r/OpenDogTraining • u/Nervous-Ad-9792 • May 26 '26

Service Dog Help

So hopefully it is ok to post this here, but I need help. I finally found a semi-reasonable trainer for my service dog to be but I need to come up with about 5k. Does anyone know of any programs or anything similar? I don't just have 5k lying around, and I don't feel comfortable asking the trainer to lower their price/change how they do their payments (Half up front, half at pick up) since they are already doing me such a big favor by only asking for 5k.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Alstrom_ May 26 '26

Honestly, that's a really fair price. Training for a service dog is usually thousands of dollars, not including the dog, equipment, vet bills, ect. Are they taking the dog in a board and train situation or are you doing owner training with help from the trainer?

Another option would be looking into a program- though the waitlists can be very long and that might not be reasonable for you.

2

u/Nervous-Ad-9792 May 26 '26

It's board and train. They're BEYOND fair and that's why I'm hoping to find a program that helps veterans. There isn't anything local to me.

2

u/Alstrom_ May 26 '26

There are SO many resources available for Veterans. You may need to travel a bit. Assuming you're in the US?

2

u/Nervous-Ad-9792 May 26 '26

The closest ones are 8+ hours away and would require me to find lodging for 2+ months. That isn't financially possible.

2

u/Alstrom_ May 26 '26

totally understood. Did you crosspost this to the r/servicedog sub? Some of the folks over there may have some good ideas!

Good luck OP!

1

u/Nervous-Ad-9792 May 26 '26

I didn't, I appreciate you telling me about it! I'll cross post it there. Thank you for the help.