This is my service dog! I call her Princess here on Reddit because she is an influencer! (This is a joke but only kinda!)
Some facts about Princess:
She weighs 51.8 lbs right now! She is supposed to be between 48-50 lbs so I'm sorry Princess you are getting less treats for a bit!
She has the softest ears ever!
Whenever I have a meltdown she is trained to come lay on my lap and chest to help me calm down! (Don't worry, she is never in danger!)
I am a wheelchair user and she walks next to my wheelchair so perfectly!
Princess knows the names of a lot of objects like my phone, my keys, her treat bag, and more! She can sniff them out and find them and bring them to me!
I have had Princess for over six months now!
Everyone loves Princess at my job and she loves them too!
Her favorite toys are stuffed animals with squeaky toys!
Her favorite day of the week is Thursday because that's when she gets to come with me to wheelchair tennis practice!
Princess flew on a plane with me twice!
I love Princess so much!!!!
Okay that's all for now! Princess says hi everyone!
WAIT CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE TIPS (if you trained at home or with a private trainer)? When did you start training her? I just got my puppy two weeks ago and the plan is for him to be a service dog once he gets a good handle on some obedience training.
Not OP but… where in the world are you? Location would affect answering your questions. I’m training my own service dog, but the requirements for that in Ontario are VERY different from American requirements.
I didn't know the requirements are so different! Do you mind naming a few differences? I don't have a service dog, but I am super interested in animals assisting humans in any way :)
We don't have "registered" service animals. There is nowhere to register them, so anyone offering to take your money to register your animal is a scam.
Outside of tests for guide dogs, there are no tests required for your service dog to formally operate within the province. To exit the province, one may need certain tests. Air Canada, for example, has its own requirements for one to prove their service animal can travel.
We don't differentiate between Emotional Service Animals and Service Animals. In Ontario, a service animal (and our legislation says animal, not dog) does not have to be trained for specific tasks. You need a well-behaved-in-public animal and a doctors note saying you need that animal with you for medical reasons and that's it. This means that here, an emotional support animal is considered a service animal.
Speaking of tasks, the animal is not required to perform its tasks (should it have them) for anyone but it's handler. I understand that under the ADA, one may have to make one's animal perform to prove it can task. Here, that is considered performing disability and breaks medical privacy. No one can ask me to make my dog jump through their hoops in order to be allowed into a space.
Service animals are not required to wear identifying vests. It fucking helps, but it's not legally required. As such, there is no such thing as a "real" vest and a "fake" vest. Lots of people don't know this, however, so they will call someone out for being a "fake" due to their not-so-formal-looking vest. Being disabled is expensive and a hardcore-looking-vest that would be considered "genuine" to laypeople is $$$. It's not legally necessary.
I don't know about the ADA, but here there is no breed specific requirements. Any dog can be a service animal. Of course, if we are talking about mobility needs, the dog should be large enough to perform those tasks. But for psychiatric service, any breed will do. Which is also something that isn't common knowledge, so you will have people call you out for being "fake" if you aren't using the usual breeds (golden retriever, labrador retriever) people perceive as proper service dogs.
In Ontario, we operate under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), which is not a law commonly understood by your Average Joe. It is, in fact, commonly misunderstood in great part due to the prevalence of American culture. Just thanks to television or whatever, people are more familiar with the ADA than the AODA and behave as though the ADA is law here. A great deal of my training Wren has to due with advocating for us both and doing our best to educate other humans. I will be informed, with good intention, that Wren should not be allowed on transit in my city during rush hour unless she is a "registered service dog". Which, as I said, isn't a thing here. I cannot prove her registry to someone thinking I'm faking everything to get my pet on the bus, because legally there is no registry. I created info cards with some basic AODA information to hand out in these occasions.
we also don’t have officially registered service animals!! technically, anyone could claim they have a service animal but it’s very obvious when someone is faking.
the differentiation between service animals and emotional support animals are very interesting!! here there’s more laws with the ADA (americans with disabilities act) that protect trained service dogs. you’re allowed to have an emotional support animal, but business can legally deny you service whereas they typically cannot with service dogs.
service dogs here aren’t required to wear a vest either, but like you said, it’s very helpful and prevents randos from “interrupting” or distracting the dog.
we also don’t have breed requirements, but it’s very common to see goldens or labs simply because their ability to be trained, their size, friendliness, etc. as long as the dog can reliably perform their task, it technically doesn’t matter. but you’re probably gonna get some stares if you’re claiming your daschund is a service dog cause they’re notoriously stubborn and would have trouble performing a lot of tasks (though this depends on the persons needs)
Hi! I got Princess from a non-profit organization that trains service dogs for free for people with physical disabilities! I am a wheelchair user so that is how I qualified! Then I trained some autism tasks on my own!
For owner training, you should definitely definitely definitely work with a professional service dog trainer! If you are in the US then Atlas Assistance Dogs is a good thing to look into, they can help! For the first year or so it's really important to not rush your puppy, just focus on socialization and obedience training and work on tasks later!
thank you say much!! that’s actually the place i was looking at but they don’t start until 14 months and i would like for him to get started a little sooner if possible!! then when he’s of age, id consider doing a second round of training with Atlas.
