs charge that much.

So which one is cheaper?

More on When Service Dogs Don't Work Out

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a woman I know of who made the difficult decision to return her service dog to the program she got him from because he had severe skin allergies.  She had the dog for about a year and spent hundreds of dollars, which she could ill afford, taking him to specialists for treatment.  She was advised by a veterinary specialist at a university veterinary hospital that he should not be a working dog because working exposes him to more allergens and makes his condition worse.  She loves this dog deeply and was heartbroken at having to return him, but felt it was the best thing for him.

The program she got him from promises that if a dog must be retired due to health problems, they will find him a good home where he will be a family pet and will get the medical care he needs.  Last week, she put him on an airplane with a volunteer to deliver him back to this program in another state.  Then she went home to her empty apartment and cried.

She's since heard from someone with the program and he has arrived safely.  However, she is deeply disturbed, as am I at what they are now telling her.  They are now telling her that they will be keeping him in their kennel, where they keep the dogs they are training, for four to six months, then placing him with another person with a disability in need of a service dog.  This is disturbing for a number of reasons.  First, this dog is used to living in a house with people.  Now he's going to be in a kennel for up to six months.  How sad is that for the dog?  Second, a highly qualified veterinary specialist has said he is not healthy enough to work, that it exposes him to additional allergens and makes him sicker.  So his condition will continue to worsen.  Third, another person with a disability will end up struggling to pay for his medical bills and will probably end up having to make the same heartbreaking decision this other woman had to make.

And I feel terrible for this woman, who loved her dog so much she made the decision to let him go because she believed it was what would be best for him, who now learns the program is not going to find him a good home where he can be a much loved pet after all but is planning to have him continue working despite his  health problems.  She's probably questioning her decision and second guessing herself right now, which is sad because she did everything she possibly could for her dog.

I'm not going to name the service dog program here because I am a bit concerned about liability issues, but if anyone is considering getting a service dog and wants to be sure to avoid this program, feel free to email me at poet_kelly at yahoo dot com.  I would definitely want to avoid them and I'll be happy to share the info with you.

Service Dogs in Training

I am frequently asked by strangers in public places if I am training Isaac.  I think I am asked that because I don't look disabled (whatever that means).  My standard response is, "No, he is already trained."  I thought I would point out some things about service dogs in training, though, which I think many people are not aware of.

• Just because a person doesn't look disabled, that does not mean they are training the service dog they have with them.  Many disabilities are not readily apparent, including seizure disorders, autism and other disorders on the autism spectrum, major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, dissociative identify disorder and other dissociative disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, unstable diabetes and hypoglycemia, partial hearing loss, and traumatic brain injury.  I'm sure there are plenty of others that are not coming to mind at the moment.
• Service dogs in training often, though not always, wear vests that say something like, "Service Dog in Training" on them.  Federal law doesn't require service dogs to wear vests and federal law doesn't mention service dogs in training at all, but some state laws may require vests for dogs in training.  Isaac's vest clearly says, "Service Dog," which is an indication that he is fully trained.  A service dog in training would not typically be wearing a vest that says, "Service Dog."  A dog in training would wear a vest that says, 'In Training."
• The federal law that gives people with disabilities the right to take their service dogs into public places with them, the Americans with Disabilities Act, does not address the issue of service dogs in training.  In other words, the ADA says a person with a disability can take a trained service dog to Walmart but does not say anyone can take a service dog in training to Walmart.  Most states have laws that address service dogs in training, though.  Those laws vary from state to state.  In Ohio, where I live, only professional trainers working for programs that train service dogs have the legal right to take service dogs in training into public places.  It would be legal for me to train my own service dog, but the law does not require that Walmart allow me to train my dog there.  For me to take a service dog I was training into Walmart, I would have to ask for and receive permission from the manager.
• While federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, applies to people with all disabilities, some state laws regarding service dogs and service dogs in training only apply to people with certain disabilities.  For instance, in Ohio, state law only requires businesses to allow service dogs in training if the dogs are being trained to serve people with visual impairments, hearing impairments, or physical disabilities.  If a professional trainer working for a program that trains service dogs is training a dog to serve someone with, say, PTSD, Walmart does not have to allow her to bring the dog in.
• Service dogs in training are still expected to behave appropriately in public.  Business owners, and other customers, may be more tolerant if they realize a dog is in training.  After all, if his behavior was perfect, he wouldn't need training, would he?  Still, if a service dog in training is bothering other customers or otherwise being disruptive, the trainer can be asked to remove the dog.

