Service Dog Training Teaches Special Skills

4 Paws for Ability  prepares dogs to assist people in need.

A trained service dog can perform many complex tasks. These highly trained animals help children with autism cope with daily life. They can use their bodies to apply deep pressure that relieves some autism symptoms.  They can poke with their nose or paw at a child in distress to restore calm.

Their presence brings comfort and confidence in difficult social interactions. Communication is often very difficult for a person with autism and the dog acts as a bridge to other people.

They also assist disabled persons as mobility dogs. Service dogs fetch necessary items, open and close doors, turn lights on and off and perform dozens of other vital tasks.

A service dog will often begin training as a puppy.  Sometimes adult dogs are accepted into training programs.  The criteria for success as a service dog are very high. A dog must be in perfect health.  He must have an exceptionally stable and calm temperament.  He must be able to overlook distractions and stay focused on his job. A service must prefer people over everything else in his life.

A trained service dog is not a pet.

A service dog is a specialized working animal.  He has learned a carefully selected set of skills in order to assist a specific person.  The tasks that a service dog is trained to perform will depend on the individual needs of the person he assists.

For example, the needs of a person with a seizure disorder will be different from the needs of a person in a wheelchair. A seizure alert dog can be almost any size as long as he can effectively alert his person.  But a mobility dog must be large and strong enough to perform a range of tasks including bracing and helping his person stay balanced.

Dogs are in training for many months at a cost of thousands of dollars. 4 Paws for Ability is located in Ohio, USA.