Do All Kids with Disabilities Need Service Dogs?

Well, no.  Of course not.

But it seems like every day I read more news stories about families raising money for service dogs for their kids, asking the public for donations.

Like this story.  A family wants to raise money for a service dog for a three-year-old boy with multiple disabilities, including a muscular disorder, a feeding disorder and a seizure disorder. 

The boy is nonverbal and hits himself when he gets upset.  Um, what is going to keep him from hitting a dog when he is upset?  Most service dog organizations won't place a service dog with someone that regularly harms himself, especially not someone that is nonverbal and hasn't learned other coping skills.  But the particular organization this family plans to get a dog from apparently will place a dog with anyone that comes up with the money.  I guess it's just too bad for the dog if he gets hurt.

The boy has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder but hasn't had a seizure in a year.  So does he really need a seizure response dog?  The family says they want a dog that can alert a family member when (or if) he has another seizure.  But this child has a home health nurse with him for 20 hours a day, five days a week.  So why can't the nurse alert a family member if he has a seizure?

They also want to tether him to the dog so he doesn't wander off and get lost.  Well, tethering kids to dogs is very dangerous, as I've discussed before.  But also.  He is three!  He should not be without adult supervision, at all.  Even a non-disabled three-year-old should not be without adult supervision.  So why would you need to tether him to anything?  Can't an adult (like the nurses that are with him 100 hours a week, for instance?) keen an eye on him?  Can't an adult hold his hand?  Or, if the family really wants to tether him to something, how about a responsible adult?  Which would be much, much safer than tethering him to a dog.

I know firsthand how helpful service dogs can be.  But they aren't helpful or necessary for everyone with a disability, especially small children.

You Just Have to Hold the Leash, Right?

There is a family in Arkansas that is fighting with their son's school district because they want the child's service dog to go to school with him but the school says the family must provide a handler for the dog because the child can't handle the dog himself and the family thinks the school should provide a handler.  Here's one of many articles on the matter.

In this article, the child's mother is quoted as saying all the handling required is someone to hold the leash and issue one-word commands.  Well, unless this child's service dog is somehow much more low-maintenance than a typical service dog, I just don't see how that can be true.

Yes, when I take Isaac somewhere, I have to hold the leash.  I also have to issue commands.  Some are two or three words, but may this dog is trained to all one word commands. 

But I also have to take Isaac outside to go potty.  If he poops, I have to pick it up.  Does this kid's mother really think the dog can be at school all day and not pee or poop? 

I have to offer him water if we are going to be somewhere for several hours.  Does this kid's mom really expect the dog to go without water for seven or eight hours?  I don't know how long their school day is, but with the ride to and from school, it's probably eight hours, don't you think?  Maybe that is mom's plan, and maybe she figures if she doesn't give the poor dog anything to drink, then it won't have to pee.

If that's the case, then I feel really, really sorry for the dog.  No dog should be expected to work for eight hours with no water and no chance to pee.

What if the dog gets sick and throws up?  Does the mom think that the dog vomit should just be left on the floor in the classroom?  Someone would need to be responsible for cleaning that up.

And as far as issuing commands, well, even if they are one word commands, it seems to me you'd need to issue a lot of commands in the course of a school day.  Let's think about it. 

You'd get on the bus and need to tell the dog to go under the seat and lie down.  And let's say the dog is super well behaved and you never need to tell it more than once and it never starts to get up before the bus arrives at school.  I don't think that's very realistic, I think something you would need to remind it to stay down, but let's just pretend it's a perfect service dog.

You get to school and tell the dog to get up and follow you off the bus.  You either have to tell the dog to go in front of you or behind you, because the aisle on a bus isn't really wide enough for a dog to heel.  So that's two more commands. 

When you get off the bus, you tell the dog to heel and you go to your classroom.  That's four commands so far, at least.

Then you go to your desk and tell the dog to go under the desk and lie down.  That's five commands.  Again, we'll pretend this service dog is perfect and never ever gets up until given the command to do so.

