Our Service Animals
     
 
Meet Carson, who was adopted from Cut Bank Animal Shelter in March 2006. He was trained by the Prison Paws for Humanity program as Hearing/Service Dogs. Carson's owner is a young man who was born deaf in one ear and has only 60% hearing in the other ear. Carson was trained to be his ears. Carson underwent three months of training. Carson was return to his owner and is ready for a life on the road.
See Carson's travels on the road
 
 
What is a Service Dog?
 
The exact language of the ADA that covers service dogs follows here:
Service Animal means any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including but not limited to guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders, providing minimal rescue or protection work, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items.
Disabled adults gain more than a friend when paired with a trained service dog.

Studies show that adults who rely on a wheelchair for mobility have a greater sense of independence and well-being when assisted by a specially trained dog. Participants required less help from caregivers after receiving a service dog, and they reported an increase in social, academic, and professional involvement.
 
WHAT a dog can do for a person who is disabled. A service dog can do many tasks, depending on the person's disability. A dog guide is the eyes for its blind handler, taking the handler around obsticles. A hearing dog alerts the handler to sounds, a Seizure Alert/Response dog responds when the handler has a seizure, and a Mobility Assist Dog (also called a Service Dog), is the arms and legs for a disabled person. A psychiatric service dog keeps a person with an psychiatric disorder calm and able to be going to out in public. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person with a disability is entitled to take a service animal with him, or her, wherever it is needed.
 
 
Friends for Life
by Adam Hunter, Editorial Assistant

There was a time when a service dog meant a Seeing Eye dog. Not any longer. More and more, dogs are being trained to perform an array of helpful tasks, making life for tens of thousands not only manageable, but joyful. Here are just a few of the organizations dedicated to bringing together these special animals with the people who need them most.
 
The Delta Society
www.deltasociety.org

This group promotes and organizes hospital, nursing home and school visits from furry friends as therapy for the sick and disabled. To get more information, write to 875 124th Avenue NE, Suite 101, Bellevue, WA 98005 or call (425) 226–7357.
 

National Education for Assistance Dog Services
www.neads.org

The oldest hearing-dog program in the country. For information write to P.O. Box 213, West Boylston, MA 01583 or call (978) 422–9064.
 

Loving Paws Assistance Dogs
www.lovingpaws.org

Trains dogs to serve children with spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida and other major disabilities. For more information write to P.O. Box 12005, Santa Rosa, CA 95406 or call (707) 586–0798.
 
"Friends for Life" by Adam Hunter is reprinted with permission from Guideposts.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Guideposts, Carmel, New York 10512. All rights reserved.
 
Guiding Eyes for the Blind
Guiding Eyes for the Blind provides blind men and women with professionally trained, loving guide dog companions. clients.
www.guidingeyes.org
 
Sirius Canine Assistants - Service Dogs
Sirius Canine Assistants trains exceptional service dogs
for exceptional clients.
www.siriuscanine.com
 
 
Service Dog Links
 
 
 

Assistance Dogs International
Assistance Dog Web Site
Assistance Dog Web Page
Canine Companions for Independence
Cozy Canine House
Dogs for the Disabled
International Association of Assistance Dog Partners
Karla Clinch's Service Dog Page
Loving Paws
Paws with a Cause
Paws with a Cause
The Puppy Place
Service Dog Connection
Service Dogs, from rec.pets.dogs' FAQ page
Susquehanna Service Dogs
West Indies Service Helpers
 
 
What is a Therapy Dog?
Therapy dogs are not service (or "assistance") dogs.

Therapy dogs perform their tasks by invitation. The owner of a therapy dog has no more "right" of access to a hospital, nursing home, or public place than any other able-bodied person with a pet. (Note that the "right" accrues to the person, in either case, not to the dog! This is a crucial distinction that many fail to make.) Most hospitals and some nursing homes require a lot of paperwork before a therapy dog sets foot in the facility--the same facility where any person with a disability has a clear right to enter with his or her service dog.

 

The many uses for Therapy Dogs:

  • Promoting a general feeling of wellbeing (children, elderly, general hospital admits)
  • Providing unconditional affection to those who lack it (persons in prisons and shelters, especially domestic-abuse shelters)
  • Improving focus (Alzheimer's patients and persons suffering from clinical depression)
  • Interacting with those who have difficulty communicating (nonverbal clients; some psychiatric inpatients; persons with a range of associative disorders)
  • Stimulating memory functions (especially in Alzheimer's patients)
  • Encouraging and aiding speech functions (e.g., in stroke patients) All the activities above rely on a combination of touching, talking about, etc., in most of which the dog does not have to "do" very much except act friendly and be willing to be handled a lot.
  • Motivating simple physical activities for the mobility impaired (e.g., patting, brushing, etc.)
  • Providing practice for specific Physical Therapy functions (throwing ball, offering tidbits, etc.) In these cases, the dog may perform much more specific tasks, or at least may need more specific equipment.
  • Modeling perseverance (many Therapy Dogs have been through terrible times -- patients often find it comforting that the Therapy Dog has not only survived these but have become useful to others).
 
Other Therapy Animals
 
Other animals are used in a flourishing therapy program involving cats, horses, birds, fish, and even Potbellied pigs. Horses have many uses in therapy, especially for children--though these applications, being limited to outdoor venues and requiring a considerable investment in animals, space, equipment, volunteer time, and differ significantly from the types of indoor therapy.
 
Therapy Dogs: National Organizations