Service
The Life Cycle of a Service Dog
Service dogs are highly trained animals that can help their companions with tasks ranging from turning lights on/off and picking up fallen items, to pulling somebody in a wheelchair or guiding a blind person through their daily lives. Before starting their working lifespan of 8-10 years, a service dog goes through about two years of training.
The Newborn Stage
For most large service dog companies, puppies are bred at the facility and have their first 8 weeks of care there too. The training facilities take care of feeding, bathing, and loving the puppies in their early stages to ensure their health is perfect before leaving the facility.
The Puppy Raisers
Typically, when a puppy is about 8 weeks old, it goes off to live with a volunteer puppy raiser for a little over a year. Puppy raisers are from all over the country and teach the puppies basic obedience, such as easy commands--sit, down, come--and proper leash walking. Puppy raisers are also responsible for bringing their dogs to public areas to normalize different objects and locations.
The Training
After the dogs return from their puppy raiser's home, dogs return to the training facility to begin learning more demanding commands. Service dog training typically lasts anywhere from 4-6 months, depending on what commands the dogs are taught. Once the dogs are ready to work, they are teamed up with an applicant. Companies will normally invite the dog's owners in for a 2-3 week intensive training at their facility so the humans know just how to work with their four-legged counterparts.
Fast Facts
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ACA) states that service dogs have access to any public place (stores, restaurants, buses, etc). Unless there is a safety concern or the dog is acting out--for instance going to the bathroom inside--then the owner/operator of the public place must accept the dog's entry. The dog's owner is responsible for any mess and must keep their dog on a leash or harness.
Costs and Funding
Graduation Success Rate
According to Mercola, a pet nutrition and animal wellness company, about 70% of dogs who start a service training program don't make it to graduation for behavioral reasons. What happens to the dogs that don't become a service dog? Often times, dogs will go on to be an emotional support dog or a police canine. If neither of those options work out, some larger companies with puppy raisers will typically give the puppy raiser an opportunity to take the dog back.
Training a service dog can generally cost as much as $50,000. Fortunately for those that receive a service dog from one of the many large training companies, customers do not have to pay. Service dog training facilities, like Canine Companions for Independence, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and Service Dog Project, raise money throughout the year to eliminate the cost for their customers.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Breeds and Their Specialties
Any breed of dog can be a service dog, but the most commonly trained service dogs are Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. Why? It's right there in their name. It's in their nature to retrieve items. Another common breed is a Great Dane. Service Dog Project provides Great Danes for those with mobility disabilities since the dog's weight and height are optimal for supporting and leading their human partners.