Not many people are aware of this, but September is actually classified as National Service Dog Month! National Service Dog Month is celebrated during this time to bring attention and appreciation for service dogs! While September may just be a normal month to most, or the start of fall for some, but to me; it is the month of one of my most favorite topics I can go on about forever. A service dog is individually trained to perform tasks and demonstrate commands to ‘work’ for a person or a group of people with disabilities.
The word ‘service dog’ is an umbrella term that covers a wide variety of working animals! Some examples under the term service dog are guide dogs, hearing dogs, psychiatric dogs, mobility dogs, medical alert animals, and facility dogs! Service and mobility dogs are typically ones that are trained for one singular person. For example, a service dog may go to someone that is blind and needs a seeing-eye dog to help them in their daily routine. A seeing-eye dog is trained to perform many intricate tasks such as guiding their handler around obstacles, maintaining a steady pace for the pair, stopping at curbs, understanding turning commands such as ‘left’ or ‘forward’, and so much more! A mobility dog typically goes to a person that has balance issues, strength problems, or a handicapped person. Mobility dogs are trained to brace (provide balance), pick up objects that fall to the floor, turning light switches on and off, and more. Psychiatric dogs are trained to help those with mental illness and / or learning disabilities. Hearing dogs are trained to assist HOH people. Medical alert dogs are trained to alert people with medical issues like low blood sugar, seizures, low blood pressure, etc. Facility dogs are a bit different, as this type of service dog is trained to assist multiple people. Unlike service animals, who are legally allowed in any public space under ADI law (Assistance Dogs International), facility dogs are only allowed at their assigned facility. Facility dogs can be placed at schools of any grade levels, hospitals, nursing homes, courthouses, and other unique spaces.
Service dogs are over-looked quite often, which is strange considering how vital they are to people with disabilities. Service dogs are not only trained to help those that struggle in their day-to-day life, but they are essentially trained to help their handlers gain back their confidence and independence! Service dogs can be a lifeline to their recipients, especially in an emergency situation. Let’s say a person with their working dog suddenly collapses outside at a park, their dog is able to find a different person and use tactics such as nudging or barking to create attention and get help for their handler. They can quite literally save their owner’s life in some situations.
Under ADI law, service dogs are not required to be ‘certified’ or go through an extensive training program. This has its pros and its cons. One pro is being that service dogs can cost up to $30,000 (and even more depending on their specific tasks they are trained for), this is helpful for people who are attempting or want to train their own dog to be a service dog. It is doable, quite difficult and rigorous, but doable. A self-trained service dog must be able to successfully perform the public access rules, which are the requirements a dog must meet regarding commands and tasks. These tasks include not being disruptive in a public setting, staying in a heel at their handlers’ side at all times, staying alert, and more. The con to having no registration on service dogs is that this opens a gateway for people to fake service dogs much more often. This would be someone claiming their ESA, emotional support animal, is a service dog. Emotional support animals are not covered under ADI law. Because ESAs are not trained specifically for a disability or job, they are not qualified to be service animals. You can’t just buy a red vest and a ‘do not pet’ patch off amazon, slap it on an untrained animal, and bring it out into public settings; this is a danger to both you, your dog, and the real service dogs you may encounter. So, while no certification on service dogs can have its ups and downs, it is still important to respect service dogs in vest no matter what.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has strong protection of service animals with explicit laws and regulations set in place for both handler and dog team (like I have stated previously) as well as the general public. My point here is to never distract a service dog! Unless a service dog comes to seek you out personally and seems distressed and upset, leave the dog alone. Distracting a service dog can risk someone’s life, quite literally. Not to mention, it can be illegal. In California, purposefully injuring a service dog has a consequence of a year-long prison sentence and a $10,000 fine. In Illinois, violation of the Service Animal Access Act is a Class C misdemeanor. Violation of the White Cane Law is a Class A misdemeanor. The White Cane Law is a law that protects individuals, specifically vision challenged individuals, with service dogs in a public space. Unless you see a service dog with a patch that specifically states, “ask to pet me”, do not attempt or ask to pet said dog. In most cases, an “ask to pet me” patch most likely means it is a SDiT (service dog in training) or a facility dog. Something as small as making kiss noises to a service dog can be dangerous for the handler. Trying to coo and get the dogs attention on you is disrespectful towards the working pair. The dog may be the cutest dog you have ever seen; but a simple smile at the handler will tell them everything the handler needs to know. To reiterate; no petting, talking, or whistling at a working service dog should be allowed.
One fun fact I want to tell is what the ‘Fab Four’ are. The Fab Four refers to the best type of breeds to train for service work. This list includes the Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, Standard Poodles, and Collies. These breeds are known for their stable + friendly tempers, intelligence, and eagerness to learn and please! This group is also considered to be easy to train and have been bred over the years with temperament traits that are standardized to a remarkably high pedestal!
To end, here are some ways you can help support and acknowledge all the work service dogs do:
- Donations
Donating is always a great way to support service dog training facilities! Training and taking care of a large quantity of dogs is beyond expensive, but even a small amount can help in plenty of ways! Some service dog training organizations and facilities are actually non-profit and run on volunteers entirely! One great organization is the service dog training NFP I volunteer under: Paws Giving Independence! Here is our donation link if you are looking for a SDO to donate to; https://givingindependence.org/about-us/donations/
- Volunteering
You can always volunteer at a dog training facility or organization! It is usually a multi-step process, but fairly easy to get into. Whether you want to come by just a day or two each week to help clean up after dogs, or if you want to take on a major responsibility such as puppy raising or fostering a SDiT; any service dog training program would be happy to accept a volunteer!
- Respecting a service dog in vest in public
This is probably the most solid piece of advice I can give to those looking to support service dogs for the month of September. Respecting and ignoring a working dog in public is the best possible plan for you to take. This is also a great lesson for children, who tend to struggle more with the foreign idea of a dog they cannot interact with. Spreading the message and importance of letting a service dog do its job in a public area to those who may not be as educated or ignorant on the topic is helping people with individuals more than you know!
Happy International Service Dog Month, reader! I hope my article gave some knowledge and insight on the importance of service dogs as a whole. Service dogs are some of the most intelligent animals I know and are definitely the hardest workers I have ever met and deserve all the acknowledge and respect they can get (when they are not doing their job, of course!).