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Assistance Dog

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vixy

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Hi everyone. I'm from the UK and was wondering if anyone else from over here knows anything about having your own pet as you're own assistance dog. Is there any particular training he needs to do? What other things will I have to do to be able to do this? My little chewy is my best friend and I really don't know what I'd do without him. He helps me so much (mentally and emotionally). I'd like to try and go out more but can only manage it when He is with me so I can only go for walks and not in shops or anything like that. I'm currently waiting to find out if I can take him with me for my next therapy session as my therapist thinks it will be very beneficial.

Sorry for the wording being all over. I'm awful when it comes to putting things into words.
Thank you in advance for any help and advice given x
 
It's also VERY good to know the difference between emotional support animals (ESA) and service dogs that provide a service (tasks) to the handler.

Im in the US so appartently the UK calls them assitence dogs but yes, there is a HUGE amount of training a dog needs to go through to properly assit you and properly behave in public and basically blend in and be almost invisable.

Here in the US, emotional support animals are allowed with you in an airplane but not anywhere else in the public. They aren't trained to do anything and are just there to provide you emotional support.

Service dogs (or miniture horses), here in the US, are allowed anywhere you are allowed and are trained to do services or tasks. Whether that is guiding a blind person, picking up items, providing mobilty assistence, alerting to anxiety, doing Deep Pressure Therapy, providing a physical barrier for personal space, just to name a few of the MANY things a dog can be trained to do.

I can list off all the tasks my service dog in training is trained to do and the tasks he will be trained to do if you would like. I didn't include them here as to not make this reply too long.

But, service dogs must also be specifically trained to behave in public correctly, tuck out of the way, and basically blend in as much as possible.

There is a public access test they can go through but here in the US not legally required. Personally I am watching the test and making sure I train my SD in training on each thing.

There are many differences and it is good to educate yourself fully on your country's laws and what is expected of each type of animal. And, mostly, what type would best fit your needs and what services are availble to you.
 
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