When a Service Dog Doesn't Work Out

One of the benefits to getting a service dog through a program is that, generally, you should know when you get the dog that he's going to work out.  See, if you try to train a service dog yourself, you might spend six months or a year training that dog only to realize that he doesn't have the right temperament and isn't going to be able to do the job.  That was something I was afraid of when I was thinking I was going to have to train a dog myself, with the help of a professional trainer.  After spending a year working with a dog, I would have bonded with him.  I'd be very attached to him.  I wouldn't want to rehome him.  But I also couldn't afford to have a pet dog and then get another dog to try again to train as a service dog.

Even when you get a dog from a program, though, occasionally things go wrong.  There's a forum online for people with service dogs where I participate sometimes, and there is a woman there that got a dog from a program and it turned out that he had really severe allergies.  I feel a bit angry at the program, because he had allergies when they placed him with her.  She mentioned it when she first got the dog and they told her it was a simple food allergy and that if she just changed his food, it would clear up.  That hasn't been the case.  A year later, and hundreds and hundreds of dollars in vet bills later, she has had to make the difficult decision to return her dog to the program.  She loves her dog, but she cannot afford his medical expenses any longer, plus he is often unable to work due to severe allergic outbreaks.  I think the program should have never placed a dog with such severe allergies with someone in the first place.  Now she has to go through the heartbreak of returning her dog.

The program guarantees they will find the dog a good home with someone that can provide for all his medical needs, which is nice.  The program I got Isaac from does the same thing; if for any reason I was unable to keep Isaac, they would take him and find him a good home.  If they couldn't find him a home, his trainer or the director of the program would keep him and care for him themselves.  That's nice to know.

But it doesn't take away the grief and guilt that this woman is dealing with as she prepares to say goodbye to her dog.  She has only a couple more days with him before he goes back to the program, and she's trying to soak up all the love she can until then.  She's deciding which of his toys and other belongings to send with him.  She's hoping his new family will keep in touch with her to let her know how he's doing and send her some pictures from time to time, but they aren't required to do that.

When someone loses a service dog, in addition to losing someone they love, they also lose a vital form of assistance.  The emotional aspect is what seems so horrible to me, but the practical aspect is important, too.  Not only will this woman be grieving her dog, but she'll be struggling to cope without the help she's come to rely on.

Of course, dogs don't live forever, including service dogs.  Everyone with a service dog has to deal with this someday.  I just prefer not to think about it right now.

His Name Is Isaac

I am so excited!  I just got an email from the director of the service dog program and she's received all my paperwork.  Everything has been approved.

The dog that will be placed with me is a yellow lab named Isaac.  I could change his name, of course, but I think I kind of like Isaac.  I'll have to see if it suits him when I meet him, though.  Isaac is a Hebrew name and means "laughter."  I think it's kind of neat for someone with severe depression to have a dog whose name means "laughter."

I'm not sure how old he is, exactly.  She said he is young and energetic.  I'm guessing that means something like a year or 18 months, but I emailed her back to ask for more information.

I'm not sure when I'll get to meet him.  She is getting ready to go on vacation for a couple of weeks and after that will schedule my home visit and I guess then I'll get to meet Isaac.

She said he should be ready for placement in a few months, so I'm thinking that means by the end of the year.  What a nice Christmas present!  (If anyone wants to know what to get me for Christmas this year, how about a donation to cover the cost of my service dog?  Or some dog toys, food, treats, etc.  Hint, hint!)

I assume I will be starting the part of Isaac's training that involved me fairly soon, if he is to be ready to be placed with me in a few months.  I guess that will start after the home visit.

I'm just so happy to hear this!

The Next Step

I emailed the director of the service dog program to find out what the next step of the process is.  She said as soon as she has all my paperwork, which she should be receiving in another day or two because I mailed it over the weekend, she will contact me to schedule a home visit.  Oh.  That means I have to clean my house, doesn't it?

Well, Mike cleaned the toilet over the weekend.  Does that count?

But I'm thinking it probably means I need to scrub the carpet where it smells like cat pee, thanks to Miss Cayenne.  And knock down the cobwebs I noticed around the light fixture in the bathroom the other day.

