I kind of broached this topic on my service dog roller coaster thread and I have been thinking about this for a few days now. While I was looking for my service dog it was very hard to find a place that trains psychiatric service dogs. I also know that awareness in this country and this state I live in about psychiatric service dogs is very low. There have been a few news stories about soldiers coming back from Iraq using these dogs to help them but the stories never really took on the other applications for these dogs.
So I was thinking about this what if I found a group of trainers willing to work with me here in Wisconsin and set up a place that trains dogs for people like us. The big thing is service dogs aren't all that much different than obedience trained dogs. The other big thing is cost. Not really the facility but the cost of feeding and training the dogs. Plus vet care and everything. The biggest problem facing a person in need of these types of dogs is cost.
Some places charge an arm and a leg for one of these dogs because of the work needed and time needed to train these dogs to be useful members of the team. Now if I found a few trainers willing to donate their time that could bring the cost down a little but it would also somewhat confuse the dog. Too many trainers makes the dog a little confused or so I am told.
I will be looking into this as a profession but I wanted to kind of use you guys as a sounding board if I could. I am always willing to hear better ideas and different concepts on my ideas. let me know.
So I was thinking about this what if I found a group of trainers willing to work with me here in Wisconsin and set up a place that trains dogs for people like us. The big thing is service dogs aren't all that much different than obedience trained dogs. The other big thing is cost. Not really the facility but the cost of feeding and training the dogs. Plus vet care and everything. The biggest problem facing a person in need of these types of dogs is cost.
Some places charge an arm and a leg for one of these dogs because of the work needed and time needed to train these dogs to be useful members of the team. Now if I found a few trainers willing to donate their time that could bring the cost down a little but it would also somewhat confuse the dog. Too many trainers makes the dog a little confused or so I am told.
I will be looking into this as a profession but I wanted to kind of use you guys as a sounding board if I could. I am always willing to hear better ideas and different concepts on my ideas. let me know.