Fast Facts About Service Dogs
What is a Service Dog?
Service dogs are trained to support their partner in their day-to-day life. People with a recognized disability should only use service dogs.
Service dogs provide companionship like any other dog but are also a tool their partner utilizes. Like a wheelchair, medication, cane, or prosthetic limb, a service dog can provide independence and mobility and improve their partner’s quality of life.
Types of Service Dogs
There are many service dogs, and it’s incredible to see what they can do!
Here are some jobs service dogs trained to perform:
Mobility assistance
Guide dogs for the blind or visually impaired
Hearing dogs for the deaf and hard of hearing
Diabetic alert dogs
Psychiatric assistance
Autism support
PTSD service dogs
Facility dogs for hospitals, courtrooms, trauma centers, and rehabilitation centers
Seizure alert dogs
Tasks Service Dogs Can Learn
Our program focuses on building a foundation with life skills, socialization, and training tasks. We can teach many skills and tasks to benefit their partner.
Lumos Dog Training can customize the training plan to help their partner with these tasks:
Positional changes for personal barriers
Behavior alerts and interruptions
Tactile grounding
Deep pressure therapy
Nightmare interruption
Opening and closing doors
Opening and closing cabinets
Putting items on countertops
Turning lights on and off
Assisting in position changes
Counterbalance when walking and on stairs
Finding exits and seats in public places
Retrieving dropped items
Bringing items to their partner
Carrying items or supplies
What Type of Dogs Can Be Service Dogs?
When they think of a service dog, most people visualize a Labrador, golden retriever, or German shepherd. Still, we’ve had many different breeds become successful service dogs in our program, including Dobermans, border collies, Australian shepherds, pit bulls, Labradoodles, and more! Overall, a potential service dog should exhibit the following characteristics:
Excellent health and confirmation
Settles in public comfortably
Enjoys learning and working in many public environments
Easily focused on their partner regardless of distractions
Ability to work with their partner throughout the day
Familiar and comfortable with loud noises, other dogs, people, and distractions
Excellent manners when working
The list isn’t inclusive, but a foundation with these skills is essential for the dog to continue their training and career as a service dog with their partner.
How to Start Training a Service Dog
Service dog training often begins from the very beginning of their life! We partner with reputable breeders to select the best service dog candidates based on their temperament, baseline behavior during evaluation, and lineage. We also can help identify potential service dog candidates within rescue programs.
Socialization and genetics are significant factors in a dog’s comfort in public and new environments. A dog that was thoughtfully socialized while still with its mom and litter mates can start the dog off on the right path. Continued socialization as a puppy and throughout their training will only build their stimulus control, comfort, and ability to work in public.
Service dogs have a massive task at hand. Because of our expectations with service dogs, our training is the most up-to-date, scientific method. We use positive reinforcement to make public socialization and training fun, reinforcing, and consistent!
Lumos Dog Training: Atlanta Service Dog Training
Our program is designed to help you train your service dog. We start with the foundations of basic dog training skills and manners, stimulus control, and comfort in various environments.
Each client and their dog will receive a customized training plan focusing on the skills and tasks they need to support their partner. By training your service dog, you learn how to properly use them as a tool, care for their health and wellbeing, and ensure your service dog has an enriched and fulfilled life outside of their work.
Our program focuses on virtual training to keep costs low, but we also have options for in-person service dog training in the Atlanta area, board and trains, and start-to-finish training.
Lumos Dog Training offers this program to people with disabilities to ensure they have a well-trained service dog that is happy and confident with their job.
If you need support training your dog in the Atlanta area or online, Contact Us to get started!