She told me there are two dogs that are within a few months of finishing their training that she is thinking might be suitable for me.  So I'm excited.  I could have my service dog by the end of the year.

I gotta work more on the fundraising.  I've had a couple churches offer some assistance, so I think it's going well so far.

And at least I have an incentive to clean my house!

Doggies!

I met the trainer I'd talked to on the phone and saw two of the dogs she's trained today.  One of the dogs is almost done with his training and the other has a little longer to go but both were able to demonstrate things like sitting, down, heeling, opening and closing doors, and retrieving things.  We went for a short walk with one of the dogs and I got to hold the leash and tell him to heel and she showed me what she does when he starts to get ahead of her on a walk.  He was really sweet.  When he started to get ahead of me I told him to heel and he did and then he looked at me and I could tell what he wanted was a treat.  He also really liked sniffing my sandals (I think they smelled like my cats) and licked my feet for a bit.

She told me that service dogs can do more than three tasks, that what she had meant was that they typically only train three tasks before placing the dog with the handler, but then more tasks can be added on.  She said she meant that it's too hard for a dog to learn more than three tasks at the same time, which makes plenty of sense to me.  I think she just wasn't explaining things well over the phone.  Or I just misunderstood, but I  think it was more how she was saying it.

Anyway, she said she thought she would be able to train a dog to do the things I need him to do but that some of the things I would need to work on further after I brought the dog home, and that all made sense to me.  I'm very excited now.  I still need to get the paperwork form my doctor, which I should get sometime next week, and send that in and the director should be calling me sometime next week to talk about when they might have a dog that would be ready for me.

Taking a Trip to See the Trainer Today

Today I am driving to see the trainer with the K-9's in Special Service program.  It's about a two hour drive, unfortunately.  But I'm excited to see a couple of the dogs she's been training and to learn more about her training methods and to discuss the tasks I need a service dog to do.

My plan is - I think - that if the dogs from this program are well-trained and good dogs, I will select three tasks for them to train the dog for me, and then I will work with the professional trainer I would use if I had to train a service dog myself to train the dog to do the rest of the tasks I need him to do.  That will be an additional cost to me but I've been told that the most difficult parts of training a service dog is selecting the dog in the first place, training the dog to behave appropriately in all sorts of public places, and proofing the dog to distractions.  Proofing the dog to distractions basically means that the dog will follow commands and perform his tasks even if there are people around calling to the dog, barking at him, meowing at him, offering him food, etc.  So if the program selects a good dog, trains it for public access, and proofs it to distractions, they've done the hardest parts.  Training the dog to perform additional tasks should not be that difficult.

I really, really hope things look good this afternoon.  I really hope this program works out.

You Can Only Teach a Service Dog Three Tricks?

So says the trainer with the service dog program I am considering working with.  I spoke to her by phone today to set up a time to go visit the program and see a couple of the dogs nearing the end of their training, which I think I will be doing on Friday.

But she also wanted to talk to me about my application and the tasks I'd mentioned I wanted a dog to be trained to help me with.  I listed six or seven things on the application and she said I need to narrow it down to three.  She said they usually only teach the dog to do a maximum of three tasks because if they try to teach the dog more than that, the dog gets too stressed and is unable to become proficient at any of the tasks.  So she told me to look at my list of tasks and decide which ones I think are most important.

I've never heard this before and I think I've done a fair amount of research.  I was in the car on my way to the Cleveland Clinic to see my back specialist when I was talking to her (I know, you're not supposed to talk on your cell phone and drive at the same time, but it's a long drive and it's boring and it's so convenient to make phone calls while I'm in the car) so I just said OK.  I couldn't wait to get home so I could get online and ask some people if this was correct, if service dogs were usually only trained to do three tasks.  Because it doesn't sound right to me.  I am really not sure about this program.

Update on Service Dog Program

Finally I got the application from the service dog program I am hoping to work with!  I have almost finished filling it out.  It asks for pretty basic information, doesn't even ask for a full list of tasks I want my dog to help me with.  It asks me to list three things.  But I am going to print out my long list and enclose it when I return the application.

There is a form that must be completed by my doctor.  It doesn't specify which doctor but I am going to take it to my psychiatrist.  I made a copy of the form and I'm going to basically fill it out with all the information I need to have on it and then give that to him, along with some printed information of service dogs and how they can help people with mental illnesses.  He'll have his secretary type the answers and then sign it.