The child in question is in elementary school so he probably doesn't change classes a lot.  Let's say he has two recess times a day, plus lunch, plus one "special," like art or music or gym or library.

So to go to your first recess, you'd command the dog to get up, then tell the dog to heel while you went to the playground.  That's two more commands.  We're up to seven so far.  You might need to give more commands while you're on the playground, depending on what you do. 

Hey, maybe you could let the dog pee while you're at recess.  So you'd give it the command to go potty.  That's eight.

Then when recess is over, you'd give the dog the command to heel and you'd go back to the classroom and give the command to go under the desk and lie down.  That's 10.

Then let's say it's time for art or music or whatever.  You tell the dog to get up, tell the dog to heel, go to the art room or music room, and tell the dog to lie down.  That's 13.  And when that class is over, you tell the dog to get up, tell the dog to heel, go back to your classroom and tell the dog to go under the desk and lie down. 16.

Then it's lunch time.  You tell the dog to get up, tell the dog to heel, go to the cafeteria and get in line.  When I'm standing in a food line with Isaac, like at Subway or Chipotle, I have to tell him where to stand.  Otherwise, he will flop down on the floor in people's way.  So that be three more commands.  And then you'd tell the dog to heel while you go to your table and then tell the dog to go under the table and lie down.  That's two more.  We're up to 21 now.

After lunch, you tell the dog to get up, tell the dog to heel, go to your classroom, tell the dog to go under the desk and lie down.  That's 24, so far.

Then it's afternoon recess time, so you tell the dog to get up, tell the dog to heel, go out to the playground, tell the dog to pee (because I'm nicer than the kid's mom that seems to think the dog should not be allowed to pee all day), and when recess is over, tell the dog to heel, go back to the classroom, and tell the dog to go under the desk and lie down.  Now we're up to 29.  At least.

And then school is over, so you tell the dog to get up, tell the dog to heel, get on the bus, tell the dog to go under the seat and lie down, tell the dog to get up when the bus gets to your house and tell the dog to follow you off the bus.  That's at least 34 commands during the school day, if the dog behaves perfectly all day long.

My dog does not behave perfectly all day long, so somewhere in there I would have to tell him to lie down again or tell him to "leave it" when he tried to sniff some other kid's lunch or feet or whatever.

Also, somewhere in there I would have to pee myself, so I'd have to issue more commands to tell my dog to get up, to heel while I headed to the bathroom, tell my dog what to do while I was peeing (sit? stand? lie down?  oh, and leave it, when he tried to peek under the stall to see who was in the next stall), tell him to heel on the way back to the classroom, and tell him to lie down again when we got back to class.  So that would be six more commands for me, for a total of at least 40.

It's not just holding the leash. 

Plus, someone has to tell other kids and adults not to pet the dog, not to distract the dog, all that stuff.  Is this second grader able to be responsible for that?  Or does the handler have to do that, too?

Really, it's a lot more than just holding the leash.  It's kind of scary that the kid has a service dog and his mom thinks it's just holding the leash.

Can a Diabetic Alert Dog Help Your Child with Type 1 Diabetes?

More and more parents these days are choosing to buy diabetic alert dogs for their children with type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a serious illness and can be life-threatening, especially in small children. Diabetic alert dogs are specially trained service dogs, meant to help people with diabetes.

The premise behind diabetic alert dogs is that dogs, with their super-sensitive noses, can detect when a person’s blood sugar drops too low or climbs too high. Service dogs can be trained to alert the person, usually by nudging them or pawing at them, and provide assistance in some way, such as by fetching a juice box from the fridge to raise low blood sugar. While on the surface this may sound like a great idea, there are some concerns about it in practice.

