Looking for a service dog, or an almost service dog.
November 17, 2014 6:17 PM Subscribe
My friend could really benefit from a service dog. Unfortunately the waitinglist in Ontario is around two years long. She doesn't need a full-service service dog, i.e. she doesn't need a fully trained seeing eye dog. Is there a breed and training school that would best help her?
I have a friend who is going through some mental health troubles. She is in therapy, seeing a psychiatrist, taking her meds and doing all the right things for her long term health. However she has a problem with what might be best described as extreme sleepwalking. Sometimes she gets up in the middle of the night and rearranges things. Sometimes she walks out the door with no shoes, wallet, keys, phone etc. Then she wakes up blocks from her house having no idea how she got there. Apart from the obvious dangers of cars or construction holes, winter is coming and she lives in a place where severe frostbite or even freezing to death is a real danger. Barriers haven't helped because when she sleep walks, she is able to unlock doors and move obstacles. Noisy alarms have helped to a limited degree. Her psychiatrist has suggested that a service dog would help her. The service dog would help bring her back to bed or at least prevent her from leaving the house. Unfortunately she won't be able to get one for a pretty long time.
She loves animals and would not have trouble caring for the dog. In spite of everything, she manages her day to day life well and cares for her 3 happy, healthy cats.
Is there a breed of dog that could help my friend? She needs a dog that can stop her from leaving the house in the middle of the night.
Once she finds the right dog, how should she go about getting it trained? Is there a training school that could do this kind of specialized training?
Alternatively, is there a place in Ontario where she might be able to adopt a dog that would already have the training she needs?
I have a friend who is going through some mental health troubles. She is in therapy, seeing a psychiatrist, taking her meds and doing all the right things for her long term health. However she has a problem with what might be best described as extreme sleepwalking. Sometimes she gets up in the middle of the night and rearranges things. Sometimes she walks out the door with no shoes, wallet, keys, phone etc. Then she wakes up blocks from her house having no idea how she got there. Apart from the obvious dangers of cars or construction holes, winter is coming and she lives in a place where severe frostbite or even freezing to death is a real danger. Barriers haven't helped because when she sleep walks, she is able to unlock doors and move obstacles. Noisy alarms have helped to a limited degree. Her psychiatrist has suggested that a service dog would help her. The service dog would help bring her back to bed or at least prevent her from leaving the house. Unfortunately she won't be able to get one for a pretty long time.
She loves animals and would not have trouble caring for the dog. In spite of everything, she manages her day to day life well and cares for her 3 happy, healthy cats.
Is there a breed of dog that could help my friend? She needs a dog that can stop her from leaving the house in the middle of the night.
Once she finds the right dog, how should she go about getting it trained? Is there a training school that could do this kind of specialized training?
Alternatively, is there a place in Ontario where she might be able to adopt a dog that would already have the training she needs?
You could check with some of the organizations that train service dogs and see what they recommend. There are a lot of dogs that flunk out of service dog training because they aren't able to be "fully" trained as seeing eye dogs or what-have-you, and they then need to be adopted out. The orgs might be able to match such a "partially-trained" dog to your friend.
posted by vignettist at 7:22 PM on November 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by vignettist at 7:22 PM on November 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I wonder if this would be a good job for a retired service dog or a dog who didn't quite make the cut as a seeing eye dog. Because as penguin says, these are behaviors that could be trained into many intelligent, trainable dogs.
posted by lunasol at 7:23 PM on November 17, 2014
posted by lunasol at 7:23 PM on November 17, 2014
I'm just brainstorming here, but if she can't get a partially or fully trained service dog from anywhere, this sounds like a good job for a collie or other herding dog. They're smart and will have a natural inclination to herd her back to bed. They sometimes have a tendency to nip or bump into people to herd them, but if the goal is to either get her back in bed or woken up, I don't think that'd be as big a problem for her. And maybe one of the service dog places could recommend a trainer that she could hire.
posted by Weeping_angel at 7:33 PM on November 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Weeping_angel at 7:33 PM on November 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'd contact National Service Dogs and see what they say.
