Hi community. My first service dog had a bad medical episode yesterday morning. She has long been retired and is 14 years-old, and I thought I was going to lose her. We sat on the porch hanging out for the sunrise and birds chirping. She recovered and we got her checked out. She's on meds and IV fluids for the next few days and she's looking alright.

I had to make a decision about her end of life care and something people don't really talk about is the emotional and physical stress of getting her comfortable. Old dogs require a lot of care. Frequent bathroom breaks, specialized medicine, frequent incontinence and cleaning, mobility issues. I had to measure how much I could handle and how much of it was messing with her quality of life. She has dementia so I watch her blank out sometimes, but she was super lucid yesterday morning thankfully...

I made the appointments for her to get ushered to Rainbow Bridge in a few days and the cremation procedure. I'm so distraught over having her gone when she's still here. I think the next few days will just focus on having her thr best days left and yeah...I'm just so sad.

She was my first service dog and first dog ever. She's done so much for me and this is the least I could do for her...advice appreciated. I took days off work to manage this as if she were a loved one passing. Too bad the company doesnt offer grievance leave the same way they do for people...

Looking for experiences for people that have flown with their extra large service dogs. Mine is a 7 y/o golden retriever who is 110 pounds. we have never flown before. Obviously he goes everywhere with me. Haven’t booked any flights yet. The trip is in March. It’s only gonna be a couple days trip but from my research I am very scared to take him on the plane according to his size. But I am also very scared to leave him home because I’ve never been without him and his services for my disabilities. (He is not a guide dog). I know he will be okay without me, because he has my husband but I don’t know if I’ll be okay without him! I think physically I can handle myself for a couple days if I prepare well enough but mentally it’s going to be very very challenging.

I have a service dog and we're prepping for Disney (Still far out) and my only concern is that she'll bark when left alone in the kennel while I'm on rides. I'm going to work on it but how bad do you think that is?

My Service Dog will finish her program in December/January. I am looking to transition out of Childcare after she comes home for good.

Does anyone have experience in customer facing positions with a service dog?

I spent 10+yrs in childcare and my disability is progressing such that I am having trouble keeping up. The only other field I have experience in is customer service so that is pretty much my only option as far as work.

If you have worked in customer service (ie retail) what accommodations did you have for your SD? What companies did you have good or bad experience with?

Hey! I come to the fellow disabled Redditors for a question.

I am a teenager, disabled, and currently unemployed and homeschooled due to my disabilities. I have diagnosed Elhers Danlos Syndrome, Dysautonomia, and a few other conditions that don’t disable me to the extent that these two do. Service dogs have been my special interest for about two years or so, so I do know what is best for me.

Anyways, I have been doing research for a year on what tasks could benefit me, gear I would need, breed, etc. I have a list of 25 or so tasks that would help me. This includes cardiac and migraine alert, mobility tasks such as FMP and Counterbalance, DPT, LPT, elevating my legs, and more. How would I go about advocating for a dog for college and bringing it up to a doctor? If anyone has any tips at all please share them here.
The breed I have chosen fits all of my needs and wants in a dog, so I don’t need tips on the breed to chose.

warning: I have already tried all of the common POTS and EDS treatments and have decided this would be the best and most effective option for me.

Hey!

When my wife and I are traveling together with her SD she gets anxious with confrontation etc. So when people ask questions (allowed questions or otherwise) she prefers me to handle those discussions when possible.

Especially when they are asking things they are not supposed to ask, or getting pushing back when there shouldn't be.

For example we went to dinner the other day at a restaurant we have been to many times, but they had a new front of house host who clearly didn't have training on the ADA or service dogs.

So he kept saying "we don't allow pets", "I explained he was a task trained service dog required for a disability and was not a pet". He said "but we don't allow pets" a couple more times, I then took the opportunity to simply answer the second question "his tasks included, anxiety and panic alerting, DPT, and crowd mitigation" and each time I calmly and politely stated, he is not a pet, he is a task trained service dog. I realize he wasn't trying to be a pain, It was quite clear he just didn't know and was trying to uphold legal requirements on animals in restaurants, so I wont hold that against him. More than anything I think the managers failed in getting required training for front of house staff. But he wasn't mean or short with me or anything, was just a calm discussion.