While there are now a number of organizations that sell diabetic alert dogs, their claims about their dogs’ abilities are as yet unproven. Simply put, scientific research has not yet proven dogs can be trained to accurately detect and alert people to changes in blood sugar levels. It should be noted that research has not disproven it, either. Owners of diabetic alert dogs generally claim their dogs are adept at alerting them. There simply hasn’t been much objective research done on the subject, though.  

 

It should also be noted that at least one organization that sells diabetic alert dogs has been sued, the plaintiff claiming the dog did not perform as promised. If you look at some of the claims some of these organizations make, you’ll see that it’s unlikely any dog could perform some of the feats promised. For instance, one organization has stated their dogs can detect changes in blood sugar from a mile away, which veterinary professionals and dog trainers say is simply impossible.

The truth is that, while the idea of a dog gently nudging you to let you know your blood sugar is low seems a lot more appealing than pricking your finger to test your blood sugar multiple times a day, especially for a child, a glucometer is probably more reliable.  

A glucometer is also a lot cheaper than a diabetic alert dog. Organizations that sell diabetic alert dogs often charge around $20,000, and that’s not counting the cost of feeding and caring for a service dog throughout its lifetime, which maybe be $1,200 or more each year. A glucometer, on the other hand, generally costs no more than $100 and test strips, even if you must test yourself several times a day, would cost less than $1,200 each year. Health insurance might cover part of that cost, too, but insurance almost never pays for service dogs, including diabetic alert dogs.

Of course, it’s hard to put a price on a child’s life, so many parents are willing to pay for a diabetic alert dog, no matter how high the cost, if they believe it will help their children. Relying on an expensive but unproven method of monitoring your child’s blood sugar levels could put your child at risk, though.

Another concern is that some organizations that sell diabetes alert dogs sell dogs that are very young, some still puppies. One organization sells puppies as young as eight weeks old. An eight-week-old puppy is not a trained service dog. He’s not even reliably housebroken. Families are told that, when the dog gets older, he can be trained to do things like fetch a glucometer, fetch a juice box or use a special hone to call 911. Experienced service dog trainers say there is no way to know for sure if a puppy will be able to successfully complete all the training needed to become a service dog, though. You may just end up with a $20,000 pet. In the meantime, the puppy won’t be able to go to school with your child or accompany your child to other places where pets or not allowed. Only fully trained service dogs are allowed by law to do that.

If you’re considering a diabetic alert dog for your child, do your research carefully. Make sure you’ll be getting a fully trained service dog, not a puppy that you’ll need to train as he gets older. Remember that a diabetic alert dog is not a substitute for medical care.

Service Dogs That Don't Belong in Schools

I read an article today about a family that is upset because a little girl, who has a service dog that is supposed to alert to seizures (and I assume respond to seizures in some way, since simply alerting is not a trained task and would not in itself make a dog a service dog), has been asked not to bring her dog to school anymore.

The article I read initially didn't provide much info but in reading more information in other places and in discussing the situation with someone that knows a teacher at the little girl's school, the facts seems to be these.  Initially, the school was enthusiastic about the idea of the little girl bringing her seizure alert dog to school.  An assembly was held to tell all the students about the service dog and to explain why they weren't supposed to pet the dog.  However, once the dog began attending school with the little girl, a problem was noticed.  One of the girl's teachers uses a wheelchair and the dog seems disturbed by the chair, barking at it and biting its wheels.

That, of course, is inappropriate behavior for a service dog and suggests the dog didn't receive the proper socialization when it was young and/or was not trained properly.  It's disruptive to the class when the dog barks at the wheelchair and biting the wheels may cause costly damage to the teacher's chair.  In addition, if the dog behaves aggressively toward a wheelchair, it's possible the dog may behave aggressively toward other things it's not accustomed to.  It's also possible the dog might accidentally bite the teacher or another student when attempting to bite the wheels of the chair.

It makes perfect sense to me that the school would decide this particular dog could not come to school with the little girl anymore.

