How to Get a Service Dog for Anxiety or Depression And How Much It Costs

hi there welcome to the top dog tips youtube channel today we're going to be talking about how to get a surface dog for anxiety or depression and how much it costs before we get into that please be sure to like and subscribe to our youtube channel if you find our content entertaining if you learn something new please be sure to like and subscribe as well as share the channel that's how we grow our channel and continue to put out great content as well as be sure to subscribe to our website topdogtips.com if you subscribe using the link in the description below you will receive a free ebook on 25 vet recommended homemade dog food recipes alright without further ado let's get into it so a number of recent studies have proven that assistance animals and therapy dogs provide a lot of relief for people with different conditions like anxiety and depression if you're in this position here's everything you should know about getting a service dog or anxiety or depression including what it entails how an assistance dog can help with these mental health conditions and the costs involved so let's talk about the right type of service dog is a dog alleviating anxiety and depression in people considered a psychiatric service dog or an emotional support animal if you're unsure about the difference between the two we will link a description of the explanation when it comes to anxiety depression psychiatric service dogs and emotional support dogs can prove beneficial in relieving their handlers or owners symptoms but they definitely do have a difference whether you require an assistance dog and which category of an assistance dog is appropriate for you depends on the degree to which your anxiety or depression affects your day-to-day life psychiatric service dogs and emotional support dogs are the two types of qualified dogs for people with these mental conditions so we're going to explain how either of these types of assistance animals can help you and everything else you need to know about both so the first one the psychiatric service dog according to the ada which is the americans with disabilities act a service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability the work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person's disability here's a simple example to illustrate this individuals suffering from extreme anxiety or depression may be unable to leave their homes to do something as simple as picking up their medication which helps mediate their anxiety or depression symptoms in this instance a psychiatric service dog can assist their handler in creating a safe personal space in public serving as a physical buffer to calm their handler and reduce feelings of emotional distress in crowded places this allows their owner to pick up their medication or perform other tasks that would be hard without these types of dogs around so when does depression or anxiety qualify as a disability depression and anxiety do not always qualify which means that not everyone with these conditions can officially obtain a psychiatric service dog to mitigate their symptoms it's important to understand your situation and know whether you'll qualify to get a service dog from anxiety or depression so when is it considered disabling there's an official definition for this the ada defines a disabling illness as an illness that physically or psychiatrically limits one or more major life activities such as walking talking seeing hearing learning etc if the illness does not limit one or more life activities then you do not qualify for a service animal for example in the individual we referred to earlier who cannot leave their home because their anxiety would qualify as disabled because their inability to engage in major life activities however someone who experiences mild anxiety levels such as having an increased level of worry about what other people are thinking about them while they are out picking up medications is not considered disabled the former individual was unable to leave the home something which greatly impeded their daily life and then the other individual with mild anxiety may be uncomfortable leaving the home to pick up medication however they're still capable of doing so it's considered that their level anxiety is not preventing them from living a full life that is not to say a psychiatric service dog would not provide comfort to the individual with mind anxiety they probably would however in such a case a service dog is not considered to be a necessity how does a psychiatric service dog aid in relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression service dogs used for these mental conditions are becoming more and more popular and there are plenty of success stories out there there are several ways the psychiatric service dog can aid in relieving the symptoms including bringing medication or bringing water to their person meaning the dog can go and pick up medication if the person is unable to go and pick it up fetching help during a disassociative episode or a crisis so say someone has a ptsd experience and is going through it currently and is unable to perform any daily duties i guess they basically get help or the dog goes and notifies and warns someone of something that's happening to their owner so laying over an anxious individual to provide physical comfort during anxiety attacks basically so if the person is having a moment where they're breaking down and are on the ground or i guess seated uh the dog can like jump in their lap or i guess if they're on the ground lay next to them or i guess on top of them number four is detecting anxiety attacks before they show themselves so i guess some dogs have the ability to sense one coming on and uh reminding severely depressed individuals to get out of bed or take medication so the dog basically doesn't leave their side until they see them take medication i guess that can be trained but that's obviously very advanced training something that would take quite some time bringing a phone call for help or using an adapted phone device to call for help during a crisis so if something were to happen to the owner in a desperate situation the dog can i guess somehow alert someone or bringing a phone to call or some form of adapted phone device to alert emergency services so how to get a psychiatric service dog for anxiety depression it can be attained through two ways through a service dog organization or an individual may train their own service dog themselves however it's important to note that training your own service dog can be very difficult much more so than people initially imagine and far more complicated than regular dog training so let's look at both of these options number one obtaining a service dog through a service dog program dogs trained through service dog programs go through obedience training service training and socialization before being matched with a potential owner or handler in need of this assistance animal however the training is not over yet because the dogs then undergo another set of specialized training to meet their specific handlers needs service dogs trained through service dog programs may be from a reputable breeder owned