| Service Dogs Save Lives! |
| Service Dogs do many things to help people with disabilities. |
| Hearing Dogs |
| Mobility Assistants |
| Psychiatric Service Dogs |
| Website Copyright B. Brake 2004 |
| How Do Service Dogs Help People With Disabilities? |
| Hearing or Signal dogs serve as the ears of a person who is deaf or hearing impaired. They alert their partners to sounds such as their name, the microwave or oven timers, smoke alarms, the telephone, the doorbell, and many other everyday sounds that play important parts in our lives. Hearing dogs may use a paw touch or nose bump to get their handler's attention, and then will take the handler to the source of the sound, or in the case of a fire alarm, will take their partner outside. Many Hearing Dogs wear bright, blaze orange collars, leashes, and vests. These orange accessories signal that the dog is a Hearing Dog. |
| Mobility Assistant Service Dogs help people with physical disabilties. They may pull their partner's wheelchair, walk in harness and function as a mobile cane for balance assistance, or perform any number of other tasks that the disabled partner has difficulty doing. They are trained to retrieve dropped items, pull clothing on and off of their partners, bring medication or a telephone in an emergency, and many other amazing things. Some are even trained to help their partner into and out of their wheelchair, and to help their partner rise from the floor if he or she may fall. These weight-bearing tasks are of course dependant on the Service Dog being large enough and strong enough to do them safely. |
| Psychiatric Service Dogs are trained to help people with psychiatric disabilities. These disabilities include anxiety/panic disorders, depression, agoraphobia, post traumatic stress disorder, manic depression, and many other psychiatric conditions. These Service Dogs can bring their partner's medications or a telephone in a crisis, provide a grounding effect by sitting with their partners and allowing petting to calm the partner, and provide a focus based in reality. These dogs can break dissociation spells by nuzzling or touching the partner repeatedly, and calm hypervigilance by providing a "reality check," eg, if the partner hallucinates smells such as smoke, the dog can check to see if there really is such an odor, or if the partner fears attack from a person when entering a house or darkened room, the dog can check to see if there is anyone there. The dogs also aid in getting people out of the house if they are afraid to leave or are in deep depression, as the dog has regular toileting needs as well as exercise needs, and often the person who is unable to do something for their own benefit will have no problem doing it for the dog, eg a depressive who doesn't want to get out of bed for anything will still get up and get dressed to take the dog out to potty, and is then far more likely to continue to remain up and functioning. |
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