I've done this with him for other things I've needed.  Before I had my gastric bypass surgery, I was required to have a psych eval.  That's a pretty common practice before a patients has bariatric surgery.  I asked the receptionist at my surgeon's office what they were looking for in the psych eval, wrote down what she said, and gave that to my psychiatrist.  He had his secretary type it up on his letterhead and signed it.  So I essentially wrote my own psych eval.  I did basically the same thing when I was trying to get my student loans forgiven due to my disability.

My psychiatrist's office has a policy of charging a fee when they have to fill out paperwork like this, but in the past they have not charged me.  So I don't know if I'll have to pay the fee this time or not.  I may drop off the paperwork tomorrow, but I might need to wait a couple days until I get my disability payment if I have to pay the fee when I drop off the form.

I also have to have two reference letters from people that know me but that are not related to me.  These are just forms my references are supposed to fill out, they don't actually have to write letters.  I don't know who to ask.  Well, Mike will do one of them, but I don't know who the second person should be.  It's not like I have many friends, certainly not close friends.  I think I'm going to ask Mike's mom or dad to do it, but they don't know much about my disability.  They can say that I take good care of my cats and am good with animals, though.

Update on My Service Dog

I still have not received an application for the K.I.S.S. service dog program.  I emailed the person about it last week and she said she hadn't mailed it yet but would do so then.  But if she did, I should have gotten it by now.  I emailed her back today to tell her I still hadn't received it.

I also never heard back from the Golden Retriever Rescue Resource, the rescue organization to which I had applied to adopt a dog, before I'd discovered the service dog program.  I emailed them again today, too, asking what's up.

I feel a little like I'm sitting in limbo.  I'm ready to get this show on the road and no one else seems in any hurry to do things like respond to emails!

Update on the Service Dog Program

I finally got to talk to someone that got a dog from the program I am considering working with.  As I thought would be the case, he was perfectly happy to talk to me.  I talked to both the man with the service dog and his wife.  I did not ask him about his disability or any personal information, but he volunteered a lot of stuff.  He told me what his condition was and about some of his symptoms and some of the tasks his service dog does to help him.

He and his wife were both very pleased with the program and with their dog.  They talked about how well behaved the dog is in public and how helpful the dog has been.  I felt really good about the conversation and I feel less concerned about this program now.

I still don't know why the lady I talked to kept saying none of their clients would be willing to talk because these people sure were.

In a couple weeks, I plan to visit the program and see some dogs in the later stages of their training.  In the meantime, I plan to go ahead and complete the application for the program whenever I get it.  The lady is supposed to be sending it to me but I have not received it yet.

More on the Service Dog Program

I emailed the woman from the service dog program and explained that I had some concerns.  She emailed me back and now she is willing to ask some prior clients if they would be willing to speak with me.  She also said there are some dogs in the program that are nearing the end of their training, and I can visit and see them.  So I will plan to do that.

I asked her how many dogs they've trained and placed to date and she didn't answer that question.  She did, however, tell me that the program has been in existence since 2003 and I am the first person to ever ask for references.  I find that hard to believe.

I'm going to visit the program and I will talk to clients if I get the chance but I'm not sure right now how I feel about this program.  Some things just don't quite sound right to me.

Or Maybe Not Such Good News…

You know what they say about if something sounds too good to be true.

So I emailed the service dog program lady and asked if she could put me in touch with a couple of people she’s trained service dogs for.  Asking for references seems like a reasonable thing to do, right?

She emailed me back and said that there was one person she might be able to put me in touch with but she had to check with him first to make sure it was OK to give me his number, which is perfectly understandable.  I would be concerned if she just gave out people’s numbers without their permission.

But then she said that as far as all their other clients, she was sure I understood that most of them have psychological disorders like PTSD and it was hard for them to even let a trainer into their lives and she would not even think of asking them to speak to anyone about their experiences with the program.  Um, no, I don’t understand that.  I have PTSD and I would be willing to talk to someone about my experiences with a service dog program.  It’s not like I want personal information about people.  I want to know about their dogs.

Then she said that they are a small program and that is how they keep costs down.  I don’t understand that, either.  How does refusing to provide references keep costs down?  I provide references for my life coaching business and it does not cost me anything to do so.  It’s not like I pay my clients to provide references for me!

And anyway, this program charges almost three times as much as many other programs.  So it does not appear that costs are being kept down.

