What is a Psychiatric Service Dog?

today we're going to talk a little bit about what is and what isn't a service dog before we talk service dogs let's take a second to review three different types of commonly confused assistance dogs service dogs therapy and facility dogs and emotional support dogs each of these types of assistance dogs have their own unique purpose first let's review some quick facts about therapy and facility dogs these dogs provide emotional support and comfort to many people they have no legal rights under the ada or americans with disabilities act and are only allowed in locations where they are invited to be there it's very important that european facility dogs have mastered basic obedience so they can continue to behave in a variety of locations such as libraries schools nursing homes hospitals etc and continue to be invited back now let's discuss emotional support dogs similar to therapy dogs they are not protected by the ada for public access unlike therapy dogs an emotional support dog supports only one person which is their disabled handler these dogs provide support simply through their calming presence and companionship and they may live with their disabled handler even when no pets policy is in place where they live and now let's talk about service dogs service dogs must be task trained to assist with a disability we'll talk a little bit more about what this looks like in a minute service dogs are legally protected to accompany their handler in public they typically take an average of two years to train if you start with a puppy based on the specific dog's temperament and tasks that you need the dog to learn service dogs are allowed in all locations open to the public including non-pet friendly locations housing traveling hotels and more there are many types of surface dogs but the exceptional sidekick focuses on psychiatric service dogs these dogs are trained to assist with the psychiatric disabilities such as traumatic brain injury ptsd anxiety depression and many more some common tasks that psychiatric service dogs are trained to perform are deep pressure and light pressure therapy where a dog can apply pressure with their head or body to help calm or ground their handler tactile stimulation such as licking or head butting to prompt the handler to focus on their dog rather than their intrusive or stressful thoughts similar tasks can also be trained in response to and to interrupt self-harming actions a dog can provide a physical barrier or block to create a safe space between their handler and the people around them they can also perform guide work and mobility assistance to help their handler find an exit in a row more building if their handler is not feeling safe there are many more tasks that these amazing dogs can be trained to do a successful service dog truly enjoys their work and has a drive to assist their handler thanks for joining us to learn more about what service dogs are and what they're not you can find more information at the exceptional sidekick.org don't forget to give this video a like and subscribe to our channel

Channel: Exceptional Sidekick Service Dogs

Views: 12,042

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Id: raIxhZ9Zunw

Length: 3min 9sec (189 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 26 2020