Introduction
Service dogs are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. The decision by a person with disabilities to team with a service dog should be a considered, well-researched process that includes:
- Learning about the abilities and limitations of service dogs.
- Assessment of the person's needs.
- Impact the dog can have on the person's lifestyle.
- Responsible stewardship issues.
Service dogs are not a universal panacea for every negative aspect of a disability, but dogs that are trained to assist with their owners' individual needs can provide the amount of physical and/or psychological support necessary to propel a person toward more functional independence.
Who May Benefit
Service dogs can benefit people with disabilities associated with many diagnoses, including (but not limited to):
- Spinal cord/head trauma (injury, stroke).
- Visual or hearing deficits.
- Arthritis.
- Ataxia/poor balance.
- Multiple sclerosis.
- Cerebral palsy.
- Muscular dystrophy.
- Spina bifida.
- Seizure disorders.
- Cardio/pulmonary disease.
- Arteriovascular disease (primary or secondary to diabetes, etc.).
- Psychiatric disabilities.
Any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity might be a candidate for a service dog.
Consideration of a person as a candidate for a service dog should include not only the diagnosis of a chronic disability, but also the person's ability to function on a daily basis:
- How difficult are activities of daily living?
- Will the person have better stamina if s/he can conserve energy by having the dog perform tasks?
- Would having a service dog help the person get more physical exercise, be more mobile?
- Would a dog help socially by being a distraction from the person's disability, or help the person externalize his/her focus of attention?
- Would the dog's presence alleviate some of the safety and well-being concerns of significant others who cannot be with the person all day?
- Would the person eat better if the dog carried the food from the refrigerator, or if they synchronized their meals?
Health care and social service providers can help identify and evaluate their clients' needs to determine if a service dog might be a viable option for them.
Health Benefits
Service dogs help people overcome the limitations of their disabilities and the barriers in their environments.
Scientific research has begun to validate the role of service dogs for people with disabilities. In 1995, a 2-year study by Dr. Karen Allen, et. al., found that people with disabilities who had service dogs scored higher for psychological well-being, self-esteem, community integration, and the amount of control they could exert over their environment. In addition, the number of personal assistant (human) hours required for care decreased by an average of 78%. This represents significant potential savings in health care costs. Other studies support the findings of improved self-esteem, independence, and social acceptance.
Additional research has documented benefits of companion animals:
- Lowered blood pressure.
- Moderation of stress.
- Improved motivation.
- Decreased serum cholesterol.
- Mitigation of the effects of loneliness.
All these are added benefits which a service dog can provide, in addition to performing the tasks which it is trained to do.
Tasks Performed by Service Dogs
Service dogs are versatile, reliable assistants for people with disabilities. No longer limited to guiding people with visual impairments, service dogs perform a wide variety of tasks suitable as intervention for an equally wide assortment of limitations.
Service dogs can be trained to reliably perform many tasks, some of which are:
- Leading a person who has a visual impairment around obstacles, to destinations (seating, across street, to/through door, to/into elevator, etc.).
- Sound discrimination to alert a person with a hearing impairment to the presence of specific sounds, such as:
- Smoke/fire/clock alarms.
- Telephone.
- Baby crying.
- Sirens.
- Another person.
- Timers buzzing.
- Knocks at door.
- Unusual sounds (things that go bump in the night, mice in the cabinet, etc.).
- General assistance, including:
- Mobility (helping person balance for transfer/ambulation, pulling wheelchair, helping person rise from sitting or fallen position).
- Retrieval (getting items that are dropped or otherwise out of reach, carrying items by mouth).
- Miscellaneous (e.g., open/close doors and drawers, help person undress/dress, carry items in backpack, act as physical buffer to jostling by others, put clothes in washer/remove from dryer, bark to alert for help).
- Sense and alert owners to oncoming seizures. It is currently unknown why or how some dogs are able to do this, but a number of dogs have demonstrated the ability to warn their owners of oncoming seizures, enabling the owners to position themselves safely.
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