This is for service dog handlers, esp. those who may have anxiety related to dealing with access denials and confrontations. This is my first time posting a question, so I hope I'm not out of line of anything.

As someone with a (barely adult) child who is an SD handler, I am a bit, shall we say "outspoken" about access rights. Kiddo is the same, probably more so for others even than themself. I would have a difficult time not speaking up to the owner/manager/employee/etc. myself if I saw someone else being improperly denied entry someplace (or outright harassed) and getting flustered or upset over it.

I am talking about addressing the situation in a calm manner, not upping the tension with yelling, etc. or even simply offering assistance. I just wonder if that might make it even worse for the handler or not. Obviously I know different people have differing opinions and feelings, so this is more to get some general input about what may be helpful, when it might not be, how to approach it (and not make things worse), etc etc.

So, my question is: would it actually be helpful, or just more anxiety inducing to have a stranger get involved on your behalf?

I had a PTSD service dog that I received through a veteran org for about 11 years. He passed away earlier this year. 💔

The wait time for many of these orgs now is years. And I know others are more in need.

I now have a 7-month old adolescent dog. Untrained aside from the basics.

I’m looking for a trainer in Northern VA to help. He doesn’t have to be certified but I would really like him to provide some of the same support and comfort I used to have.

Any recommendations?

Hey, I was advised to post over here to get an opinion from people with service dogs and couldn’t cross post.

We recently hired someone with a service dog, which is not my complaint. I understand the use of medical aids for disabilities at work, I myself even have an ADA accommodation. I have always been taught to treat service dogs as medical devices, not to distract, touch, or inhibit it from doing its tasks in any way because its purpose is to aid its person.

I have never seen a service dog exhibit the behavior I saw at work. It was whining when not actively being pet, soliciting my coworkers for attention, and begged for food multiple times from people other than its handler. Nobody acknowledged that this was abnormal, and my coworkers were actively petting the dog when it would approach them unsolicited, and the new hire did not discourage this at all. The SD also attempted to wander away from our work station at least twice (while on a slack leash) and jumped into the new hires lap multiple times (it was not alert type of jump, it just wanted to be held and is not a small dog).

I tried to keep an open mind and kept to myself, but I continued to pay attention to the behavior. What set me over the line of thinking about complaining happened when I was eating and speaking to my coworkers, and the SD approached me, placed his head in my lap, and proceeded to beg me for my lunch. When the new hire noticed what it was doing, they yanked on the leash, said “no”and then proceeded to pinch the dog’s ear until it yelped.

I wanted to bring up what tasks the dog performs, since I know that is one of the two legally allowed questions for SDs, but I couldn’t find a way to casually weave it into conversation. I am not trying to make the claim of a that it is not truly an SD, it’s concerning at the lack of training of this service dog.

If I continue to see this behavior, is making a complaint going too far? Any kind of advice would be appreciated. This is also in Virginia, USA.

Anyone have any experience good or bad with Assistance Dogs of the West? Found them on the ADI website but can’t find much information on their reputation.

My SD and I love learning new things and continue adding tasks as new needs or symptoms arise. I’m curious about the tasks that I might not have thought of yet so am reaching out to find out what are the more unique or surprising tasks your SD does?

what are some things your SD knows that may seem silly but is actually super helpful? My guy is always willing to learn and anything that will make my life just a little easier is a plus lol.