by that service dog program or from other third party reputable breeders or in some rare instances from shelters or rescues to qualify for a service dog from a psychiatric service dog training program they will subject you to certain rules or requirements these rules or requirements vary depending on the program you apply to a good example of some common requirements can be found on the k9 partners for life eligibility policy which we'll link in the description now the cost of getting a psychiatric service dog through a professional training program these costs vary depending on which service dog organization you contact the average cost for a psychiatric service dog can run between twenty to thirty thousand dollars which is obviously very expensive the high price reflects the time effort resources and amount of work that goes into training an assistance dog that will be specialized for you specifically and is essential and custom tailored for your condition and lifestyle this may seem like a lot of money but programs often spend much more than this to devote 600 plus hours to training a dog providing boarding for a dog and providing vet care the second option training your own service dog it's possible to save money by training them yourself however it's challenging to undertake something that requires an extreme level of dedication and many of the criteria required by the professional training programs it'd be best if you also kept in mind that training your own service dog will require a lot of discipline time and obviously like i said dedication again if you are someone who suffers with depression or anxiety you may not be able to partake in hundreds of hours of training a service dog so let's talk about what type of dog can be a psychiatric service dog certain characteristics make them good candidates while many dogs possess these characteristics a few breeds tend to display them more regularly so they favor service dog work when assessing the animal suitability for service dog work is important considering the following questions are they capable of carrying out the tasks that are required of them to help their owner are they trainable do they have a high frustration threshold do they have a desire to please is this dog free from signs of personality flaws that may impact their ability to perform their job are they free from signs of genetic or physical illness that would impact their ability to perform their job is the dog people centered are they distracted by excessive drive or energy do they get easily distracted are they loud reactive or timid when faced with unfamiliar overwhelming situations are they in their senior years senior dogs often experience a physical toll of age that can influence their ability to perform tasks in a reputable training program will not invest the money into training a dog that will only provide a service for a short period of time the cost of training your own psychiatric service dog can cost from a few thousand dollars to twenty thousand dollars this figure depends on the type of dog you select as well as how much time you invest in training just like service dog programs do you'll want to ensure that you choose a physically healthy and psychologically sound dog to begin working with the best place for that is likely to be a legitimate breeder from there you'll invest in training beginning with the basics and work your way up to teaching specialized skills that are tailored to your needs now let's talk about the emotional support dog they're slightly different from the previously mentioned psychiatric service dogs still many things apply to this category of animals as well esas can be viewed as a second tier of assistance dogs for these specific mental health conditions in some ways for individuals who do not qualify for a psychiatric service dog emotional support dogs can still provide comfort in times of distress an emotional support dog is a lesser choice because they cannot perform the specific functions for their disabled owner with mental health conditions rather they are dogs that provide comfort just by seeing by being with a person so qualifying for emotional support dog to officially adopt a esa and for the dog to be treated like an assistant's animal you will need to have a doctor's prescription in the words of my assistant's dog incorporated to have an emotional support animal a person must have a confirmed diagnosis and be given a prescription for an emotional support animal by an overseeing doctor who believes the pet will be of benefit to the patient's mental health so getting an emotional support dog if you're looking to bring home a dog that can provide this for you but you do not require the specific assistance that psychiatric service dogs can provide some rescue organizations and breeders do make a note of dogs within their programs that would make great emotional support animals usually you would find that this is marked on the dog's adoption profile of other breeders notes if it isn't try contacting the rescue or breeder directly and asking if they have or can help you find a dog that suits your needs so what makes a good emotional support animal obviously the purpose of adopting an emotional support animal for anxiety or depression is primarily to provide comfort the animal in question must be good at providing said comfort to its handler factors that make dogs great support animals include the size of your emotional support animal may be a concern if you're limited to in your physical activity if you live in a tiny home or if you plan to take your emotional support animal on flights with you a good temperament is necessary both towards you and other people as well as overall health should be a concern as it may limit your dog's ability to provide emotional support so how can emotional support dogs help with anxiety and depression these dogs are specifically trained to assist owners with mental health conditions in many ways providing comfort to their owners by simply being with them which can often be all a person with depression or anxiety really needs some examples of how service dogs do that include a listening ear for anxious individuals physical closeness for depressed individuals calming tactile sensation to detract from anxiety providing a reason to get out of bed like walking the dog feeding the dog for severely depressed individuals now let's talk about some requirements like psychiatric service dogs there's no official licensing of emotional support dogs by individual organizations however as mentioned earlier a person requiring an emotional support dog and using esa's services should have a prescription an overseeing doctor that believes the pet will be a benefit to the patient's mental health all right that will do it for us here at top dog tips if you find our content interesting if you learn something new please be sure to like and subscribe to our youtube channel that's how we continue to grow the channel as well share it with your friends as well with that i hope you have a great day and we'll talk to you soon [Music] you

Channel: Top Dog Tips

Views: 76,434

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Id: IkO3FPObzJU

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 16 2022