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Dogs for emotional distress? Do you consider them a valid service animal?

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by cynthetiq, Aug 16, 2011.

  1. amonkie

    amonkie Very Tilted

    Location:
    Windy City
    I've got several personal accounts of this.

    Some may know, but I am considered severely deaf when I am not wearing my hearing aid. In the context of my ability to "function", if I have my hearing aid out I don't even hear fire sirens until they are absolutely within 20 feet of me. When sleeping, I cannot hear fire alarms, knocks and the door, or any other sounds that may indicate a compromise to my safety. Due to the way my deafness was caused, I also have some neurological issues that have impacted my sense of smell - I can't smell smoke or gas very well. Add all these things up, and the fact that I am single and live alone, having a dog at home, at the very least, was a no brainer move.

    I've run into complications with housing since I do not have my dog trained as a vested service dog, yet without him I a experience the possibility for a dramatic decrease in my quality of life. During the day, when my hearing aid works, I have adapted to the world of the hearing well enough to get by. I have cats now as I end up losing my dog in a battle with my landlord over my dog's anxiety in my absence.

    I also have a very good friend who has a vested psychiatric service dog. The most common mistake that people make is to assume that all disabilities are evidently visible. Most people don't know I am deaf until I tell them, and in my friend's case you would not know about her crippling anxiety unless you experienced her having an attack.

    Having seen her before and after, the dog being able to travel with her has turned her into a completely different person public wise. Unfortunately, most people do not get the chance to see the before and after and truly begin to realize that the extreme positive change in functional abilities.
     
  2. wolf Evil Grin

    Location:
    Right Behind You
    I absolutely believe in the healing power of animals and that dogs can provide a valuable service to the hearing and sight impaired, as well those who suffer from emotional disabilities. We are only beginning to understand how powerful emotional issues can be, and how debilitating they can become. With a dog, some who may not normally be able to live normal lives, are able to, and that is proof positive that dogs should be welcome in public establishments with their owners who need them.
     
  3. amonkie - I know we are an ocean apart, but. I am in rented housing, and am not allowed as many dogs as I have - but - some years ago I had found a charity that trains owners own dogs. They take the dog for a week and train it, and then the owner joins it for a week, during which time they train the owner. Just being on the waiting list makes your dog a support dog in training, and as such, it is no longer a dog, but is considered mofe like a wheelchair or some such. My dog was too old, so I couldnt persue it.
    Obviously, there is a great demand, especialy given that we have active wars going on. We enrolled our boy in training classes, and the trainers will later be teaching him how to help people up off the floor, pick up stick. Because he is in classes to develop his training to assist myself, a disabled person - he is a support dog in training and therefor not a dog.
    Its getting the jacket isnt it. There may well be a way of getting a dog just assessed, prove that it has been specificaly trained to help with the individual owners disability, there must be a way - almost certain of it - if there isnt, there should be.
    Hope its given you something to think about.
     
  4. They are service animals. The training they undergo is rigid and extensive. They are as qualified as any service animal in terms of behavior, performance, and usefulness to the owner.

    I train a service animal. If you get offended that I bring her into grocery stores and restaurants you are free to go somewhere else. There's nothing my dog brings with her that's any less sanitary than the stuff on the bottom of your shoes.
     
  5. Unoriginal content - have to ask, do you train for a large organisation?
     
  6. I train for my city's Search and Rescue Canine Team.
     
  7. Good life for a dog. Of all the animals that have needed help - we never have, and had never thought we would ever - upon reflection...... someone dumped a 5yr old lab sniffer dog a few months ago. He was working up untill the day his master/piece of shit dropped him off at the kennels where he kept him - and never came back. Just left him. After three weeks, the 70yr old lady tending his basic needs phoned the owner - who told her he didnt want it back, and she could re-home it. My first thought was Lowland Search and Rescue - they are people searchers, but they passed details on to the dog lot they work with. Its not the fact that it costs a fortune to train... he was a working dog, and I thought he would be best off holding onto something that he was familiar with - work, its not monetary value - the dogs a bloody living being, capable of feeling hurt both mental and physical - hate to think what was going on in its poor wee head trying to figure out what it had done wrong I suspect.
    Of course, no one rehomes to the police here now. Too many killed by being left in hot cars - one 'dog handler' has a death rate of three from using this method. There was also the outrage that police dogs were being hung from a tree..... They have to be seen to keep a clean house and keep it in order - very sad. I know of one rottie who was of interest to a good police dog handler/trainer - but the rescue could not let it go to him in the end, because two GSDs had been baked to death in their police car, parked in the police station parking area - and just left. Only takes one idiot to feck things up for many doesnt it.
     