Right now his favorite thing is to carry stuff around for me, might be my keys, his own leash lol or something I’ve given him but its sooo nice when your hands are full or youre busy

Even though service dogs in the US are not required to wear any gear labelling them as such, it can definitely cut down on issues. While I've been settled into my current gear set for years now, I was reflecting on how it changed when I was first starting out. There were several things that made marked differences in the number of people that questioned me, and I'm curious if others have noticed the same things. As I said in the title, some of these I consider rather stupid, given that nothing about my dog or their behavior really changed, and it annoys me that that somehow made my dog more legitimate in their eyes. Anyways, here's the list:

• "May jump to alert" patch - my dog will either jump on me to knock my hands away from scratching at my arms or jump on me when he smells an oncoming medical episode. I added the patch after he learned the former, while he was still a SDiT. My interactions halved with this.
• Switching harnesses - I switched from the standard red Amazon harness with patches to a custom embroidered harness. I waited until I was fairly confident my dog would make it through training, because I didn't want to spend $100+ on something he wouldn't be able to use. Honestly I was afraid at the time that it would increase my interactions, since the harness was more creative and less "professional" or simple than the Amazon harness. But I guess people aren't going to spend that much money on a illegitimate service dog?
• Adding a pull strap - irregardless of whether it's in use or not, simply adding it to his gear massively cut down on interactions. This is one that I especially hate that it somehow added legitimacy.

What random things have you done that cut down on your interactions, even when they have no bearing on your dog's behavior or training?

Hey folks.

Twice in 24 hours I have had two different dogs try to bite my service dog. I'm just going about my day, I'm not seeking them out, in fact I avoid other dogs for this reason.

First I was at a desk in the library and a dog came up behind, barked, and tried to bite her. Missed

Today, a dog was in the common building and I was walking by, the owner didn't have the leash in their hand and this dog ran over and attacked my dog. She ran before the police got there.

I'm really sick of these misbehaving dogs that campus won't do anything about because only the police and admin can ban a dog. I've called the cops, I've called admin.

I'm stuck. I feel lost and broken. I have worked so hard to have my girl, and now I don't feel like my campus will protect me from aggressive dogs. What do I do? How do I protect myself and my girl?

I already avoid dogs, and my dog has been trained to look at me when we pass by a dog. She's doing amazing, but these aggressive dogs feel poised to break something.

my family is one board with getting a service dog, but i am still worried about the expenses. service dog training is very expensive and i just feel bad using nearly $9k... and knowing it will probably be more like $12k.

I was wondering if starting a gofundme account would be worth it. and if i should talk to my parents before I did it... i dunno, i casually mentioned it to my mother and she kind of just brushed it off.

i was just wondering if anyone here had any experience with something like this.

for the record, i am 14(F) and will most likely be getting a moyen/standard poodle for medical alert

thanks! :)

For the better part of a year, I’ve been going through the application process for an ADI-accredited program. I haven’t heard back either way yet, but I’m trying to brainstorm strategies to handle the potential rejection.

It’s been such a long and involved process that I can’t help but be emotionally invested—due to the time/effort I’ve put into the process and the opportunity cost of not being able to apply to other programs in the meantime. It’s hard to ask for help, because doing so requires admitting that you do need help, which makes the prospect of not getting help even more painful. Ugh, such feelings!

Does anyone have advice or wisdom to share?

For the person who may find this post years from now, here’s how I’ve been coping:

-working out

-complaining to friends, then distracting myself by learning about their lives

-applying to jobs—might as well lean into the rejection, right?

-rereading my favorite books

Or does that depend on the type of episodes and/or your living situation?

Anyone flown Iberia with a psychiatric service dog?

I'm planning to fly from Fuerteventura, Spain, to Miami or Orlando with my 57 kg (126 lb) Rhodesian Ridgeback.

He was trained by a service dog school that is not ADI/IGDF accredited. I have his training certificate, ID card, and verification letter.

Has anyone flown Iberia with a service dog trained by a non-ADI/IGDF school? Did they accept your documentation, or require accreditation? Also, has anyone flown with a very large service dog, and were there any issues with cabin space?

I'd really appreciate firsthand experiences, especially on Spain–US routes. Thank you! ❤️

HR just sent me an email stating:

“Hi [Me]

[Employer] has not approved the use of a
service animal for any employee at this time as any request that has been presented was able to be fulfilled through another reasonable accommodation. For example, if someone requested the use of a service animal to detect low blood sugar, [employer] could offer up the
use of a medical device that can detect low blood
sugar as a more reasonable accommodation.
Since we are student facing, the use of animals is often not deemed reasonable due to the risk
involved.

