Training your own service dog

[J.N.]

A lot of people are waiting on very long lists to get their own psychiatric service dogs, but I could chime in that training your own is possible with the right resources and can run less than $2000 overall. Here's my story:

I got a puppy. I don't recommend this because puppies at 8 weeks to 9 months don't many sense, but I did this because it was my first time with a power breed dog (pit bull). I enrolled her in puppy kindergarten and took her out to free obedience classes where all we did was walk and exercise our dogs in lines. Working in close quarters with other pit bulls really helped my dog develop her focus.

But there are characteristics you want to look for in a dog that can work. Prime age should be 9 months to 3 years of age depending on breed, but keep that in mind:

1. eager to please, biddable, but independent
2. confident and curious to explore, investigate
3. netural/positive reactions towards people and other animals
4. ability to be left alone and not have separation anxiety
5. drive to work (if they do tricks for treats I think this'll be easiest)
6. reaction to surprises
7. ability to learn new commands
8. rock-solid temperament

I trained my dog in scent detection for search and rescue for nearly 3+ years. I had taken her out to really fun things all the time and it was volunteer work, so the training was completely free. However, she had the worst time leaving me to go search for other people. Eventually this behavior got so bad that I washed her out of the training. I was constantly told that she was a sweet and social dog, but didn't have any desire to be apart from me. I thought this was my fault because every time I went out I took her with me. I loved going to Home Depot and Lowes and pet stores, and only went to restaurants where there was an outdoor patio for us.

I was really disappointed because we worked so hard at making her a SAR dog, but she still had the fundamentals of scent work and was rather good at it as long as I was standing right near her. At around the same time my panic attacks got worse and I decided to retrain her to be my service dog. She took to her tasks quickly and I was able to proof her on them in only two weeks. She knows how to ground me and prevent me from self-harm. She has already alerted on two of my panic attacks and I couldn't have been more pleased. She's also much more happier working with me as a service dog. Her focus is so insanely good (thank you SAR) that even when people are touching and goading her she doesn't give a care LOL

She had her AKC Canine Good Citizen for over a year at this point, but if you were to self-train I would recommend this as your starting point. There's also the Public Access Test which I also recommend. Only the CGC requires an evaluator. Unfortunately there's no national certification for a service dog, but if your PTSD is rough enough to get a prescription from your doctor, do so.

I washed out my dog from SAR thinking that she had changed and wasn't able to work anymore, but I really think she was telling me all this time that she wanted to have another job as my service partner. :)

 

[ladee]

This is a beautiful story, thank you for sharing. But most of all, thank you for listening to her.... she knew what you needed.... sending hugs to both of you if accepted.

 

[garden]

Thanks for sharing this. We have two eleven week old pups at home and are really enjoying these early stages of training them. Thanks for the insights:)