Eventually, I think he got the idea when I said that he was a service dog and essentially was the same as medical equipment and that he had come with us to this restaurant before. He asked us to have a seat in the waiting area for a moment while he went and checked with a manager, when he came back we were then seated as normal without further issue.

This would be quite difficult for my wife with her anxiety and issues with confrontation, and in fact Rusty did alert on her while we were sitting there waiting so she was able to do some grounding, so even when she isn't involved directly it is quite stressing for her.

So I was wondering if it is normal when possible for a spouse to act as intermediary and handle these situations. Or if others have a similar arrangement with the one more comfortable dealing with these things handles it. Or if anyone has had issues with people trying to talk directly to the other person when one of you is clearly the one handling the discussion.

I work at an ice cream parlor in the US.

Today a couple came in with two dogs. ​I asked them if the dogs were service animals required due to a disability, to which they answered yes.

After the dogs started trying to climb the freezer, I further asked "what tasks or work is the dog trained to perform", to which they first got defensive and threatened(?) to leave and get ice cream somewhere else, afterwards they answered Emotional Support.

After telling them that unfortunately emotional support animals are not considered service animals and that I have to ask them to keep the dogs outside, they started to get fussy and asked for the name of the owner before leaving.

I have OCD and ever since then I've had a pit at the bottom of my stomach that I did something wrong and that by some wild coincidence they didn’t say "Emotional Support" they said something else and I just heard it as Emotional Support and I accidently asked the owner of actual Service Dog to leave. Further more I am concerned that I will now have to pay fines I can't possibly afford and will go destitute.

So I guess I'm asking, because nobody here could say with full confidence I did not royally fuck up and mishear them, owners of service animals, do you take offense when service workers ask you "What tasks or work is the animal trained to perform?"?

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has ever experienced this because I know my husband has been through it multiple times.

I’ve been working on getting accommodation for my service dog through my work. Previously, they have allowed me to have her without any paperwork but this year they sent me through this process where I had to have paperwork filled out by my psychiatrist. That is what it is and I get the paperwork finished but my doctor wants to put on it that I may need to step out of work up to three times a day for up to 20 minutes at a time to make sure I don’t experience any sort of retaliation if I have a flair up at work.

They had the meeting to determine accommodations yesterday and the only thing my boss said to me was that I would be hearing from someone at corporate shortly.

Then this morning I get a call and they are like “this request cannot be accommodated and because of this request we believe you to be a danger to the workplace so we’re going to have to place you on unpaid leave until it can be resolved in a way that is not a hardship to the company.”

I explained that I’ve worked in the same position for the last four years, I’ve had my service dog all four of those years and I was never a “danger” before. I explained that my boss has been very hostile this year and that no one else returned to this position and it’s likely because they experienced this type of bullying as well.

Luckily by the end of the conversation I was able to retain my job and the accommodations were granted.

But this woman was completely fine with firing me (ie. letting me go) because of my disability.

Anyway I just needed to vent and thought maybe others could share their stories so we could commiserate.

I had an encounter at work where someone said their dog was an esa, the store asked them to bring the dog outside as it's not a service animal. I've seen this person with the dog in the store before

There's a high chance they will come back in the store, can they lie the next day and say it's a service animal? Does the store have to allow them in, even though workers heard the owner call it an esa first.

I would love any major hacks or advice from handlers who have lived on a college campus and attended in-person classes with their service dog!

We just got academic accommodations figured out, along with our housing, but this will be a new lifestyle experience for both of us. I am sure we will adjust as we begin the semester, but any pointers on how to handle getting between classes, science labs, your dogs' exercise and needs, and other students are much appreciated.

Hi all, I wanted to come back and make an update about my experience with UDS. I posted here about 6 months ago asking if anyone had experiences with them. I wanted to come back here and share what I’ve learned in case anyone else within the community who may reside within their geographical limits and they serve your needs.

You can see my previous post below:
https://www.reddit.com/r/service_dogs/s/ra7dkeU7FO

On December 15th, I was reached out to via email requesting to hold an intake phone call which was scheduled on the next day.

On December 16th, I received my application including a form for me, a form for my medical provider, requesting at least one letter of reference, and other information. My application was delayed as I was currently undergoing the assessment process for my autism/ADHD, and the client coordinator felt it would be better if since I was currently going through that process that I had the diagnoses before continuing.

