Assistance Dogs

Assistance Dogs are specifically trained to assist a person with a disability. Disabilities may be a result of birth, injury, illness or aging. There is a lack of uniform terminology regarding dogs that work for people with disabilities.

To clarify, Assistance Dog is term that refers to three different kinds of jobs dogs do for people with disabilities; guide dog, hearing dog and service dog.  There are many laws that protect assistance dog handlers. The Americans with Disability Act defines a service animal as any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government. 

Assistance dogs can be categorized as follows:

• Guide dogs enhance community mobility by helping people compensate for visual impairments by alerting them to obstacles.

• Hearing dogs respond/alert to sounds such as doorbells, phones, crying infants, smoke detectors, and alarm clocks.

• Service Dogs assist people with disabilities other than visual or hearing impairments. 

Examples of Service Dogs Include:
 

• Physical Disabilities - Service dogs assist people with compromised physical abilities by retrieving objects, aiding with transitional movements, opening doors, operating light or door opening devices, pulling a wheel chair, assisting with undressing, and similar tasks.


• Psychiatric Disabilities - Psychiatric service dogs are capable of assisting individuals with redirection, maintaining healthy routines, alerting to symptomatic episodes, locating a person or place during a panic attack, providing physical barriers from others, retrieving medications, interrupting hallucinations or providing comforting behaviors. (Psychiatric Service Dog Society).

• Seizure/Specific Medical Response - Seizure/Medical Response dogs assist by alerting another person who can help, retrieving a phone, or operating a switch to call for help. There have been reports that some dogs can detect an upcoming medical crisis (such as a seizure or low blood sugar) many minutes before it happens allowing the handler to take preventative or prescriptive measures.

• Autism - Dogs can be trained to support individuals and their families by providing social opportunities and relationship development, providing a constant in an ever changing world, carrying a visual schedule or transitional support, facilitating skill development, and more.

• Facility Dog - Many assistance dog training organizations train and place dogs to fulfill other professional roles in healthcare, educational and social service positions. Many of the dogs are trained beyond basic obedience, and well into the assistance dog skill sets. By obtaining a dog that has advanced training, it provides the professional with the ability to maintain attention to scope of their professions, and maintaining privacy acts by alleviating a volunteer handlers presence. Dogs may be placed with therapists, physicians, nurses, social workers, educators, counselors, and even in forensic interviews and the courtroom.

Assistance Dog Etiquette

When you see a person with an assistance dog, it is important to remember to speak to the person first. The dog is working and needs to maintain its attention to the handler. Think of an assistance dog as assistive technology. You would not approach a person who uses a wheelchair, jump in the seat and go for a ride; in the same manner, avoid speaking to or reaching out to the assistance dog. Ask the handler if it is okay to interact with their dog.