The family disagrees and some family members have suggested the teacher was doing something to startle the dog or that she was doing something to make the little girl nervous, so the dog was just being protective, and that that is appropriate behavior for a service dog.  Well, biting the wheelchair of a person that makes an owner nervous is not appropriate behavior for a service dog.  Service dogs are not supposed to be protective.  "Protection" is not a service they can provide.  And while a dog might bark once when startled, a dog should not bite or attempt to bite something that startles it, and a dog should not be startled by something like seeing a wheelchair, especially when it sees one every day at school.

Service Dogs in Schools

I read an article today about a family that is upset because they got a service dog for their six-year-old little boy and they want the school to provide someone to care for the service dog while their child is at school and the school has refused to do that because, they say, it's not their responsibility to care for a child's service dog.

This is becoming more and more of an issue these days, as there are now a number of organizations that place service dogs (or untrained puppies, in the case of one organization that sells "diabetic alert dogs" to families of diabetic children for $20,000) with young children that are not able to steward a service dog themselves.  In the past, when service dogs were primarily used to help blind people, this wasn't an issue because the programs that train and place guide dogs for the blind won't place dogs with children under the age of 16.  They require that all recipients be old enough and mature enough to care for their own dogs and also require that they complete orientation and mobility training first, which means they have to learn coping skills to allow them to cope with their disability before receiving a service dog. 

That makes good sense.  But there are some organizations now that provide service dogs (or untrained puppies, as mentioned above) with small children, some of whom are also severely disabled, that cannot possible care for a dog themselves.  The children also have not yet learned to manage their disabilities as well as they can without a dog.  I don't think it's a good idea to place service dogs with children in these cases, but there is big money in it.  As I said, one organization sells puppies for $20,000, telling parents the puppies will alert to changes in their children's blood sugar and that the parents can later have the dogs trained to actually do tasks, like bring the child a juice box if their blood sugar drops.  Parents, desperate for any help for a seriously ill child, shell out the $20,000.  Some of them are now suing said organization for selling them untrained puppies instead of service dogs, but what did they really expect when they were told they were getting an eight-week-old puppy?

Anyway.  I think that's why these organizations do it, because they make a lot of money, not because they care about the kids or the dogs.

But then the parents want these dogs to go to school with their kids and they want the school to provide a handler for the dog.  Which is not required under state or federal law and which, in my opinion, is not reasonable.

In this particular article, it seems the parents did not bother to work all that out with the school before getting the service dog.  The dog, according to the article, was not very well trained and the school actually paid for additional training for the dog, which I think is remarkable and which I also think was not the school's responsibility. 

The parents seem to lack understand of what it means to care for a service dog.  The article mentioned a younger sibling pulling the dog's tail and trying to ride her like a horse, and apparently the six-year-old is unable to protect his dog from that sort of behavior, and apparently the parents don't correct the toddler in a timely manner.  I feel sorry for the dog. 

The parents are also quoted as saying the only assistance with the dog that the six-year-old needs is someone to hold the dog's leash in the hallways between classes.  Um, handling a service dog involves more than that.  The dog would need at least one potty break during the school day, and if the six-year-old is unable to hold the dog's leash, then he must also be unable to take the dog outside and pick up its poop.  So which school employee is supposed to be responsible for that?  The dog would need access to water at some point during the school day, probably more than once.  And no matter how well the dog is trained, there will be times it will not want to lie under the kid's desk, times it will get distracted, times it will need to be given commands and corrected and stuff.

I really don't think six-year-old kids should have service dogs at all, but if they do, then it's not the school's job to care for the dog.

Poorly Trained Service Dogs Sold to Families Desparate to Help Their Kids

There are several organizations selling very costly "service dogs" to families with young kids with serious medical problems, like juvenile diabetes, and severe disabilities, like autism.  I put the term "service dogs" in quotes because some of these organizations, the ones I'm talking about here, are selling poorly-trained dogs or even untrained puppies and calling them service dogs when they really aren't.

