My service dog has been retired for a few years now after a bout of cancer. He recovered, but I had found new adaptations to go on with my life without him. Because of this he's been living as a pet for a couple of years, but now it is coming to the time where I have to think about euthanasia.

Bandit was my service dog for nearly ten years, and he taught me lots of skills. Ten years ago I was agoraphobic and couldn't leave the house without him, and now I work a full time job and handle my anxiety on my own. I'm absolutely devastated at the thought of losing him. He completely changed my life and helped so much with my disabilities that a few of my symptoms completely went away and many of the others are self managed.

How do I move forward without my dude by my side? I can go about the world without him but I can't imagine not having him to come home to.

I am obviously okay with waiting and aware I will have to but I am curious what other peoples recent experiences with it are? I am very excited and a bit impatient lol

I have a Bridgeport but tbh it is SO heavy and hot... I would love something leather if possible. Any recommendations would be *awesome*.

Also, recommendations on a leather cross-body leash that can go to multiple lengths as well?

Assistance dog. How realistic is it to get this in the Netherlands if I’m a minor (I’m 16 years old) in the Netherlands? I’m an asylum seeker, so I only have a guardian. I will try to confirm my diagnosis with a local psychiatrist, because I only had a diagnosis from a private psychiatrist in Russia (the country I came from, also got diagnosed with complex ptsd). I have selective mutism and difficulties with spatial orientation (I may also walk onto the road in some cases, or I may not know when to cross the road and constantly doubt myself). In general, I have a lot of difficulties with safely moving around the streets, being in crowds, and I may also self‑harm when stressed, completely unconsciously and uncontrollably. Noise‑cancelling headphones cause a greater loss of spatial awareness (I don’t have very good vision, but I wear glasses); Google Maps and other similar apps don’t help at all with navigating the streets and only increase the stress level. And I think a service dog would be a great help to me, especially since I have experience caring for ordinary pets like hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, a budgerigar, several rats, an aquarium with fish and shrimp, and several types of geckos (I took care of them myself and didn’t have any problems with it). I just know that traditionally the state doesn’t automatically provide service dogs to people with autism, unlike, for example, people with hearing or vision problems or those in wheelchairs. But the tools mentioned earlier don’t help me and don’t compensate for these problems in any way. I tried to find acquaintances who speak my native language, but they turned out to be unreliable. I’ve experienced theft at least once (all my money was stolen), and I suspect it happened a second time (only my cash savings were stolen). Oh, and I also might not go to bed and might forget to eat if I’m not reminded, and alarms just trigger me, and I completely lose the desire to do it because I get worked up. And I might forget to wash myself or brush my teeth.

Hi everyone. I'm beginning the process of looking into a service dog, and could use some advice and your own experience.

A bit about me: I live by myself, and have depression and anxiety, as well as recently-diagnosed level 1 autism.

In the last 5 or so years, my anxiety and sensory sensitivities have started to impact how long I can tolerate certain environments. I just can't do what I used to anymore, though I'm still able to function at a basic level day-to-day. But getting out of the house and having the tolerance for things like large company onsites? That's a lot more questionable now.

I have an adorable ESA who's absolutely perfect. She's amazing at emotional support, but definitely doesn't have the right temperament to take on tasking, especially in public spaces. But I've noticed that having her present, when she's allowed, does wonders for my sensory tolerances, and makes me feel much more socially confident. I bring her everywhere I can because her presence helps that much. When she's there, attention's on her, and I don't feel like I need to worry as much about physically masking.

I'm now wondering whether saving for a trained service dog who could assist in public spaces might be a good long-term choice, and whether I should chat with a healthcare professional and trainer about it.

I can definitely think of some tasks a service dog could do that might be helpful for me, like:

• Alerting to or redirecting signs of an oncoming meltdown, shutdown, or anxiety
• Creating space in crowded places
• Performing a graceful exit if I'm starting to feel overwhelmed
• Providing DPT/LPT in a home setting

That said, I'm a little worried that maybe I might not be "disabled enough" or actually need one. I live on my own and take care of things myself. I had a job for 8 years until I was laid off, and am in the process of being hired for a new one. I have a stable place to live and can drive. I've never been on disability benefits, and I've heard so often, "I wouldn't have known you were autistic" when I've told coworkers in the past.