posted by sardonyx at 8:10 PM on November 17, 2014
posted by sardonyx at 8:10 PM on November 17, 2014
I work with guide dogs for the blind. Getting a retired guide dog is not an easy feat, nor would it suit her needs. Most guide dog schools allow the dog's handler (the blind person), to keep the dog upon retirement. In my experience, it's rare that dogs are given back to the guide dog school after retirement. When they are, they are older and there already is a long list of people looking to adopt them. Dogs for the deaf and disabled are usually bred specifically for that job. They, as well as guide dogs, are expensive to train and they are given to the recipient at little to no cost. Qualifying for a dog is a stringent process; the schools care about where the dog is going and they look at necessity. You mention that alarms have worked to some extent. I'd explore that route further, or look into getting a dog (a poodle or German Shepherd) who can be trained privately to wake her up or get her back to bed.
posted by Sal and Richard at 10:09 PM on November 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Sal and Richard at 10:09 PM on November 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
My dog trainer (in Minnesota) recommended you consult with one or more of the Karen Pryor Academy-certified dog trainers in Ontario. They can get the word out to find a qualifying training and potential dog; KPA-CDT dog trainers are highly networked and often ask each other for help and resources. Your friend would need to find the right dog, and a trainer to help her teach the dog.
Your friend would definitely need to adopt a larger, adult dog who is inherently calm, comfortable with strangers, cats, strange situations, and suited to being trained. A dog that fails service dog training might *not* be a good fit; one (but not the only) of the main reasons a dog is dropped from service dog training is that the dog becomes frightened/reactive in strange situations. There are many rescue dogs who could fit the bill.
Training in behaviors to wake up your friend (i.e. keep "alerting" your friend until the she responds to acknowledge the alerts), and accompanying your friend (off-leash) while she is sleepwalking is probably do-able. Training in a behavior to physically stop your friend from leaving the house is more complex because the the dog needs to distinguish between when your friend is "sleepwalking" versus "normal" (so your friend can leave the house at other times -such as when going grocery shopping).
Based on my experience, training the dog would take several months. I'm not sure, but I would guess that the dog could live with your friend during that time. The training plan would probably involve many one-on-one training sessions with a KPA-CDT/similar dog trainer and regularly attending group training classes (basic manners, Canine Good Citizen, etc).
By the way, this informal approach would likely work, but many more months of formal training would be required before the dog would qualify as an official service dog. However, like you said, your friend might just need a good dog who can help her.
posted by apennington at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2014 [3 favorites]
Your friend would definitely need to adopt a larger, adult dog who is inherently calm, comfortable with strangers, cats, strange situations, and suited to being trained. A dog that fails service dog training might *not* be a good fit; one (but not the only) of the main reasons a dog is dropped from service dog training is that the dog becomes frightened/reactive in strange situations. There are many rescue dogs who could fit the bill.
Training in behaviors to wake up your friend (i.e. keep "alerting" your friend until the she responds to acknowledge the alerts), and accompanying your friend (off-leash) while she is sleepwalking is probably do-able. Training in a behavior to physically stop your friend from leaving the house is more complex because the the dog needs to distinguish between when your friend is "sleepwalking" versus "normal" (so your friend can leave the house at other times -such as when going grocery shopping).
Based on my experience, training the dog would take several months. I'm not sure, but I would guess that the dog could live with your friend during that time. The training plan would probably involve many one-on-one training sessions with a KPA-CDT/similar dog trainer and regularly attending group training classes (basic manners, Canine Good Citizen, etc).
By the way, this informal approach would likely work, but many more months of formal training would be required before the dog would qualify as an official service dog. However, like you said, your friend might just need a good dog who can help her.
posted by apennington at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2014 [3 favorites]
Canadian Guide Dogs For The Blind is located just outside Ottawa. While they may not be able to help your friend with a dog, they may be able to provide information on where to find the type of service dog your friend is looking for.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2014
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 6:39 AM on November 18, 2014
The cats might become an issue here too. If she gets an adult dog who is even just well socialized let alone even partially trained as a service dog, the dog will almost certainly be fine around the cats. The cats, however, will probably not like a large dog around the house unless they've lived with the dog when it was a puppy.