One organization is infamous among service dog handlers for selling puppies as young as eight weeks old for $20,000, claiming the puppies are trained to detect life-threatening changes in blood sugar levels in young children, even from a distance of more than a mile away.  It is simply not possible for a dog to smell anything that far away and an eight-week-old puppy is too young to be trained to do anything; they are barely old enough to be housebroken.

Now another organization is in the news, with parents complaining that the service dogs they paid $10,000 for don't even obey basic commands like "sit" and "stay," that they chew up household items, and have even bitten people.  Naturally, these parents want their money back.  Naturally, the organization does not want to refund their money.

I'm pretty sure this is the organization that trained a service dog for a family that posted numerous pictures on Facebook and videos on Youtube a while back, showing the dog sitting on a chair in a restaurant, sitting in a seat on a plane, and barking loudly at animals in exhibits at a zoo.  The mom said that the dog refused to lie under the table at restaurants.  She was angry because someone on the plane told her the dog was not supposed to be in the seat.  She did not think it was a problem that the dog was barking at animals at the zoo.

I'm not surprised that some people want their money back.  I am surprised that people keeping shelling out so much  money without finding out how the dogs are trained and stuff first, but I guess some parents are so desperate to help their kids, they are willing to forgo common sense.  I mean, seriously, a believing that a puppy can detect changes in your kid's blood sugar from more than a mile away?  Does that sound believable?  But they shelled out $20,000.

Student Told She Must Attend a Different School Because Teacher is Allergic to Her Service Dog

An elementary school student in Athens, Ohio, has been told she'll need to transfer to a different school because the special education teach at the school was planning to attend is several allergic to dogs and the student has a service dog. According to the article, the dog is trained to "comfort" the child (comforting is not a trained task for a service dog, according to the U.S. Department of Justice) and the child is tethered to the dog to keep her from wandering away (tethering children to dogs is a very dangerous practice).  I think the school is being very accommodating in allowing the child to bring the dog to school at all, if these are in fact the only "tasks" the dog does.  Now, maybe the dog is actually trained to perform tasks that mitigate the child's disability and the article I read just doesn't delineate them.  But if this is all the dog does, it's questionable whether to dog even qualifies as a service dog.

Supposing the dog really is a service dog, though, the school has a responsibility to accommodate both the student and the teacher.  Transferring the child to another school just five miles away, where she'll be taught by an equally qualified teacher following the same individual education plan (IEP), seems like a perfectly reasonable accommodation to me.  The parents are upset, though, and want the teacher to be transferred instead.  I think they are being unreasonable.  And their solution?  Not to send the child to school at all until the matter is resolved.

More on Tethering Kids to Dogs

Recently, I wrote about tethering kids to dogs.  A mom named Karlye took the time to email me to tell me about her two-year-old son who is autistic and his service dog MaddySue.  I asked Karlye if I could post her email her so other readers could learn more about this issue, and she generously said yes.  I broke the message into paragraphs to make it easier to read, but otherwise haven't changed anything.

My son and I are part of a three unit tethering team. He is an autistic two year old that has had difficulty in the past with wandering and bolting as well as anxiety and lack of communication. MaddySue, our 6 year old boxer has allowed he and I to have a new lease on life. The security of knowing my son will no longer run toward traffic with me frantically running behind and screaming his name praying he won't get hit is like a fresh breath of air. When the two of them are in a confined place such as our back yard, they are tethered to each other because of my sons climbing skills, he can easily climb trees or over fences, but with the privacy fence I know that if MaddySue took off chasing whatever she couldn't go far. That being said,  when we are in public we function as a three unit team. MaddySue and kip are tethered together while there is a lengthy lead from me to MaddySue. We can now all enjoy outings to the mall or whatnot knowing that she can keep him close and in the event she looses her focus, I'm there to control her.I too could never immagine leaving MaddySue and kip tethered together in public without me for fear if all the dangers that lurk, so in that regard I agree with you. 