So now I’m very skeptical.  I will still speak to the one person she said might be willing to speak to me, if indeed he is willing.  And I will still see if I can find any additional information about this program.  But it looks like I may be going back to my original plan for training a service dog.

This Could Be Good News!

Yesterday morning I emailed my application to the Greater Dayton Labrador Retriever Rescue (along with my $25 non-refundable application fee, which is deducted from the $275 adoption fee if I end up adopting a dog from them), and in the afternoon I received a call from someone with the rescue.  Her name was Renee, and she was calling because she saw on my application that I was looking for a dog to train as a service dog and she wanted to make sure I was aware of the service dog training program that is associated with the rescue.

Of course, I was not aware of the service dog training program, since there is nothing about it on the rescue website.  I went back and looked at the site after talking to her on the phone, and no, there is nothing.  And I did not find any information about it when I was googling service dog programs in my state, either.

But there is a program, and it is called K-9’s in SpecialService (K.I.S.S.), and they do have a website, although it does not actually provide very much information.  And it turns out that they are looking for volunteer puppy raisers right now, if anyone is interested in raising a puppy that will become a service dog for someone in need.

Anyway, she told me some stuff about the program, and it sounded good.  There was a lot of static on the phone, and I think it was her phone, not mine, because I usually get pretty good reception and I even went outside in the 92 degree heat to see if I could hear better but it didn’t really help.  So it was kind of hard to talk to her.  She is supposed to send me an application for the service dog program and also links to some videos I can watch online of a couple of the dogs trained by the program.  I’m going to try to do some research and see if I can find out more about the program, including how satisfied or dissatisfied some of their prior clients are with their dogs.  I’m also going to ask her for a couple of references so I can talk to some other people that have dogs from that program.

One of the best things about the program is that their waiting list is very short.  I’m not sure why that is, though.  Does it mean no one wants dogs from them?  Or does it just mean their program is not very well known yet?  I don’t know.  But I could get a dog in as little as four to six months, if my application is approved.  That is just amazing.  Most programs have at least two year waiting lists.

Another good thing is that they are local.  They are maybe a 90 minute drive from where I live.  So I could easily go back and forth to do the training with my dog.  That was a big concern for me with programs in other states.  They want you to fly there, stay in a hotel there for two weeks or so, and train with the dog.  I’m thinking that, for someone with anxiety issues, flying across the country alone, then having to find their way around a strange city by themselves, well, maybe that would create a little anxiety?  I get anxious just thinking about it!

The cost is an issue.  It would cost almost $6000 to get a dog from this program.  Which is more money than I have in the bank right now.  And it’s more than many other programs seem to charge.  About $2000 seems to be the norm.  But then I started doing some math.  If I got a dog from a program that charged $2000, but had to fly to Seattle and stay there for two weeks, paying for a hotel and all my meals and cab fare or a rental car, I’m guessing that would cost me close to $4000 altogether.  Except I really can’t see how I could fly to Seattle and stay there for two weeks by myself.  If Mike had to go with me, then there would be his airfare and his meals, and he would have to take two weeks off work, and that would add up to $6000 at least, easy.

Adopting a dog and training it with a private trainer could end up costing more than $6000, too.  There would be the vet bills to have the dog checked for hip and elbow dysplasia (and if the dog ended up having that, I’d have to find a new dog and pay for the tests all over again), the cost of having the trainer evaluate the dog to see if it would be a good candidate for a service dog, the adoption fee, the cost of the obedience classes, and however many hours of private training ended up being necessary.  It could easily add up to more than $6000.

Of course, the biggest issue with training a dog on my own is the idea that I might discover, six months or more down the road, that the dog wasn’t going to be a good service dog after all.  Going with a program means that the dog has already been trained and demonstrated he is suited for the work before I ever meet him.  That is a huge, huge benefit.  Not just in terms of cost, but also in peace of mind.  How expensive, and how emotionally devastating, would it be to bond with a dog and spend six months or more training it only to determine that you’d spent all that money and all that time and were not going to end up with a service dog after all?

I’m really excited at the idea that I could get a service dog from a program in less than six months.  But I have so much to think about now.

Ridiculous Service Dog Stories

This has to be one of the most ridiculous service dog stories I’ve heard to date.  In fact, it has to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard, period.

Here’s the article.

