How Service Dogs Can Help People With Disabilities

Did you know?

Service dogs are trained to assist people with disabilities, improving their daily life and allowing them to participate in day to day activities. Service dogs give a sense of freedom, greater independence, joy, fulfilment, confidence, security, and love to their partners 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

There are many disabilities that a services dog can help with:

ALS
Arthritis
Cardiac-related disabilities
Cerebral Palsy
Chronic back/neck problems
Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome
Diabetes
Epilepsy/seizure disorders
Fibromyalgia
Multiple Sclerosis
Muscular Dystrophy
Myasthenia Gravis
Narcolepsy/Cataplexy
Paralysis
Parkinson’s Disease
Spina Bifida
Spinal Cord Injuries
Stroke
Vertigo

The different types of service dogs

Let’s have a look at the different types of service dogs and how they help their owners.

1. Guide dogs

These service dogs help people who are visually impaired or blind around obstacles.

2. Hearing dogs

These service dogs help people with hearing impairments and alert them when they hear noises such as alarms, doorbells or crying babies and lead them towards the noise.

3. Mobility service dogs

These service dogs can perform a wide range of tasks for people with different mobility issues. They can bring objects, press buttons on automatic doors, serve as a brace for people who are ambulatory or even help pull a wheelchair up a ramp.

4. Diabetic alert dogs

These service dogs provide independence and security, because they can alert their owner when they smell blood sugar highs and lows before the levels become dangerous.

5. Seizure alert dogs

These types of service dogs can alert before their owner has a seizure, based on a specific behavior humans have before getting a seizure. There are different opinions about the ability of dogs predicting seizures. Some neurology experts say the evidence is not 100% reliable.

6. Seizure respond dogs

These service dogs help someone who experiences an epileptic seizure. These dogs bark for help, they press an alarm button during a person’s seizure, get them out of an unsafe place or bring medication.

7. Psychiatric service dogs

These service dogs help people who are suffering from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

8. Autism support dogs

These service dogs can support children with autism who have trouble connecting with classmates. These dogs act like an icebreaker, reduce isolation and comfort the kid in stressful situations. They can also prohibit kids from running away or track them when they do.

9. FASD service dogs

These types of service dogs help kids who have been diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). These kids can have physical, mental, learning and behavioral problems. These dogs are trained similar to the autism service dogs, but could also be trained to interrupt a repetitive behavior.

10. Allergy detection dogs

These service dogs are trained to sniff out and alert to the odor of things such as peanuts or gluten.

There are also other types of dogs including therapy and emotional support dogs, but they aren’t service dogs, because they are not trained to perform specific tasks.

The different kinds of service dog breeds

Let’s have a look at the different kinds of service dog breeds.

Did you know?