Autism Serive dog

[ASDogGeek]

Originally Posted by ILGHAUS

To decide on tasks you can sit down with your medical care provider or anyone on your care team and make up a list of what you need to have done for you and then think if a dog can do this for you.

Example: If you are afraid to enter your dark home because you fear someone is inside ....
Train your dog to go inside and turn on several lights throughout your home.
Train your dog to walk all the way through your house and then to escort you inside. (Most dogs will bark if a stranger is in their home. If yours doesn't then train it to alert in some manner.)

This serves two fold, your dark home will have lights turned on for you and by the simple action of your dog walking from one end to the other and returning to you in a relaxed manner you now know that no one is inside who should not be there.

What tasks to train a Psychiatric Service Dog are so based on the needs of the individual handler that I believe this is the one that sharing lists is the least helpful for solid tasks. This is also the one that fellow handler's of SDs are the least likely to "share".

By the time that someone is ready to use a PSD they should have been already going through the training and using their learned skills such as coping behaviors, working on any needed medications with their medical team, and past the beginning of living with their disability(is). By that time, hopefully they are in a pretty good place of knowing what their needs are and have a list of these individual needs and are able to know which of these are the most important to begin working with.

Your needs can then be broken down into catagories:
Strong Tasks: Those tasks that can be demonstrated on command/and can legally stand up proving your dog is mitigating your disability under the ADA.

Weak Tasks: Those tasks that are harder to demonstrate on command or legally are in a grey area for your disability.

Bonus Training: Not a need - so not a real task - but more on the level or a want. Something that is of help to you but not something that would fall under mitigating work for your disability.
Examples:
Emotional support or giving you a sense of feeling good.
Picking up dropped items if you have no problem picking them up yourself.

agreed 100 percent!!!!!!

I am currently looking into a program to train my next service dog. I am an adult with autism my current one is retiring and I just had a pup wash out. it was one of the most painful experiences I have ever been through. I am currently rehoming him to someone who can better provide for his complex needs.

I love him very much. I wish you the best of luck with this rememberif your raising from a puppy it takes 2 years to get a service dog and it is a LOT of work. time and dedication. if you are owner training be aware of the things that would wash out the dog. try to always be aware of your dog and how he or she is feeling in each situation. make sure learn to read canine body language and learn your own dogs and above all else socialize socialize socializ socialize! I cant emphasise that enough