I've also heard that having a service dog in public is a different dynamic from having an ESA.

So what I'd like to know from all of you is: what was the deciding factor in whether or not a service dog was right for you?

And if you have a service dog and have similar disabilities, what's been your honest experience of taking them out in public on the social front? Has it been draining for you, or does it help build your confidence?

Thank you so much in advance for your advice!

TASK QUESTIONS
I want a dog that can do deep pressure therapy help me come back to the present moment when dissociation. I get in suicidal loops that honestly ppl can get me out of really easily I had a family dog whenever id get into one he would just annoy the hell out of me oushing his head on my hands till i gave him attention and id just forget LOL. Not sure if thats realistic or not? Any other things you found helpful tasks wise? Crowd distancing isnt really an issue for me but I am very scared of men in general I was trafficked as a child. It has gotten alot better but can i ask for a dog that looks a little scary (like no a golden or poodle) or is that usually not allowed? I want a dog that can be a deterrent to men.

Getting one
I am going to see if i can get one donated to me or get one a little cheaper from a website for people who are survivors of trafficking i saw a few. Is this legit? Which ones have you had success with?
What do you wish you knew about the process or owning one before hand?
I am healing cptsd rn is getting a dog then paying a trainer to much? Seems expensive and hard to manage while dealing with this brain injury.

Social
Do ppl treat you bad when you have a service dog or indifferent? I feel it would draw attention.
Does your dog come to work with you? How do you go about it when interviewing. Do you get the job then tell?

Random questions
Do service dogs always act like they are serious and on duty? Do they unwind and have fun? Any i have seen are very stoic always. I get it they are very busy!!!! But I also wanna have fun play and have he or she play with my niece.

There isnt a flair for discussion anymore

Why has there always been an influx of posts from people wanting to get an SD in a very unethical or irresponsible way? They haven't been diagnosed; they're a minor; they want an SD for anxiety or for something that is not a disability, like pregnancy or alcoholism. And many more.

Then the people here inform them why or how these practices are unethical, whats cheaper, more reliable, and ask what tasks they want the dog to perform; they get very upset, calling us rude.

Or when they are in no financial state, or lack stable housing, and we inform them of the cost and responsability of just owning a dog, and not even a service dog.

I am genuinely starting to believe people just want the "dog" part more than the "service" part. If you do not even have an understanding or idea of what tasks you want from your dog, why are you looking into service dogs when you dont have that gap in your medical care?

I dont think people understand what service dogs are anymore, mainly due to social media. But people no longer care about the commitment of them, the responsability, the horrible side of owning a service dog, because it can be horrific at times. The costs, not just financially, but what you have to give up aswell.

Wanting to get a service dog when you have barely tried anything else for your care? Wanting unethical tasks like bracing. Wanting to get one before you're even diagnosed.

Because what if you go for an assessment, and it comes back saying you dont have the original thing you thought, maybe you have something else, maybe that something else can be cured, or far better managed by something so simple as taking meds. Or you dont have anything at all.

Or when people have unrealistic expectations of owner training, thinking it's cheap, thinking it's easy or fast.

No dog under 2 years old minimum is a fully trained dog. No puppy under a year is even a prospect; it's a puppy. They need to learn how to be a dog above anything else.

And owner training is just as expensive as getting them from an organization; it's just not shoved in your face. Getting from an org, the cost is very upfront, or you pay monthly, but you dont know exactly what you're paying for, so it seems more expensive.

But with owner training, you know what you're paying for as they come; a dog is still going to be $200 a month to take care of properly, with emergency funds, which is already $7 200 for the 3 years it takes to train, not to mention a well-bred puppy is around $ 3- 6 K, and then the training- just hiring a trainer you're still going to spend like $30k, and if you dont hire a trainer and try to do it completly on your own, especailly if its your first, your really setting youself up for fauiler.