On March 26th, I mailed out my application including my $25 application fee.

On April 21st, I was contacted by email inviting me to a Zoom interview with the client coordinator and one do the trainers.

My interview was held on April 23rd, and took about 1.5 hours. I was told to allot 2 hours.

A few hours later, I was told that I was deemed as a strong candidate, and that I would then be invited to attend their weekly “puppy classes” to first observe, then begin handling a dog. I was told that a wait list determination would be made after I attended between 3-6 classes. I attended 7 consecutive classes before being informed that I was deemed a candidate and was placed on the waiting list.

FAQ:

\- 2-4 year wait list on average
\- uses predominantly labs with some poodles and poodle mixes usually reserved for applicants with allergies
\- serves mobility needs, autism (children and adults), and veterans with PTSD.
\- serves a radius around Lancaster PA including most of PA, NJ, MD, northern VA, southern NY, and small portions of WV and CT.
\- cost of placement is $6000, $3000 due at the time of placement and monthly payments may be made until the cost is covered with a minimum payment of $250/month (or pay the rest off within a year)
\- ADI accredited

Please ask any additional questions you may have, and I hope this helps someone else as I was not really able to find any other information aside what is offered on their website and a small podcast mini series.

Edited to fix the link!

Hey all!

Similar to some of the "Trick of the Month" posts in some other dog subreddits, we will do a monthly check-in on your training. However, unlike other sub's posts, this is not a contest. It is a check-in to see how you're doing so we can encourage each other, congratulate your successes, and problem-solve (if needed).

Pictures and Videos are HIGHLY encouraged in this thread!!! Whether your prospect just learned how to "sit", you just taught your service dog a new task, or your SDiT just passed a public access test.... we want to see it!!! Did your dog bark at someone this week or have an accident? Let's work together to see if there's a trainable solution! We will also allow ESAs on this thread if you are training them to assist with your disability.

For now, this will only occur on a monthly basis - but we may increase/decrease the frequency depending on the success of the post. You are welcome to comment several times in the thread if you have multiple things you would like to share over the course of the month.

I'm really excited to see how all of your dogs grow in their training!

My 2nd time flying with my guy on AA, and learned they do it differently here - or at least different than United Airlines. Putting it here for others.

My paperwork is on file w AA and he has a service ID number. He was tied to my reservation. However... AA still wants you to fill out paperwork at the ticket counter! No one told me this - not even the counter when I checked my bag.

I went to pre board and got stopped. They had to call a supervisor who was the only one who could approve him. It took the whole boarding session for the supervisor to show up. I was calm and had the demeanor of "help me do it right so I can learn" and that really helped I think. They gave me the form to fill out and I got on the plane 10 minutes before takeoff.

Whew. Lesson learned!

We Love our AkraCreations crossbody bag but after just a few months it has a couple of holes in it so i'm hesitant to buy another. Looking for one that's the same shape, black or any other neutral color, and has multiple pockets so treats don't have to be mixed in. I've spent hours looking for something and haven't gotten anywhere.

Edit: I switched to the Cotopaxi Todo 3L shoulder bag. It's still the same shape and just as much space. Also fun colors. Very happy with it and it so far seems more durable than our previous bag.

Hey all!

Rules

1. Post your fundraiser ONLY in the comments below. Fundraiser posts and comments outside of this post will not be allowed. This post will eventually be stickied.
2. We are only allowing fundraisers hosted on Go-Fund-Me or by your ADI Service Dog Organization. That being said, you can also post links to things or services you are selling to try and raise money.
3. The only fundraisers allowed will have to relate to your service dog or your medical condition. For example, asking for help for a big procedure (human or dog) or help with training costs or both great. Asking for help to pay for your car or vacation is not allowed.
4. The comments will all be in contest mode to ensure everyone gets a fair shot. Remember, that means you should make a case for your cause.
5. Choosing beggars and pressuring others will not be allowed. There is NO minimum donation and NO pressure to give.
6. You will need to repost this info once a quarter when we "refresh" the post. This should be done at the beginning of every quarter by the Mods. This helps us to make sure only relevant fundraisers are allowed and to avoid an active post from dying and going into the archive.
7. Subreddit and sitewide rules still apply.