  8. greywolf

    greywolf Slightly Tilted

    This shows the value of a service dog in allowing individuals with extreme conditions to extend their activities into more, normal, social situations. They really are service animals. I don't object to dogs just about anywhere if they are well-behaved.

    The issue I have is the proliferation of disabilities/reduced functionality in our victimhood societal mindset. Everyone has some special need. Noodle points out a very valid case for an emotional distress service dog. But if I find my neighbour hard to deal with and it is causing me to lose sleep because I think he's a jerk, and having a nice dog to pat and take for a walk will help me get over that, should I be able to call it a service dog? I think not, but I think there are doctors/psychologists who would be willing to say it is; that it is allowing me to function normally again. There is stress in everyone's life. Try reading some of the members' blogs here to see people dealing with the very stressful situations of everyday work and life. Everyone has emotional and physical reactions to stress that are often unpleasant. But... until they reach the debilitating level of noodle's example, a dog used to alleviate this is just a pet.

    Dogs almost always improve the quality of life (I'm a dog lover). Service dogs for emotional stress? No. Service dogs for truly debilitating conditions? Definitely, if they can help.
     
  9. Japchae

    Japchae Very Tilted

    Wait... Emotional stress isn't debilitating? Oh it most certainly can be. But not the "my neighbor annoys me" kind, the pathological kind. Agorophobia, panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety disorders, severe depression... tell me those can be debilitating and the people not worthy of a service animal? Typically a doc has to provide documentation. The problem is, just like pill-mill pain clinics, some docs will write anything you want.
     
  10. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    Yes, he was recommended for service dog training, which is less stringent. It basically involves visiting patients in the hospital, nursing homes, and/or being brought to schools for various things. It requires excellent manners and sociability, but not expert training in assisting people with daily tasks.
     
  11. greywolf

    greywolf Slightly Tilted

    Exactly what I meant in my post (probably not well explained). Emotional stress CAN be very debilitating. PTSD is very real, as are all the other things you mention. If you recall, I said you pointed out a very real reason for a service dog to help with emotional stress. My main point was exactly what you say... that some docs will write anything you want. And if you want a dog in a no-dogs establishment, well, some doctor out there will give you the documentation you need to get one. The problem isn't the dogs... it's the doctors who will justify having one for just about anyone who asks, and the people who will use the dog's "service abilities" to get around no-dog policies.
     
  12. Do you have any idea how much an emotional support dog costs? At the lowest level of training it's $2,500.00. The state doesn't pay for them. Insurance companies don't pay for them. The person who "want a dog in a no-dogs establishment" doesn't just get a note from the doctor and prances away with the dog. This is an expensive investment, and one not likely to be taken by any idiot who wants to abuse the system.
     
  13. greywolf

    greywolf Slightly Tilted

    No, I didn't know the cost of the dog, nor do I believe that the sort of abuse I mentioned would be widespread. But for people who believe that rules don't apply to them and that they should be allowed to do as they wish, a few thousand dollars for a pet probably isn't a major barrier. But my point is still that the dog isn't the problem... the people are. I believe all pets provide emotional support, and trained service dogs have their place. I was referring to a comment that using a service dog was simply a way to get around no-dog provisions, and, cynic that I am, I can believe there are people who would do that.
     
  14. Borla - your service dog is same as our Pets As Therapy or PAT dogs. Poeople love to see them, especialy the elderly who will be wanting to tell you of their late doggy friends - knowing you both will understand them.
    Greywolf - it is an awfull lot of work and can be quite an expensive process too. You understand I gave advice to a disabled poster who is in a plight regarding housing and an animal that is working for them and the risk of losing their companion who they are dog dependent on. It would be wrong of me not to offer advice - matter of morals. You do have to prove that you are both in training specificaly for your needs - like a hearing dog will alert to phone and door and fire alarms in the middle of the night. There will always be those who screw the system or try to, as in everything, but, heck, you wouldnt say some drivers kill people so you should bann all drivers.
     