Without further clarification on your condition or diagnosis, I am unable to discuss other alternatives with you and why you feel the service animal is the best option. This is necessary for the interactive discussion required for ADA.”

I literally know this is wrong and worked in the same field before this where it wasn’t a problem. Now just phrasing it politely. The cherry on top? My job? Accommodations lmao. Just need some words of encouragement I guess

EDIT: Since it seems to not be clear, this is her second email to me. I have already provided a doctor’s note, limitations, and tasks. She is specifically asking what my diagnosis is, which is not allowed. This was a vent. I am also a professional in this field and come from a family of professionals in this field and mentioned in the original post I was not really looking for advice, just support over something crummy! Thank you!

Is it redundant to train both or are any of your dogs trained in both?

I have a service dog in training, and recently we just adopted a pet dog. He’s still very new, so right now it’s just adjusting, getting to know us, etc. But I’m wanting to know some good skills that would be good to learn so that there’s no potential issues with my dog tasking?

The tasks my dog knows are:
- Deep pressure therapy
- Laying under my legs to raise them
- Faint response
- Item retrieval
- Behavior interruption (crying & leg shaking)
- Opening & closing doors

The new dog seems pretty aloof, he gets along well with my SDiT. He’s low energy, pretty low drive. Just kind of a couch potato kind of dog.

Rescue or Breeder? I am looking for a dog. I really have a hard time with the concept of breeders as a whole. However they do genetic and temperment testing.

As an adopted child myself it feels wrong to buy a dog for ridiculous monies.

There are so many dogs that are without a home it feels unethical not to choose from them. There feels like a luck of the draw here, you cant "return " a shelter dog like the "test runs" that a breeder does. You cant determine the illnesses they might have in a shelter.

Help, I'm a bit at a loss and could use some guidance.

So I am not a service dog handler, but my friend is. We're trying to figure out the best way he can get onto accessible paratransit (on the lift) with a power chair (whill c2) and a 65lb service dog without getting out of his chair hopefully. Since he's ambulatory but will be going through a couple surgeries that would affect his mobility for a while he recovers. We're trying to think of the safest way. He's new to a power chair so he needs to figure out what to train these new things his dog (ex. hind leg awareness to make sure he's in a good safe position).

Hello I am in CA USA. SDIT(to my knowledge) have the same rights as SD’s.

My dog is an SDIT and she’s pretty well trained. We plan on visiting a few places in San Diego. However, there are some places like bars, I don’t feel comfortable taking her but she’s crate trained and doesn’t bark.

I want to make sure before I book a hotel that I can leave my dog there(in a pet unfriendly hotel), when needed.

REPOST because I'm 99% sure I worded the first one poorly. That's completely on me and I'm super sorry for that! The original post can be found linked below if anyone wishes to view that one. Please note that it is worded very poorly!

ORIGINAL POST

CONTEXT

Hello! I'm a college student with POTS, migraines, and a plethora of mental issues. I got a GSD puppy who's now 5 months, but my college denied him because he wasn't neutered and he's still a puppy. They did however say I could bring him once he's neutered and can pass the CGC test for them. I completely understanding requiring the dog to be completely trained to be considered as a service dog. However requiring him to be neutered threw me off a bit.

As for why I even thought I'd be able to bring him at such a young age, here's what happened before anyone makes any wild asusmptions! I talked to both of my college accommodations counselors. They both told me as long as I could show that he was progressing fast in his training then I'd be in the clear to bring him. They never mentioned anything about age, anything about needing him neutered, anything about him needing to pass a CGC test, or anything about him not even being considered an ESA at least at that point. The plan was to bring him as an ESA until he was two. Then a week before I was to move in, I had my last meeting where they told me he needed to be neutered and needed to pass a CGC. He won't be neutered until he's two for health reasons so for now he's staying home with my dad who's training him and I'm coming home for summers and breaks to continue trainings myself.