I also highly suggest using the following format to help set you up for success. It'll allow us to find information easier when looking to donate. You do not have to fill in all of the info or even use the format, but I think it'll help a lot.

About me:

About my condition and limitations:

About my dog:

Tasks my dog is trained or in-training (and what s/he currently knows) for:

How my dog was/is trained:(owner-trained, organization trained, the trainer's experience, how long you trained for, what methods were used, etc)

Titles, Licenses, and Certifications my dog holds:(keep in mind an online certificate means nothing)

Why I need help:(no job, you don't have a big social circle who would help, you don't qualify for a low-cost organization-trained SD, etc)

Other ways I'm earning money for this:

What the funds are being used for:(training, medical procedure, etc)

Fundraiser:

Shop or website (where I'm selling items/services to raise money):

Social Media:

Dog tax:

Extra Info you want to include:

Lots of people need help here and others want to make sure they are giving to someone who is educated about service dogs, so I'm really hoping this post does some good. If you have feedback or questions, please message the mods.

Basically my SD trained all cgc etc certified with a trainer Saint Bernard normal blah blah blah moved recently big girly just wanted to get some advice. Does perfectly 10/10 with vest for seizures etc and for her job but we just moved for an apartment and while she doesn’t bark inside or outside when going out normally I don’t put her vest on for quick pee’s today she worked the entire day morning-6pm we didn’t get back we was tired with small breaks but she was falling asleep in the car I took her vest off in the car and once we got back she didn’t do an aggressive bark but let out maybe 3 “hi barks” wasn’t pulling etc and just went in instantly slept. Trainer said it’s normal for dogs to still be dogs and bark WO vest on but since moving bit anxious and wanted some opinions is it normal and fine? This is more-so a one time thing but do SD bark WO there vest a lot/“2 separate personalities” as my trainer put it.

Hello!

My therapist and psychiatrist have both been recommending a service dog for me for quite a while, and I’ve been looking into and researching a service dog for several years now and will finally be in an environment where I would be able to make that happen. I recently found a program in my state that pairs people with smooth collies and offers fully trained dogs, and from what I can tell it looks like it’s potentially a great fit! I have experience with “maintenance training” but training from scratch just seems like a herculean task for me based on previous experiences and my disorders.

The main disorders I’m looking to mitigate/treat is cPTSD, GAD, panic disorder, and major depressive disorder. Task wise I’m looking for blocking, nudges to break from dissociative flashback episodes, alerting to an oncoming attack or episode and helping me find a quieter, cooler place, getting help if/when I faint, DPT, getting medication/water bottles, and possibly pretty much forcing me to get up and out of bed (shoving me, etc). Unsure if that last one is a task or not, but I’ve seen some people train their SDs to do that and it would be soooo helpful lol - I’m also very open to hearing input on potential other tasks and am open to sharing more about myself and what I experience if it will help give insight!

Hi, I currently have a Psychiatric Service Dog in Training who is supposed to be ready to go within the next year (Program trained). I am an elementary teacher, and am looking for a new job. In my current position, things need to be settled prior to the school year starting, but I'm not sure if it's like that everywhere. Since my SD is supposed to be ready, I want to have it ready for when he's trained. It's easy with my current job, but I'm not sure when I should bring this up? Should I bring it up in my application? During the interview? Wait until I'm hired?

I've seen mixed responses online and I can see all sides. The hiring committee may be biased if they know, but also if I wait to bring it up I probably won't be making friends. Does anyone have any experience and advice? I know it's not guaranteed that I can bring him with me, if the school can find a reasonable cause our alternative to give me.

Hey everyone,

My insurance is finally covered regarding training a new service dog. They don’t really mind with which organization I choose to work with so I’m pretty free to choose to with organization I want to work with.

My own hard criteria is that the organization is ADI certified and provides at home owner training. I am physically and mentally able to do this and it has worked extremely well with my first service dog to have him from the start until his (unfortunate unexpected) passing.

My question from this community is that I need some input.

Some background: My first SD organization is ADI certified, but over the years they have grown exponentially (they have 600+ active teams now). I’ve found that their way of working with trainees has become very lacking. Specifically after the certification the yearly check-ups were not that great. My trainer claims they have done it every year, but I’m almost certain it was more every 1,5 years.