New Addition Ready to Sniff out Disaster

The gist of it is, some service dog program placed a “service dog” with a little boy that has poorly controlled diabetes.  The program told the little boy and his parents that the dog was trained to alert him to changes in his blood sugar.  Apparently the family bought that.  The article says that in time, the dog will be trained to bring the boy a juice box if his blood sugar gets low, but it hasn’t been trained to do so yet.

There are so many things wrong with this story, it’s hard to know where to start.  But I’ll give it a shot.

1. The article says the dog is only seven weeks old.  I thought that sounded too young for a puppy to be taken from its mother, but to make sure, I did some googling.  Numerous websites state that puppies should not be taken from their mothers until they are at least eight weeks old.  I did not find a single reference that said it was OK to take a puppy from its mother before it is eight weeks old.  Why on earth is this program placing a seven week old puppy with anyone?
   
2.  The article says the dog is only seven weeks old.  It’s too young to be trained to do anything.  It’s not even old enough to be housebroken; some additional googling tells me that puppies are not ready to begin housebreaking until they are about eight weeks old. 
   
3. Dogs cannot be trained to alert to changes in blood sugar.  Some dogs do seem to be able to detect changes in blood sugar, just like some dogs are able to detect an impending seizure, but no one teaches them to do it.  Experts don’t even know how they do it, though they assume it has something to do with scent.  Plus, you can’t reliably produce the changes in scent or whatever it is in order to train a dog to recognize it, at least not without seriously endangering a person.  Hopefully the parents in the article were not feeding their child lots of sugar in order to make his blood sugar rise to a dangerous level in order to allow the dog to sniff him in order to try to train it to alert to that. 
   
4. Dogs can be trained to respond to changes in blood sugar, if they possess the innate ability to recognize those changes.  They can be trained to signal their owners with a specific behavior, like repeatedly nudging them, if their blood sugar gets too high or too low.  A seven week old puppy can’t be trained to do that, though.  It’s too little to be trained to do anything.
   
5. Dogs can be trained as diabetes response dogs, meaning that if their owners begin to display certain behaviors, the dogs know to go fetch the glucose monitor or juice or something like that.  This article states that this dog will eventually be trained to do those things.  It’s not trained to do them yet, though, because it’s too little to be trained to do anything.  If it’s not trained to do anything, it’s not a service dog.
   
6. The article states that the puppy will not be going to school with the little boy.  That’s good to know, because a seven week old puppy hasn’t had all its shots yet and should not be out in public much.  Also, a seven week old puppy is not housebroken, and I don’t think a puppy should be using the potty in the classroom.  Or in the school cafeteria.  Plus, service dogs are supposed to be trained to be well-behaved in public before you take them into public places that typically restrict pets and a seven week old puppy has not been trained to behave in public because it’s too little to be trained to do anything!
   
7. The article says that even though the puppy will not be accompanying the little boy to school, it will still be able to alert to changes in his blood sugar.  The article states that the puppy can detect these changes from half a mile away.  I tried googling to find out from how far away a dog can smell something but I couldn’t find the answer.  However, I am quite certain a dog cannot smell someone’s blood sugar level from half a mile away!  This is the most ridiculous claim of the article and it’s hard to believe the child’s parents are naïve enough to believe it.  But apparently they are.
   
8. Even if this untrained seven week old puppy could alert to changes in the little boy’s blood sugar from half a mile away, how would it alert the boy in order to be of any help to him?  Is the puppy supposed to signal one of the parents if the little boy’s sugar gets too high or low?  Does that mean one of his parents will stay at home with the puppy all day while he is at school?  Because while a person with a disability that needs the assistance of a service dog has a legal right to take that dog into public places with him, the parents of a person with a disability do not have a legal right take that person’s service dog into public places with them.  So the parents could not take the puppy to work with them (unless their employers agreed and it did not violate any local health codes), or to the store, or to a medical appointment, etc.
   
9. And if the parents did sit at home all day with the puppy, and the puppy did signal them that the little boy’s sugar had dropped or gotten too high, what would the parents then do with that information?  Call the school?  Let the school secretary know?  And then the school secretary could go to the boy’s classroom to let him know that his dog says his sugar is too high or too low?  How much time would that take?  Wouldn’t the boy have figured out his sugar was too low or too high by then?  If he didn’t recognize it by how he felt, probably the teacher would have recognized it in that much time because he would have passed out from low blood sugar or something!  So how would the dog be helping him?