Your Pet Might Have Rights If You Have Diagnosed Ptsd

[Kintsugi]

How do you go about getting your dog certified as a service dog? Or getting an ok to have an emotional service dog?

All service dogs need to be trained in specific task sets and know basic cues/commands/duties. You can find these lists widely available online. I believe there are programs and one-to-one trainers that can help you certify your dog.

So for example, my dog, Annie, helps relieve my emotional stress. She gives me more mobility because she is always on guard, therefore I do not always have to be. She will alert me if I need to be told something is happening. I don't risk breaking down in public as much, and if I do, I can bury my face in her head, and no one will notice me except to say "What a cute dog!" She helps me in social situations because I don't have to focus on anyone but her if I don't want to, and no one finds this odd, because I can just say that I am watching her because I am afraid she will go through the garbage or steal something off of the floor to chew, whatever. I can make up a concern and pretend to attend to it while really I am just focusing on her because everyone else scares me.

But I'm not sure that I want to get her certified because I don't need a lot of the services all service dogs must learn. I don't know if it's worth it to put her through a bunch of training just so that the emotional stability and confidence I gain from her can extend into grocery stores and restaurants. In fact, I think it is good for my emotional freedom that I can leave her in the car, and if anything happens in a restaurant or something, I can run outside for "a phonecall" or something and really just take Annie out for a quick walk to calm myself.

So, in short Marissa, there are lots of tasks to be taught to dogs if you want them to be certified, but even without the certification and ability to take the pet everywhere, they can still be healing for you emotionally. If I had balance problems or was worried I would dissociate through a fire or I had a lot of public flashbacks, I might get her certified.

 

[njray]

Wow I apologize.........

I kinda let this post go in the wrong direction as to which i intended it to go. MY FAULT and I am owning up to it..... My intent was really to let persons know there may be tax breaks afforded to one that has a service animal in the United States... To be honest there are really good ones for those that have a legitimate service animal for legitimate reasons... I was just trying to educate those that may have a service dog/pet that again there are things that the gov"t of the US affords persons if you are disabled through tax breaks and incentives (and that disability may include PTSD). There are many costs associated with owning a service animal directly and indirectly and to be afforded some relief in those costs can be helpful for one that is disabled....

Whether one should have a service pet or can afford it to begin with and be a responsible pet owner is really not what this site was intended for. I have been the owner of pets and I love what they have afforded me and I would surely enjoy having a pet now but I am not nearly in a good enough place myself so i know i cannot neither afford the costs nor proper care for one. That said I will tell you I am using the desire of owning a pet again someday as one of the many incentives to get myself better.....

Please if you can offer some advice on programs that afford financial relief this is the place to post it. If not I might suggest starting another thread on your indivdual relationships with your pet or why you think pets should be or not be used as service pets etc.

 

[Grama-Herc]

OK! 1st and foremost I fail to see any humor that has been interjected into this conversation. This is a serious issue and one that should be taken seriously.

I was in a large food market a while back and there was a woman browsing the meat section with one of those small yappy kind of dogs sitting in the child seat. I t was very well behaved, just sitting there while she shopped. But I was upset by this and went to the store manager. Much to my embarrassement, I was inforned that it was indeed a sevice dog with all the properly required documentation. Then it hit me what the woman had &/or needed. So without being to obvious I stayed around her for a brief while and saw how she kept petting it.

Getting upset over seeing eye dogs or service dogs for paralized people in wheelchairs has never come up before as some kind of issue and that has been going on for decades. I fail to see why a service dog for someone with emotional issues is any different. If I could take my cat with me I would be able to go more places AND MAYBE EVEN HAD A LIFE. He wears a halter, wallks on a leash and is happiest when being carried. We go to pet store where you can take your animals. He is well behaved and just looks over my shoulder at all the people and their assortment of pets. In fact he use to go to a local nursing home for what I called "happy visits". No one was ever scratched or hurt in any way and he got passed around like a new grandbaby, til he just got to big for the elderly woman to hold. But I'm wandering off subject.

Seeing eye dogs have been around since dirt was invented,,,,,,,,,so what is the difference???????????????????

 

[MurphyJB]

I think everyone knows it's a serious issue, hense the reason they posted here. Some light hearted humor to help people get through the day never hurt anyone.

I don't know if you're referring to my posts...as I believe I'm the only one who brought up an issue with service dogs. I'd just like to let you know that A) I dot like any dogs amd B) it doesn't matter what type of service dog it is, it still makes me anxious. I understand they help people, I get that side too. Doesn't change my feelings though.

 

[Kintsugi]

I know that service pets are serious business. When I was thirteen, my cats basically salvaged my humanity for me. Now, Annie is my companion and reason to live every day. I bring her everywhere with me but obviously must leave her in the car almost always.

I am also an extreme proponent of all working dogs, everything from mountain rescue to border collies being taken on by gold courses and airlines to keep birds away. They are underused as human resources and could help us with a lot.

I just wish that I could certify Annie as a service dog, because she really does make me more mobile and may help even more if she were allowed everywhere. But I do not really think it's necessary that she be trained to fetch something out of the refrigerator or some of the other tasks these dogs are trained in, so I am not certifying her so far.

As far as financial help goes, I can only say that there are a lot of books and web resources out there to help you train your dog. The service dog requirements are not really that hard to train, just tedious. I think the hardest part for a PTSD sufferer to teach is complete socialization so that the dog is used to all environments and large groups of people.

It may be possible to work with your local humane society to find an affordable trainer, though. We have Brother Wolf around here, and they have a lot of foster moms and dads who have worked a lot with behavior training and would probably have referrals or else be able to help themselves. There are also people who will adopt dogs for the purpose of training them to be service certified for others, and then they adopt out the trained dogs. That might be a shortcut if you are not already committed to one furry friend.

 

[Dee Morris]

What about service sugar gliders? Those little things are SO cute!

Ha ha. My daughter begged me for a sugar glider when she was in 1st grade. She read every book she could find at the library about them. They are cute but way too messy for me.

 

[JustBe]

I would not be able to leave the house without my service dog. At night she sleeps against me and if she is calm, I can relax. When we are out she focuses my attention on her needs rather than my hypervigilance. If she greets someone I know that I am safe. If she alerts, we move away.

Before I go into a full blown panic attack she alerts and distracts me. When we are out she is a buffer between myself and others. If I freeze or dissociate in a store she alerts and leads me to the nearest exit. When I shake and fly out of myself at home she lays across my legs or chest and grounds me. She is my friend, my angel and my support "person" 24/7.

When she doesn't have her vest on she is free to be a dog and she romps and runs and rolls in nasty things like any other dog. She has a chihuahua that we got as a puppy that she raised and dotes on.

Just yesterday at the grocery store (something I could not do before she came to me) 5 employees greeted her by name with big smiles on their faces. Two of them told me it makes their day when they see her.

My world has grown and become safer because of my service dog. My disability is no less valid or debilitating than that of a blind person.