Service Animal (Dog) Question - For those with experience (Non-Disney)

[Anjelica]

I'm looking for any good experiences with Service Animal (Dog) organizations. My brother is looking for a service animal and yes while he could go through the VA process its VERY time consuming and takes MONTHS to complete. In addition he has always been partial to German Shepards and some of the non-for profit agencies that match disabled veterans to service dogs do not have German Shepards.

So what I am looking for is any references of good organizations that supply service animals (even for pay)?

I greatly appreciate it!!!

 

[disney david]

I'm looking for any good experiences with Service Animal (Dog) organizations. My brother is looking for a service animal and yes while he could go through the VA process its VERY time consuming and takes MONTHS to complete. In addition he has always been partial to German Shepards and some of the non-for profit agencies that match disabled veterans to service dogs do not have German Shepards.

So what I am looking for is any references of good organizations that supply service animals (even for pay)?

I greatly appreciate it!!!

My mother works for the va in New York and she started a pet therapy program I asking her if she knows any one Unfortunately she may not since I not sure if she ever had a veteran in ny that wanted a service dog. I know the va stopped giving PTSD dogs which my mother was not to happy because she know they helped them because the therapy dog her unit has helped veteran with PTSD and others. Because she works as nurse manager for mental health and you be surprised how many veteran opened up when they see the dog each week.

I hope this helps sorry I couldn't help more will post if I find out more info

Here some web sites I found online


http://patriotpaws.org/


http://vetsadoptpets.org/vetservicedogs.html

 

[disney david]

My mom suggest this web site not sure if they will be able to help depending on which state your brother in. They might be able to help but not sure.

http://www.puppiesbehindbars.org/home

 

[Luvchefmic]

First OP thank your dear brother for his service Second no matter where you go for a really good dog to team up with him will take time As a military family we have known many vets that needed this wonderful life partner I will point you to the bottom link that will have several websites for you Somewhere out there is the perfect partner just waiting to be matched with your brother Keep us posted please


http://www.operationwearehere.com/militaryservicedogs.html

 

[gilesmt]

OP your question is hard to answer because you did not state what service the dog would need to do, or what area of the country you are from. Both make a huge difference. Also, rather than a type of dog, most places match what is best for handler and dog as a team. I have had three service dogs now and I would think they would be the same but they are very different, but each one was just right for where I was during that time, does that make sense. My first dog was very obedient and very well trained, over the top trained, being a new team it was so great to have a dog just do what needed to be done, even if I could not state the command fast enough. My second dog was not as well trained but knew what to do, but needed a handler who knew what needed to be done and tell them and be able to correct them. My third dog, is a laid back take life as it comes and sit back and literally watch the Ross bloom.

That being said, most schools trainers do not use sheppards anymore. Some still do, there is a reason, shepards are a one owner dog, so to have a sheppard go from a puppy raiser, to a school to train, to a disabled individual is very hard on them and over the years it is realized that although many made good service animals, in all they did not make the best. Labs and poodles, are much easier in whole to train and have many different handlers. There are a few other reasons also. One being climates, long haired dogs like sheppards are not as universal as labs to acclimate to climates.

Also, I don't know about all vet programs, but my ex got his dog thru the va and it only took him about three months. Also, I am blind and the school I go thru, will tell you, vets are first priority, it took me 5 months from application to training and my dog, but vets have been known to get thru the process even faster. I also know that when you go back for a dog because your dog needs to retire you have first priority but vets have priority over you, I was asked last time if I could wait a month because a vet really needed to go before me, I said fine and let them go, so it took me 2 months to get my second dog. And two weeks to get my third dog.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I'm assuming that your brother is in the US. I do agree with gilesmt that it would be a bit easier to give specific advice if we knew what he needed the dog for. There's a huge range in what assistance dogs can do. What's available to assist with PTSD is incredibly different from what's available to assist with mobility impairments or blindness or hearing impairment. Also, not all programs will train dogs for all tasks. I'm not sure I know of any program that trains both "seeing eye dogs" (not sure if that's still the correct term) and dogs for people with mobility impairments, for example.

Is he willing to look outside of programs that only cater to Veterans? Honestly, most programs take at least a few months for a first time partnership because organizations do their absolute best to match a person the dog that will work best for them, both in terms of a dog that is particularly good at relevant skills and in terms of temperament. Most organizations will, however, work with people who are not local. Some of the really big national organizations have satellite facilities that do training for a set of states. Some of the smaller ones just have the human partner travel and stay in a hotel for the initial 2-3 week intense training. (No one I know commuted from home for the initial training with their dog, partially because of the amount of time and energy they spent in class each day and for some spending at least one night in a hotel with the dog was actually part of the training.) Most organizations these days will place assistance dogs in households that already have a pet dog (or allow you to get a pet dog after you receive the assistance dog) so he could also consider getting a non-German shepherd assistance dog and then a German shepherd as a pet.

If you search online for "German shepherd assistance dogs" (without quotation marks) there are programs that pop up. I'm not sure how many are freely trained or not, but they do exist. It may be worth your brother's time to call around and find out which ones might be willing to work with him and what their wait times are like (he should make sure to mention he's a veteran), etc. I don't think any of the big national organizations work with German shepherds these days so if that's a requirement for him, he is probably going to have to work with a smaller organization and that could take longer and/or be more likely to result in an out of pocket cost relating to training that he would have to pay or raise money towards.

