Dogs and humans have been living and working together for at least 15,000 years. Some evidence suggests we first teamed up nearly 30,000 years ago! In that time dogs have helped humans in ways from hunting to sniffing out illegal drugs.
The Seeing Eye began placing guide dogs in 1929, and Service Dog providers like Canine Companions and Dogs for Better Lives began providing mobility and hearing dogs in the mid-1970s. Autism and PTSD service dogs emerged more recently, and demand for service dogs has grown.
The Americans with Disabilities Act defines what a service dog is but provides little insight on how to get one. There are no official licensing requirements for service dog trainers, and there are no regulations governing certification of trained dogs. There isn’t even a standard method of training dogs. One dog trainer in Shaker Heights, Ohio told me that the only thing two dog trainers can agree on is that all other trainers do it wrong.
High demand and poor understanding of where to get a service dog have created what NBC News recently called a “Wild West market”. People in need have received poorly trained dogs or have been victims of out-and-out fraud.
The good news is that there is no shortage of legitimate service dog providers in North America. Our Big List of Service Dog Providers contains 95 not-for-profit organizations, and we keep adding more. That’s a lot to sort through, but Koogle and I have you covered. In this post we’ll give you some questions to consider that will help you pinpoint where to find the dog you or your loved one needs.
What kind of help do you need?
Service dogs are trained to perform tasks to mitigate specific disabilities, and training organizations tend to specialize. The first step is to find trainer/providers that address your specific needs. In the Big List we organize service dog providers into four groups, based on need. The groups are:
How do you know an organization is legitimate?
There is no licensing or official certification for service dog providers, but the industry has taken steps to self-regulate. Assistance Dogs International (ADI) is a worldwide coalition of service dog programs that sets standards for training and the certification of human-dog teams. Organizations accredited by ADI follow a set of standards that are benchmarks of excellence in the service dog industry. Accreditation indicates that the organization is collaborating with other programs rather than working in isolation and that they have high standards for the well-being of their animals.
The Big List shows which providers are accredited. While ADI includes guide dog providers, The International Guide Dog Federation also exists to facilitate knowledge sharing and to promote high standards among guide dog organizations.
How much experience do they have?
There was a surge in the number of service dog providers in the 1990s and 2000s, and new organizations continue to open. Guide dog providers have been around the longest, while those specializing in Autism or PTSD can be relatively new.
The year in which an organization was founded is a good first indicator of experience, as is the number of dogs they have placed. Highly experienced organizations will have placed thousands of dogs into teams, while newer ones will have placed fewer than one hundred.
This doesn’t mean that a newer organization has insufficient experience. Some specialized organizations like Blue Path Service Dogs or Paws for Purple Hearts either were spun off from or have a shared history with more established groups. Dig a little deeper into the program or the trainers’ histories if you think a newer program might work out for you.
Are any fees charged?
It’s not unusual to find organizations that charge $15,000 to $40,000 for a fully trained service dog. Sometimes the charge takes the form of required fundraising, but the client is still on the hook for coming up with cash. Most not-for-profit organizations provide service dogs either free of charge or for a minimal application fee, and I would look to those providers first.
I’m not ready to judge the organizations that charge fees. They may be newer or smaller and lack the large endowments of more established groups. You might also be willing consider paying modest fees for a shorter waitlist or a local program. I would be cautious with for profit or non-accredited programs charging large fees, however. What is your recourse if the dog doesn’t perform as promised? What follow-up is provided, and will there be a charge for additional training?
What type of dogs do they use?
By far, most service dog providers use a combination of Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, or crosses of the two. These breeds hit the sweet spot of trainability, size, temperament, and perceived friendliness. This doesn’t mean other dogs won’t work, but there are things to consider.
German shepherds have long been used as guide dogs, and some programs still use them. Most of us have seen a news story with a snapping German shepherd police dog, and that image sticks. When I did a Google search for the scariest dog breed, German shepherd was number one, while pit bull was number four. It’s not that German shepherds are bad dogs. The public perceives them that way, and a dog that freaks people out could potentially hurt your public access. Avoid breeds that are perceived as scary if possible.