Our life has changed so much because of this. Not only is MaddySue a tether dog, she has also been trained for sensory stimulation. In the event that kip is having severe anxiety or is upset MaddySue uses her body to put pressure on him to allow him to relax and gain control of the situation instead of running away. She has also helped with communication, before we had her he spoke with only three words from ASL, none vocalized. He now plays with her by saying "fetch or come" and has even started verbalizing to his father and myself by hiding behind MaddySue and then talking to us indirectly using only a few words but no sign language! Miss MaddySue is a blessing to our family....
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this and maybe this can help you to understand better the other options for tether training.

Tethering Kids to Dogs

Service dogs for children seem to be the newest fad or something.  Numerous programs now exist that train and place service dogs with kids with autism, often kids as young as two.  Many programs also now exist that place service dogs, or in some cases untrained puppies, with kids with type 1 diabetes, also often with kids as young as two (to read more about one such program, refer back to this post.  I'm not naming the program on my blog but if you want to know the name, email me at poet_kelly at yahoo dot com.  The program is still selling parents untrained puppies, although they've been sued by at least one family that didn't get what they paid for).

Parents may seek service dogs for their children with autism for a variety of reasons, but one thing they often hope a service dog can do is keep their children from wandering off or running off.  Those are two different things.  A child with autism may quietly wander away and become lost before anyone even notices he's gone.  A child with autism may also become startled, frightened, or overwhelmed and bolt, and parents or caregivers may notice he's gone but find it difficult to catch him.  Many years ago, I worked with children with disabilities that were being mainstreamed into typical classes in public schools.  I remember chasing one child that bolted from her classroom and then ran out of the school building.  I remember praying she didn't run into traffic, as the school was on a very busy road.  I can certainly understand why parents want a way to prevent their kids from doing this.

Tethering kids to dogs is the solution proposed by some programs that place service dogs with autistic children.  The child and the dog both wear some sort of harness and a leash of some sort connects the two.  The dog, a larger-sized dog like a golden retriever or a lab, is trained to dig in his heels and stay put when the child tries to bolt.

While it might initially look like a good way to solving the program, it's really an incredibly dangerous practice.  You see, no matter how well-trained a service dog is, he's still a dog.  Dogs have brains similar to those of four-year-old children.  You wouldn't put a four-year-old without autism in charge of your four year old with autism, would you?  And why not?  Because sometimes four-year-old children get distracted.  Sometimes they forget things.  Sometimes they make mistakes.  And so do dogs.

There was a study, admittedly done on a very small scale, of service dogs placed with autistic children.  I plan to write more about the study later, because many of its findings really disturbed me.  The children in the study were tethered to the dogs and one of the dogs did take off running after something one day while tethered to a small child.  The child tried to run to keep up with the dog, but of course he couldn't keep up, so he fell and was then dragged for several feet.  Luckily the child was not seriously injured, but he could have been.  What if the dog had run into the street, dragging the child behind him?  What if the dog had run into a shallow creek?  Kids can drown in very shallow water.

Isaac has gotten much better, but he once pulled me off my feet running after a neighborhood cat.  And I weigh a good hundred pounds more than a typical four-year-old with autism.  He hasn't done that in quite a while but I still would not tether an autistic child to him.  Hell, I wouldn't tether myself to him!  Part of why he doesn't take off after cats anymore when we're on walks is because I watch him closely.  When he catches sight of a cat or squirrel or something else he would like to chase, his ears prick up and his tail sticks out straight.  I know from his body language he's thinking about giving chase.  Then I remind him to pay attention to me.  An autistic child would find it difficult or impossible to pick up on those signs from a dog, though, and redirect him.

Since a four-year-old, autistic or not, should not be going anywhere unsupervised, if the child really needs to be tethered to someone to prevent bolting, it seems that the child could be tethered instead of a parent or caregiver.  You know, an adult caregiver that would be much less likely than a dog to get distracted and chase a squirrel into traffic.