If she doesn't already know, it would be worthwhile to see how the cats react to meeting a dog who is larger than they are. It's not an insurmountable problem, the dog and the cats might end up being best friends, they might not ever occupy the same room in an uneasy truce, or they might fight/kill each other. It's something to take into consideration.
posted by VTX at 7:45 AM on November 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
If she doesn't already know, it would be worthwhile to see how the cats react to meeting a dog who is larger than they are. It's not an insurmountable problem, the dog and the cats might end up being best friends, they might not ever occupy the same room in an uneasy truce, or they might fight/kill each other. It's something to take into consideration.
posted by VTX at 7:45 AM on November 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Speaking of cats, I have one autistic friend who trained their shelter cat to function as a service animal: alerting to alarms, knocks on the door, nudging when they go catatonic, waking up with extreme force when they enter a (complicated) coma-like state.
Another autistic friend trained their Australian Cattle Dog as a service dog. In addition to bracing, reaches and retrieval (they use a wheelchair), the dog alerts to the spectrum of interpersonal signals, from "this is friendly, OK to engage" to "this is dangerous, get away."
A deaf-blind friend and one of his employees trained a Golden Retriever as a guide dog, since at the time none of the schools would admit deaf-blind handlers.
Summary: future handlers/owners can train their own dogs. There's a network of "owner trained service dogs" around the world. One hub of this activity is
Service Dog Central
The ODA requires certification of both the animal and the handler's need for an animal. In contrast, the ADA limits what a handler may be asked to, "Is that a service dog?" and "What work does this dog do for you?" This certification difference feeds the robust owner-trained-service-dog community in the USA. If your sleepwalking friend only needs the dog in the house, it's no problem. But if they're traveling, that's another matter.
The owner-trained-service-dog community has created curricula, videos, and equipment, as well as diverse electronic support systems. There are many folks discussing service dogs for people with psychiatric issues: both the good and the years of hard work required. There are training consultants who will visit for intensive weeks at various points in the learning process.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:26 PM on November 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
Another autistic friend trained their Australian Cattle Dog as a service dog. In addition to bracing, reaches and retrieval (they use a wheelchair), the dog alerts to the spectrum of interpersonal signals, from "this is friendly, OK to engage" to "this is dangerous, get away."
A deaf-blind friend and one of his employees trained a Golden Retriever as a guide dog, since at the time none of the schools would admit deaf-blind handlers.
Summary: future handlers/owners can train their own dogs. There's a network of "owner trained service dogs" around the world. One hub of this activity is
Service Dog Central
The ODA requires certification of both the animal and the handler's need for an animal. In contrast, the ADA limits what a handler may be asked to, "Is that a service dog?" and "What work does this dog do for you?" This certification difference feeds the robust owner-trained-service-dog community in the USA. If your sleepwalking friend only needs the dog in the house, it's no problem. But if they're traveling, that's another matter.
The owner-trained-service-dog community has created curricula, videos, and equipment, as well as diverse electronic support systems. There are many folks discussing service dogs for people with psychiatric issues: both the good and the years of hard work required. There are training consultants who will visit for intensive weeks at various points in the learning process.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:26 PM on November 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
I strongly recommend a rough collie for this (I don't mean a border collie!). My partner had a major stroke and our collie was right there all the way through recovery, herding him. We have a sequence in the morning - Mike has to get his ankle brace on before he can walk anywhere and our collie will stand and bark at him or actually block him with his butt if Mike tries to walk without the brace. He does all kinds of other helping acts too numerous for me to go into here.
Collies herd people as well as animals.
posted by cda at 3:29 PM on November 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
Collies herd people as well as animals.
posted by cda at 3:29 PM on November 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
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I would think a larger dog would be best for this just so the barking is louder and deeper -- maybe a lab type dog.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:13 PM on November 17, 2014 [1 favorite]