Please know that I 100% understand my dog is no where near cosidered a trained service dog. This long bit was just context for what led me to my question. 🤍

My question. Can a college, specifically a private college in NC, require a HYPOTHETICALLY fully trained service dog to be neutered or spayed to be on campus? It seems odd to me. Many people don't neutered or spay their dogs for health reasons especially if it's a larger dog doing mobility work.

If there's any questions or need for more context feel free to ask! 🤍

I currently have an owner trained Standard Poodle. He’s turning 6 this year so starting to plan for a successor. My condition has worsened significantly since training, so I’m considering going through an org for my next dog. Of course I’d likely be getting a Lab or Golden, the only problem is the shedding. I don’t have allergies but I cannot stand hair on my clothes or floating around the house. I do all my poodle’s grooming myself, so I have a fully equipped grooming studio and am more than happy to do whatever it takes to keep shedding to a minimum. Is daily brushing enough? Would regular blowouts with a HV dryer be beneficial? How about deshedding shampoos? Any other creative approaches that work well? Just trying to figure out if it’s manageable or if I need to figure out some way to get another standard. TIA!

I’ll keep this short and simple. My dog was a SD prospect and was juuust starting to earn her SDIT title when she was attacked pretty brutally on a neighborhood walk. I gave her a few chances but she is fear reactive towards dogs through and through and I don’t think it’s fair to her or any other SD handlers to work her with her behavior. So she has since been washed from service work.

Shortly after I brought her home, and before the attack, I bought her the OneTigris guardian harness in black because I loved all the patch space and how professional looking it was. I’ve since stripped all the patches off, minus her in training, do not pet ones but is it still too ‘official’ looking?

To me it gives off very much ‘working dog’ vibes and I do not want the general public thinking she’s a service dog, because god forbid she pops off in public or in a store I don’t want to give people the impression that’s how working dogs act.

Thoughts?

hi, i might be getting a d.a.d. soon and was looking through all the different breeds. at first i considered a poodle but they are too big for my family and i feel as if the smaller ones wouldnt wake me up at night.

i was wondering if anyone had any experience with a beagle as a service dog just in general.

also, are there any good beagle breeders recommended?

For context, I'm a young female with hEDS, POTS, MCAS, and chronic migraines. I had my doctor bring up the possibility of a service dog and how it would benefit me, but I'd love the opinion of some handlers.

Scroll to the end for the question/concern, the first bit is back story.

Ok my last service dog retired almost 5 years ago she died 3 years ago, I couldn't convince her to retire sooner so I let her do what she wanted until age started getting in her way. I wasn't planning on getting another so soon because I was mostly stable on meds and I wasn't collapsing as often. So I got a puppy just for a pet about 1.5 years ago, I wasn't looking for a service dog prospect but basically put him through similar but more relaxed obedience training so that he could help me around the house and work (my work allows us to bring well behaved pets to work)

My pup started alerting on his own, basically he started just by freaking out about 1-2 minutes before I start going down, but he took to training a cue super quickly after I figured out wtf he was reacting too. It took me an embarrassingly long time to connect the dots.

Then I started going downhill medically a few months after he started alerting, despite mine and my doctor's best efforts and new meds. It was only a matter of time since my issues are progressive but I was hoping for a few more years at least.

He's only a 18 months old giant breed (Newfoundland dog) who still wants to play with other dogs and human children. I only stepped up training 2 months ago to see what would happen.

-----

I've stepped up on his training because he seems to want to do this.

Realistically how long should we be working on dog/child neutrality before I consider him washed? I have no problem with him just being a really good boy at home and work.

There's no aggression, just hyper puppy wants to play. He's nailing everything else quicker than expected and already has adult human and other animals neutrality down solid. A cat can run across the road or room inches from his face and he doesn't care. It's only other dogs and children that makes his brains just fall out.