  15. greywolf

    greywolf Slightly Tilted

    CC... I'm not against service dogs at all... they are wonderful, useful, versatile tools that help thousands of people overcome all sorts of hurdles that are impacting their quality of life. And that includes emotional support dogs. I love dogs. I love what they can do. I would never ban dogs. I might like to ban some pet owners or even the owner of a service dog if s/he were a major pain... but NEVER because of their dog.
     
  16. Greywolf - I have often myself, wanted to go out on some mad lobotomising spree - although I have concerns about the reliability of my left hand for holding the pick or swinging the hammer.
     
  17. Ourcrazymodern?

    Ourcrazymodern? still, wondering

    Dogs have served us ever since they chose to join us in our race to the future. Cats as well, though they don't always admit it. Pet "owners" are generally a lot more open & giving than those who object to them. The soil on our sidewalks is more often due to us. Our companion animals serve us better than themselves.

    I'm surprised by what you said, chinese crested. I like fried chicken.
     
  18. Ourcrazymodern - Examples of why I get the urge to run rampant with ice pick and hammer - picking up a dog that has been left for up to 24hrs at a time by her owner, a 'carer'. I was told it fainted in its food (untreated heart condition), that he got about okay, but not as much as he used to (his toe nails had grown round and were embedded in his pads) - cant remember the other crap. When taken to the vet, the prognosis was weeks rather than months, so he died in a small rescue run from a gentlemans home.
    Toby, who was so thin the vet came back from the scales looking like he wanted to hit someone. 'Who is responsible for this'. The trip to the vet in the car was exhausting for Toby, I was told he should not be moved because his condition was so serious - he was about 3, came in with a bitch whos leg had been shattered and allowed to set - because it didnt interfer with her ability to get made pregnant and produce litters. I assume Toby had been the father.
    Seeing starving horses in a field near a footpath where they are parked so passers by will feed them carrots and hay etc - they are being fattened up for slaughter (meat market), but are left by the owner. One big boy, probably overused for trotting, big swollen knee, obviously in pain. They are moved without passports - illegal, denied veterinary treatment - illegal, and some were seen being loaded into a large van - not horsebox. No one will help, not DEFRA, not police, not RSPCA. Meanwhile I see well meaning people being taken, fattening up their new equine friends, who will then, I guess, fetch more than the bog standard £1 which is paid by safari parks and zoos for young native ponies. I get a bit pissed off that at £1 being the price of life, they are still breeding more who might reach the grand old age of a year.
    The mastiff, now being trained and living here - the litter before him aged over 6 months were eventualy taken door knocking in a white van - fuck knows what happened to them, or the rest of Kingstons litter, but their dam was mated on her next season with a GSD - she looked terrible, had never regained her weight, teats dragging on the ground. When Kingston and his litter mates came along, she was so tired she hardly bothered going in to feed them, they would cry, but the poor gal had nothing left to give. She is probably still being bred from every season. I tried.
    My Morgan is sad. She looks like 'fluffy'. She cries to be petted, but when you touch her, she is head shy and will snap. She wants love, but does not know how to accept it. I couldnt re-home her because even small dogs that bite get put down. I wouldnt rehome her now because her entire life she had been passed from pillar to post by her former owner dumping her - she also told me 'you can let her have a litter if you want to'. She had her teeth 'removed by some means'. Mad Morgan bless her, head just popped up in hopes of tea. She has been with me for about 7 years - any of you with advice, it would be welcomly recieved. She has a bad knee, probably from a kick or fall, eczema, and is slightly bonkers in the noggin. She had an open untreated sore on her leg for a couple of years before she came to me.
    We have former event horses dumped on the sussex downs - once valuable, left to fend for themselves or starve - obviously once owned by people with more money than heart.
    Gosh, bit of a mad ranter arent I. But I do mean well... just sometimes I supose we all get the urge to kill or maim, but not being big purple arsed baboons, most of us know better.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  19. What you need Genuinegirly, is a furry hug. Bloody technology.
     
  20. Alice Kueken

    Alice Kueken New Member

    yes i agree dogs do have a therapeutic value and give unconditional love, however i have seen in the hotel i work at people do take advantage of service dog per se and then is see them neglecting the animal,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,