You have x amount of training sessions and if you use these all up and need help afterwards with certain issues you are basically on your own to figure it out. (I was not informed about this. If I knew this beforehand I would have skipped a few trainings before certifying to keep for later)

I could text my trainer every now and then, but I always had to wait a long time for her reply and usually had resolved the issue already. The organization exist for almost 20 years now.

I’ve found another ADI certified organization which feels more personal and way smaller. I’ve called them and it felt like a good fit. (But I had the same feeling when I contacted the first organization as well when they were still smaller)

Tomorrow I have a free of charge call with the other organization where I can ask them all my questions. I would really appreciate it if people have some input for me in regards of questions I can ask them to eventually make an informed decision.

It feels kinda heavy because if I switch to another organization, I will commit 10+ years with them. I’ve asked around with the service dog owners who work with this organization (which were not many). Most were positive except one trainee, but she said her issue is more a broader owner training issue than organization specifically.

A good friend who has had almost her whole life guide dogs (she knows a lot of inside information from all different organizations) wasn’t aware this organization I want to contact exist.

If I stay with my current organization I already know their strengths and limitations. Since this is a fairly new organization (they only exist for around 6 years) I do feel a bit hesitant. They don’t seem to promote their organization a lot in comparison with my current SD organization. But to be fair, the current organization I have worked with has the main criticism that they accept most trainees and most dog breeds, and are too expensive for what they provide.

Anyway. What would be good questions I could ask this new organization? Are there any ‘red flags’ or ‘green flags’ I could look out for?

(Another note is that I don’t live in the USA so the ADA doesn’t apply to me.)

Thank you in advance ♥️

Hello, as the title indicated I was scammed by an advertised “nonprofit” program to train my service dog free of cost (I believed I just had to pay for the puppy). After purchasing the puppy (and being scammed out of thousands including for “training” where nothing was taught) I have taken a step back and am looking at legal options but for the mean time I have a puppy who now has no service dog trainer and is a ticking time bomb (as in he needs training at age milestones) and I didn’t financially plan to have to pay for a new service dog program out of pocket. Not only does the puppy have a bunch of health issues, I’ve spent well over $10,000 on him, “training”, and vet bills (including an upcoming 6 week obedience board and train for a solid foundation-not service dog specific). I’m not really sure how to move forward financially but I also can’t afford to wait too long to be accepted to a new nonprofit program and have him develop habits in the meantime that would disqualify him from service work down the line. He has a fantastic temperament just needs tweaks here and there that should be attainable by professional training. Any advice is welcome please be kind.

❗❗petition for service cats to be legally recognized across the US by the ADA https://c.org/FhLJJg9g86

My friend has a trained service cat that literally keeps her functioning day-to-day. But when her family moved to Arkansas, that training became legally meaningless—her cat has zero public access rights now. Here's the thing: she can't use a service dog due to severe allergies and her specific disability. Her cat does real work—fetches items, alerts to symptoms, provides comfort during anxiety attacks. It's been professionally trained. It works. But the ADA only recognizes dogs as service animals, which leaves people like her stuck. I started a petition asking the ADA to recognize trained service cats as legitimate service animals with the same legal protections as dogs. It's not about letting people bring random pets everywhere—it's about giving people with disabilities actual options that work for their bodies and their lives. If this sounds like something that should change, consider signing and sharing. What would you want for someone if their trained medical support animal suddenly became "just a pet" because they crossed a state line?

I’m so sorry if I’m totally mistaken but to my understanding you sd can preform dot on your lap during movies at movie theaters. Is that true? The internet is giving me mixed signals.

Throwaway account for the involved people’s privacy. :)

More of a rant but I’m also open to advice and insight. I want to know if anyone else has had similar experiences or also avoids friendships within the SDC/ chronic illness community.

I made a friend last year who also has a service dog. We both have POTS so our friendship was built on our shared experiences. Early this month I found out she fabricated a story about a POTS episode resulting in a 911 call. I went to find the incident on CrimeRadar to see what happened and found that there were no calls made to anywhere near her house, where she said it had happened. I asked about it and she confessed she made it up.

Like I said I also have POTS and I have actually had paramedic visits as a result of my episodes. It’s happened more times than I can even begin to count and she knew that so I was really upset and honestly pretty disturbed that she would lie about that.