Great Danes are used by some service dog providers for their size and strength, but their short life span and other health problems can be a concern. According to the American Kennel Club, some Great Danes live only six to seven years. Those unlucky dogs could have a working life of less than four years after they complete their training.
Some programs use rescue dogs to reduce costs and save canine lives. Mutts are less likely to have health issues caused by inbreeding and could work out fine as service dogs. Their challenge is there is no way of being certain they will work out before training begins. Even large programs with dedicated breeding programs can have a 50% failure rate. Those dogs end up being repurposed as pets or therapy dogs.
If a program uses rescue dogs, make sure the dogs are fully trained before they are paired with clients. Steer away from any program where clients are paired with untrained dogs and the client is led through the training. The risk of failure may be more than you are willing to accept.
Be aware no dog is risk free. Labrador retrievers have a tendency to eat things that aren’t edible, and the gold standard golden retrievers (sorry, I couldn’t resist) can be cancer-prone. Proper care of whatever dog you receive is essential.
What is the training like?
A service dog must be able to do more than just the tasks it is asked to perform. It must be properly socialized so it will react properly to strange dogs and people. It must be conditioned to be calm in numerous stressful conditions, like busy streets, crowed airplanes, etc.
Most programs start with young puppies (8 or 9 weeks old) that are placed with puppy raisers. These people are usually volunteers who teach the dog basic obedience and expose it to dogs and people to ensure proper socialization. The dogs are taken out into the world where they are exposed the various environments their future handlers might take them to.
The puppies are handed over to professional trainers when they are fourteen to eighteen months old. They are checked for health issues, like hip dysplasia, and the serious training begins. The dogs are evaluated on basic obedience and eventually are trained to perform needs-based tasks. Professional training lasts six months to a year, and the dogs are continuously evaluated on their abilities and demeanor.
The dogs typically meet the person they will assist once they have completed professional training. Most service dog providers have an in-person training program that lasts two to four weeks. This is called team training or training camp and typically takes place at the organization’s campus. Some programs will come to the client’s home. Clients usually have both lecture and practical training. It is here where they get to work with their dogs before bringing them home.
Some programs differ from this model, and the client plays a significant role in training the dog. This is often the case in programs that accept client-owned dogs. Programs like these can last from six to eighteen months and require the client to live close to the training facility.
This alternative methodology is sometimes used where working with the dog is part of the client’s therapy. This may be the case for veterans who transition out of active duty with physical injuries or PTSD. Part of the thinking is that the dog will bond strongly with the client during the training period. In my experience, fully trained dogs bond with their handlers simply through the daily service dog routine. Think about your personal objectives if considering a client-trained program and keep the length of time and the chance of failure in mind.
Where are the training facilities located?
Location is definitely an issue for the client-trained programs, since you will need to repeatedly visit the facility. Travel needs to be considered for any team training or team camp. Can you easily get there? What about the cost of travel? Some programs cover all costs of training camps, including travel. In others you are responsible for lodging and food.
Consider the location and travel expenses, and don’t forget that you’ll be traveling home with a dog! A local program would make it easy to drop back in for help once a dog has been placed with you.
Will there be follow-up or continued support?
The best trained dog in the world is still a dog, and most of us aren’t dog professionals. You will have challenges and glitches as you work a new service dog into your life. Make sure there is a dedicated contact within the organization you can reach out to for trouble shooting and training advice after you go home.
Service dog organizations accredited by Assistance Dogs International will periodically require service dog teams to be recertified for public access. This is both a dog handling exam and a chance for the client to get help and advice.
Graduate groups are another way to get support. Koogle and I are members of the Graduates of Canine Companions Facebook group, and we are active in the Canine Companions Northern Ohio Volunteer Chapter. Check to see what communities are out there for peer-to-peer support as well.
We hope this post is helpful!
Let Koogle and me know if we can help you in some other way. You can reach out to us at jim@jimandhisdog.com or add a comment below with additional tips on how to find the right program.