The other option would be for your brother to do some research into training his own assistance dog and finding a German shepherd he thinks would work well as an assistance dog. He could then self-train or hire a trainer to help him train the dog. In the US there is no actual certification required to be designated an assistance dog. This option does involve more time and money from him, plus he would really need to look for a dog that would fit as far as temperament goes since not all dogs, even of breeds that are commonly used for assistance dogs, make good assistance dogs. There are websites that have recommendations on what to look for in a dog to train as an assistance dog, but I don't know if there's really any way to know 100% that a dog will be good before you start training.

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm going to move this to the disABILITIES Community Board since that board is for non-Disney related questions.

I also wanted to clarify that therapy dogs, mentioned by a poster, are not the same as service dogs. They are trained, but not to do tasks or provider service to one disabled person.
Service dogs are allowed to accompany their human partner pretty much wherever that person goes. They are an accommodation - sort of like a wheelchair - that provides something the person is not able to do themselves because of the disability.

Therapy dogs are not.

We worked with an experienced service dog trainer to train our DD's dog, but she didn't require the go to do a lot of really specialized things - more picking things up and giving them, alerting us, things like that.
Someone who needs their dog to do more or more specialized tasks may need to have someone else do the training.

 

[Anjelica]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Some more information:

He's 28 years old, single with no children (but eventually those can change so I'm not sure how that affects a service dog).He currently lives in O'Fallon, IL - that is 12 miles from downtown St. Louis, MO - we are considered metro St. Louis area.

He lost his right leg, above the knee, in Iraq in 2007. He still has his hip area in tacked but the end result from the attack and subsequent surgeries is a high amputation leaving him with about 10 inches of leg from his hip.

As far as I know he does not suffer from PTSD and luckily we are close so he has opened up to me alot (which really does help to just talk). He has issues controlling his body temperature due to the attack and subsequent explosion.

He does suffer from some asthma but its rare (his lungs were burnt during the explosion) - and not related to the Iraq deployment he's allergic to seafood (which is a bit humorous as we grew up as a military family deployed to stations near the ocean - so we grew up with eating tons of seafood - he developed the allergy after we moved to the midwest)

He is still active duty but has a desk job - he commutes to and from work at Scott AFB - IL. He does bike ride in a modified bike (one where you use your arms to peddle). He also uses a segway to get to and from his car at work to his office.

His biggest need is an animal to help with tasks around the house and at work which require him to get up/down to acquire items as well as maybe an animal that can assist with mobility/stability.

He uses a wheelchair or crutches when he is not working as his prosthetic leg is very cumbersome due to how high his amputation resides. He can walk with his prosthetic leg with a cane and an "awkward" limp - he's not as sturdy when he wears his leg. His leg is "electronic" and feels when he moves to help with the bending but he has fallen with it as its not 100%.

He's pretty adamant about getting a German Shepard - I know it's better to be paired with a service dog that has been trained and as someone indicated German Shepherds are better at one owner dogs. Through everything he has been through (and of course being my younger brother a stubborn devil) I don't think he will change his mind no matter how much better another path would be.

He doesn't mind paying outright to acquire a German Shepard puppy - but then I wonder if there are organizations that would help to train the dog to be a service dog that meets his needs - in his home or locally he could take the dog to.

He travels with our family sometimes and with my children (10 and 6) we help him out but we aren't always with him to assist. Luckily he was able to go with us on our DCL to Alaska back in 2011 (he was still at Walter Reed at that time) and it absolutely made his year. We even did a little bit of hiking with him (although he fell a few times).

At this time, when he is not working, his preference for quick get in/out shopping, visiting, movies, etc. is to just use his crutches (no leg) - when he only uses his crutches his hands aren't really free for the everyday tasks. For example, when he comes over to our house and has items he needs to bring in he will calls us before he gets here and we help to bring them inside.

Again I really appreciate every ones responses.

 

[disney david]

Dose he go to the va i am sorry to say it and mean no disrespect he has a 100 service connected disability so the va should pay 100 percent for the dog. Did he try and ask his local va for help finding one. I posted some links that have web sites for what your looking for not sure what breeds they use. The problem is German Shepard are used in law enforcement so their might be harder to find one that will be a service dog.

 

[disney david]

this might help answer some questions he may want to go through the va it sounds like what he needs they can help. because they wil pat vet bills and other things. i hope this helps him and please thank him again for his service and let him know we all support him.


http://www.prosthetics.va.gov/GUIDE_AND_SERVICE_DOGS_FREQUENTLY_ASKED_QUESTIONS_FAQs.ASP

 

[Anjelica]

this might help answer some questions he may want to go through the va it sounds like what he needs they can help. because they wil pat vet bills and other things. i hope this helps him and please thank him again for his service and let him know we all support him.


http://www.prosthetics.va.gov/GUIDE_AND_SERVICE_DOGS_FREQUENTLY_ASKED_QUESTIONS_FAQs.ASP

Thanks for the link - it actually states that the VA will help pay for veterinary care and the equipment but not the dog itself. They provide a referral servcie to accredited agencies (Although they stated that many of the organizations do not charge for the dog or the dog's training).

 

[disney david]

Thanks for the link - it actually states that the VA will help pay for veterinary care and the equipment but not the dog itself. They provide a referral servcie to accredited agencies (Although they stated that many of the organizations do not charge for the dog or the dog's training).

Sorry saw the part about the vet but as it says most wont charge for one.

 

[zimom]

OP, tried to send you a pm, but my post count isn't high enough

 

[Luvchefmic]

I had posted before but realized something since he is active duty why doesn't he get assistance from his base by contacting the unit that assists wounded warriors instead of trying to do this on his own ?

http://www.scottafrc.com/additional-programs/wounded-warriors/