In another post, it was about a service dog who got washed and then dumped, so the owner could presumably just get a new dog to do the same thing too.

Almost every single post about someone asking if they should get one, or how to start to get one, either gets removed by the mods because it's unethical, or removed because the person starts getting hostile in the comments with people giving them kind and thoughtful advice.

Or the person ends up deleting it themselves because they are getting downvoted, then end up reposting the same thing, which is still ignoring what the people are saying to you.

I think a good rule to add is to not allow these kinds of posts anymore, or a better idea: have them be reviewed by mods before they can be posted. A special tag like (Thinking about getting an SD) or something like that.

Because it's really the only post you see anymore; of course, there are exceptions. I have seen people genuinely take the advice to heart and rethink their choices, but i have also seen way more ignoring all advice and getting upset when people don't yes-man them.

Doctors have little to no understanding of what Service dogs are or what it's like to get one, so taking their rec as a holy grail is very irresponsible; they dont know what they're doing any more than you do.

Not sure if this is totally the right subreddit for this question, please lmk if it isn’t!

So it was drilled into me (f22) from a very young age that petting working service animals or trying to get their attention in any way isn’t okay. But as a toddler that LOVED animals (especially dogs), there was some part of me that could not let an owner not knowing how cute their dog is stand. So if I clocked that it was a service animal, I’d always tell the owner how cute their dog was or ask the dog’s name/breed in passing, but with enough distance so that they didn’t think I was trying to get their dog’s attention.
I was rewarded for that behavior back then by my mom, and I think that’s why that habit has always sort of stuck with me my whole life. Mind you, I don’t really like talking to strangers in public unless necessary (I’m from a part of the US where ppl don’t really do that much) so I keep these interactions wayyyy shorter than a toddler would nowadays. Usually just a quick compliment while passing on the sidewalk or something.

But I’ve been seeing videos online about how some ppl with working service animals get really anxious about going out in public bc of how many dreadful or inconsiderate interactions they have to go through, and that they just want to be home as quickly as possible without the topic ever coming up. It’s made me start questioning whether or not I’ve actually been being considerate over the past 19 years or just on the line of respectful enough where someone might feel too awkward to tell me off.
(I’ve never gotten a negative reaction from doing this! But also I’ve always had a hard time telling apart regular polite social interactions from semi-awkward polite social interactions).

So I’m just curious about the pov from someone with a service animal about whether or not you’d be comfortable being complimented on your dog/animal by a stranger? Or if you’re more comfortable with them being unacknowledged (but still accommodated for as needed).

Any recommendations for y front harness makers in the EU now that YupCollars is closed?
🦮

I’m getting a fully trained service dog from a private trainer. I go out to meet the dog and make sure we are a good match this Sunday!!! The dog will be ready by the end of November or beginning of December! I’m so excited because I have crippling fear of being out in public alone due to a complex dissociative disorder primarily but also due to my hEDS which causes pain episodes. The dog is going to be trained on behavior interruption primarily but also crowd control/blocking.

I’ve kept and been around dogs my whole life, what else should I know besides what the trainer will catch me up on?

P.s. it’s a golden retriever

Flew for the first time with my service dog. She was very motion sick and it was not a great experience. Obviously. Any thoughts for how to make this better? Already went to get for motion sickness meds but she was absolutely miserable and did throw up.

Has anyone used either PAT Dogs or MindDog?

If so what were your experiences with them, I'm trying to figure out which one I should go with.

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?

Edit to add: Thanks to all who are answering. I am trying to respond to people, but please forgive me if I miss your answer.

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?

Hello everyone. I have been diagnosed with AuDHD/schizoaffective bipolar/PTSD/anxiety and depression. I live in South GA and have been trying to find an organization that trains psychiatric service dogs for free for qualifying individuals. The ones I’ve looked into either don’t support tasks that I need out for only specific people.

Can someone please help me on where to look? I’ve got a letter from my doctor that states it’s in my best interest to get a service dog. I just don’t know where to begin.

Thank you!

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.

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! ❤️

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

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!