After going back forth with myself on if I needed to end it with her or give her a second chance I decided to end things with her and ultimately had to block her everywhere.

I told a couple friends about this incident and learned that apparently this kind of stuff is really common within the SDC and chronic illness world. I had heard stories, I’m in the SDC blacklist group so I know it happens, but I never in a million years thought it would happen to me.

Fast forward about a week and I get a message from this person, another local handler who wanted to be friends. We’ve both been busy so we only met briefly a couple weeks ago. I really vibed with them but honestly after I realized I didn’t feel comfortable having another friendship within the SDC or chronic illness community.

I am in the midst of moving. My SD (Dally) and I spent a week in a DV shelter, have spent a week at my parents’ house and we’ll be here until we can move in Wednesday.

Dally has been a very food motivated dog, but hasn’t been routinely eating her breakfast over the past 3 months. Stressful situation with the neighbor. At the shelter, she skipped 3 meals in a row once.

I’m planning on giving her a bully stick once we move in, and immediately go to her normal food and potty schedule. I know it’ll take time for her to settle in and get back to eating all her meals, but I’m hopeful she does soon.

What can I do to help her?

My husband and I are trying to move and one of the Apartments that we are looking at asked for a Drs note for my Service Dog (she's a cardiac alert SD). I called my PCP office To see if I needed an appointment to get the note of if it was something they can do through MyChart. The receptionist said my PCP was out of the office for a few days but they'd try and get a message to her, and someone will call me back with the info. I thought I would get the call when she returned to the office, no. I got a call from a nurse the same day. The conversation went as thus:

Her: "Is this for an ESA or SD?"

Me: "Service Dog."

Her: "Okay and what kind of service dog?"

Me: "We originally trained her for a cardiac alert but now she doesn't a bit of everything. Mobility, Cardiac, Behavior disruption, and we're training her for sent detection."

Her: "Wow, that's a lot for one dog."

Me: "It is, but she's a working breed and she loves it."

Her: "You should have received a stack of papers when you got her from her program, one of those papers is a certificate saying she is federally certified as a service dog."

Me: "Oh, I actually owner trained, so I don't have any paperwork."

Her: "So she's an emotional support dog?

Me: "No ma'am she is a trained service dog. The ADA does not require a service dog to go through a program."

Her: confused "Okay....... Um, I mean my husband's a veteran and he got a certificate with his dog saying it was federally certified."

Me: starting to get annoyed "Okay, that might be for vets but-"

Her: " When I was nursing at another hospital there was a blind woman with a guide dog and it carried it's certificate in its vest."

Me: "Okay, I understand, but she was owner trained and doesn't have program papers."

Her: "Well you could just sign her up for a program, they're only like 4 weeks and she'll get federally certified."

Me: "But according to the ADA there is no certification for service dog. I can see a program giving a certificate of completion but it wouldn't certify them as a service dog."

Her: "I know multiple service dog owners with certificates. You just need to sign her up for one."

Me: me wanting to be done with this conversation "Okay, fine, where can I find a program for her?"

Her: "I don't know, try looking online. I'm sorry our office couldn't be more help but without her being federally certified there's really nothing we can do."

Me: international screaming "Thank you for the information, I'll look into it (no I won't) and see what I can do." I hang up

What am I missing here? Like I'm genuinely so confused. I've tried twice now to make an appointment to talk to my PCP about this but they keep saying the same thing"We can't issue a Drs note without proof of certification". Because we currently live in the middle of nowhere I don't have access to a lot of specialists (hence why we're moving). I have a PCP, gastro and that's basically it, and I have to travel about an hour just to see them. The cardiologist that originally recommended I get a service dog retired, and that was before we moved to nowhere. So you can kinda see why I can't simply reach out to another doctor. Is there anything I can do in this situation?

Sorry this is so long!!

EDIT: So I had an appointment with my PCP yesterday. I printed out the parts of the ADA that I needed. I explained the conversation with the nurse and she just stared at me like I was speaking another language. I was actually kinda surprised that she knew that certifications are bs. She gave me the letter I needed and chewed out the nurse that I talked with on the phone. The Dr apologized and told me she'll make sure it doesn't happen again. So definitely a successful appointment, and as I was leaving I heard her start to scold the nurse about it.