PTSD suck

[Sapphire Silk]

I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I work for a great company that takes the ADA very seriously. I know they wouldn't give me any trouble with that. The problem is that professionally trained PTSD dogs are very expensive and every place I've checked has insanely long waiting lists. I'm not familiar enough with dogs to feel comfortable training one myself.

I did just get rated at 100% by the VA, though, so maybe they can help me.

Check with the VA about a service dog. I recall Evil Empryss telling me recently that the VA has some resources in that area. There are also some veterans groups that get PTSD dogs for vets. You might end up paying nothing out of pocket other than what you pay to take care of any dog (vet bills, dog food, leash, etc).

[Seshat]

The right dog, even if not actually trained as a service dog, can do wonders for some mental/emotional disabilities. We credit Violet (our mixed-breed terrier) with some of Bast's recovery. The disadvantage with that, of course, is that being a non-service animal, we can't take Vi anywhere other than dog-friendly places.

But having a non-judgemental, friendly, sensitive-to-your-emotions darling who is delighted to see you when you come home and knows when to be with you, and when to leave you to your own devices (and go play with the squeaky toy!) .. well, it helps Bast.


Even with all that, though, we're planning for our next pet to get service-animal credentials. I've done the research on what's required in Australia; and at least here, it's actually surprisingly little.
There are certain 'good citizen' behaviours that all service animals must learn, and they must have a minimum of two (three?) specific behaviours which definitely improve the life and well-being of their human.
Examples of the specific behaviours: leading a blind person, alerting a deaf person to important sounds, picking things up off the floor for someone who can't bend, alerting a person to blood sugar/emotional/other medical states.

In Australia, the Australian Kennel Club can assist with the training. To keep your service animal trained, the HUMAN has to learn as well: I think it's actually worth the time for the human to be involved in the service animal's training right from puppyhood.

I'm going to babble about my plan now, to give you an idea of one way to do it.

I'm planning to buy a pup from one of the breeders in Aussieland who breeds specifically for the health and temperament of their chosen breed. I'm on the mailing list for the breed I've chosen, and will be more active on the list when Violet gets older. (We can't afford another pet till we lose her, sadly.)

When Vi dies (of old age, knowing she's loved), I'll tell the list, and ask the breeders to let me know when one of them has a pup - or a rescue dog - suitable for training as a service dog. I'll also make sure they know exactly which behaviours I'm going to be asking for.

The type of person who becomes that sort of breeder is doing it for love - love of the animals, and often love of the kind of person who loves animals. They'll be careful to ensure that the pup gets loving-home treatment from before birth; or if it's a rescue dog, from the moment they take fostership.

Knowing which behaviours I'll be needing, they might (might!) also discuss training with me, and start the behaviour training: even if they only start canine-good-citizen training from birth, it'll be a big help.

My vet - the one who helped ElderlyCat's death - is part of a practice which includes both kennelling and behavioural work. Their animal behaviourist runs a puppy-pre-school, which we'll be attending. We'll also be attending the Australian Kennel Club's obedience classes, and get the Canine Good Citizen certification from them.

As for the specific behaviours, if I can't train them myself, I'll speak with either the obedience class teachers or the animal behaviourist and get help.

Beyond CGC, service dogs need to alert their human to the need to pee/poop so the human can take them to a suitable place and clean up after them.
They also need to sit politely out of the way at food courts/restaurants/etc. Under the table is recommended. And they may not beg. A dog-treat from their human is fine, though.
They should not be startled by unexpected noises/etc, like car horns or thunder or flashing emergency vehicle lights. Or rather, they can be normal animals and go 'WTF', but they should treat the well-being of their human as more important than the WTF reaction.
Similarly, the well-being of their human must be more important than going and sniffing another dog's butt, or checking the dog-pee smells on a light pole, or whatever else.

When their service vest/harness/etc is OFF, the service dog is off duty and is allowed to 'be a dog'. In other words, they can sniff butts and check the local light pole news and chew on their dog toy. So it's important (very important) to teach your dog an on duty/off duty signal. The service dog vest is a common one, simply because it also flags it to humans.