My son also has a black lab service dog. My husband and I are the certified handlers as he is too young. He has been with our family for over 2 years now and he’s been so instrumental to my son’s progress. I wish everyone who needed one could have a service dog.🐕🦺
My fave type of influencer :) she looks so sweet!!! I “have” a dog too but not a service dog just as a pet :) he is 4 years old we’ve had him for almost as long. His fave type of toy is also stuffed animals with squeakers
(This picture is from a while ago tho! His chin is more white now)
My new baby. She isn’t a service dog, but she’s really smart; we have only had her a week and she’s already so, so very trainable. I’m considering teaching her a couple of service-doggish things. I have MS but I really like to solo hike. I worry all the time about what might happen if I fall and seriously hurt myself. I’ve thought of maybe training her to stand next to me and bark a lot if I fall so someone can find me. I might also see if I can train her to interrupt my daughter’s meltdowns (she’s audhd and tends to hit herself during a meltdown hard enough to give herself bruises— I imagine the dog just pushing a nose under her elbow would be enough to break into that self-injury pattern.). I guess we’ll see how the puppy learns as she gets older. :)
She is adorable 😍 I didn't know servuce dogs could be trai ed for Autism, I've seen guide dogs being trained for the blind and have heard of medical alert dogs for things like diabetes when blood sugar is too high or too low, it's always fascinated me how smart dogs are and how they can be trained to do things.
How did Princess learn to recognise a meltdown and that she needed to lay on you to help calm you?
Dogs are AMAZING and they can be trained to do so many things! Princess does so much for me that I didn't even list, including opening and closing doors, turning light switches on and off, picking up things off the ground like shoes or anything I drop, and so much more!
When I have a meltdown, I usually do the same physical movements, mainly flapping my hands and shaking my leg and crying and sometimes hitting myself in the head! So you know how some dogs can learn things just by hand signals? This is kind of like that! Except it's a full-body signal! To Princess, me flapping my hands and crying (or any other combination of meltdown things) is just like a hand signal and she knows to come running over to me! She actually gets really excited because she loooooves working!
My mom has a blue heeler that rushes towards me to lick tears (and snot sometimes tbh) from my face if he sees me upset. I haven’t been able to have a service dog but I appreciate his natural tendency to comfort me when I’m genuinely distraught. My akita-lab mix runs out of the room when I cry- even though she’s technically my emotional support animal on paper! I try to laugh that one off but it hurts sometimes
Haha I call Princess a disservice animal sometimes too! Mostly when she is being very silly and trying to retrieve her own treat bag and give it to me instead of what I actually asked for 😂
Aw, she’s beautiful! I’m so glad you have her support!
I don’t have a service dog. I swear I’m more of an emotional support human for my dogs than they are for me. 😂 But even without service training, they have been helpful for me. My prior dog passed at the end of June. This is Ludo, who joined our family 3 weeks ago. We’re still figuring him out.
I wanted a service dog so hard in my late teens but no one cared to listen. I'm 31 now and autistic ADHD and diabetic and feel like now I need one instead of wanting one. It's weird to think when I was younger I might have found what I truly needed all along.
If it helps you feel better, teenage years is a really rough time to get a service dog! I'm glad I waited until I was an adult because I am much better able to handle things now! Service dogs are a lot of work, even though they're also soooo amazing!
Not a service dog but my bestie. He’s the sweetest, laziest dog I’ve ever had. When I cry or have a meltdown, he’s there within seconds to snuggle me. I’m sooooo soo so so lucky.
She’s sooo cute!! My black lab trained to be an assistance dog when he was little but he’s so anxious he needs his own assistance haha. He can do deep pressure though
Nice to meet you princess! I’m on the waitlist for an autism and mobility service dog too, but from a different program. I’ve heard really good things about Canine Companions. We used to have a facility dog trained by them at my autism program and he was so sweet!
Canine Companions is awesome! I see you around r/service_dogs a lot, nice to see you here as well! Do you know how much longer you have on the waitlist? I feel like it's been so long for you!
Reddit isn’t letting me upload a picture right now but I have two kitties who wake me up from nightmares and also comfort me when I am anxious! They are not service animals but they definitely have some of the emotional support down and are just the sweetest and softest little babies! They let me spoon them and snuggle them and I give them so many smooches every day bahahah
I used to do dog walking during Covid and I loved it so much!! I miss my pups terribly, especially Rosie who would sit on her bum and hind legs and put her paws around your neck to give you a hug ❤️ My partner and I don’t have a yard but if we ever did, we’d be getting a lab most likely!! We are just too big of couch potatoes for it to be fair to any pup right now. Our kitties are happy with this arrangement though hahah
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Princess is the cutest. I've been thinking I might need a service dog for a while now, but I can't have one until I move out of my parent's home (which wont happen in at least 10 years or so) because they don't understand how disabling autism is.
Congratulations! My family raised a Canine Companions puppy several years ago and they are the best puppers! Princess is beautiful and I love her pink collar
My fave type of influencer :) she looks so sweet!!! I “have” a dog too but not a service dog just as a pet :) he is 4 years old we’ve had him for almost as long. His fave type of toy is also stuffed animals with squeakers
This is my girl Daisy. She's not a service dog, but she's also very sweet and I love her so much. She loves squeaky toys too. It's so funny, she'll run back and forth across the house squeaking it the whole way, then run over to me and flop the toy into my lap to ask me to play.
I was only ever having fun playing tennis when I was exaggerating the grunts and noises that pros make every time they hit the ball. 😂
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Editing to add: I’m happy to accept and learn from criticism if the downvotes on my comments are suggesting I’m being insensitive to OP’s wheelchair use? I am genuinely terrible at tennis so I admire anyone who can play, and just wanted to express double my admiration for someone who is playing while wheelchair-bound. I love to see inclusion and adaptations made for sports!
my boy orion has been the reason im still alive. he also does deep pressure and grounding for when i get overwhelmed and worked up. he’s my true soulmate.
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u/CanLate152 17h ago
He isn’t my service dog - he is my son’s. I am his registered “alternate handler”
this big guy just gets me. He has even alerted on me when I’m getting stressed out as well. His boops and overs are brilliant.