How do I verify a diabetic service dog?
I am hoping to train a diabetic service dog over the course of the next few years. The dog will also be attending Good Citizen classes up to graduation.
Is there a test I need to verify that my dog is a service dog? How do I take the test?
A CGC certificate is a good thing to have, but it isn't near enough to make a dog a service dog. It typically takes about 8 weeks to go through a CGC course, but 18 to 24 months to complete all that a service dog needs to know. So it's a bit difference.
Remember that a CGC test or course only covers the things a pet dog needs to know to get along in the world of man. A service dog needs to know much more than a pet. For example, a CGC dog has to hold a stay for 15 minutes, but a service dog needs to be able to hold it for at least 4 hours. A CGC dog has to walk nicely on a loose leash, but a service dog has to heel properly. A CGC dog has to be polite meeting new people, but a service dog has to ignore people even when they call to him or offer him food. There's no restriction on a CGC dog to eat things that fall under the table, but a service dog mustn't even consider it.
There is no formal test or certification program for service animals in the U.S., but there is a legal standard.
If you want to make your dog a service dog, first you have to qualify as disabled. There are many people with diabetes that are not disabled by that diabetes. In fact most people with diabetes are not disabled by it. So you'd want to have some medical documentation in your records that you are not only diabetic, but that testing doesn't work for you because of the type of diabetes you have. Some people are that brittle, but most are not.
Then you have to train the dog to do something that you cannot do because of your disability. You should be prepared to prove the dog is able to do what you say. There's a group in my state that claims to train diabetic alert dogs and they are being sued by our state's attorney general because several of their dogs were tested and didn't alert reliably or at all.
You should keep a training journal that outlines all the training you do. What classes you take, what exercises you work on each day during training, what he learns, what needs practice, how you'll change the next session based on what happened with the last one, etc.
Here's a listing of the basic skills all service dog should share, from the Delta Society's National Service Dog Center, to give you an idea of the scope of things your dog will need to learn.
www.deltasociety.org/download/sd_min_stds_rev2a.pdf
Then you spend a minimum of six months and 120 hours on public access training (and that really is a minimum).
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Posted in diabetic
May 18th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
?
Do you already have the dog? Are you trying to get a service dog? Are YOU the diabetic?
I guess I don't really understand your question.
There *are* places that train and certify service dogs…usually people get their dogs from that source.
References :
May 18th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
there is no test or certification.. there are places that train dogs, but you can hire a private trainer or train the dog yourself.
You need some kind of reccommendation from your Dr stating that you have a disability, and that he feels you would benefit from having a trained service animal.
The dog then has to be trained to perform a task or function related to your disability.
You cannot just say that you are diabetic so you can slap a vest on your dog to take it into walmart. The store cannot actually ask you for information regarding your disability, but at the same time, its fraud to pass your dog off as a service animal if you are not disabled.
References :
May 18th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
A CGC certificate is a good thing to have, but it isn't near enough to make a dog a service dog. It typically takes about 8 weeks to go through a CGC course, but 18 to 24 months to complete all that a service dog needs to know. So it's a bit difference.
Remember that a CGC test or course only covers the things a pet dog needs to know to get along in the world of man. A service dog needs to know much more than a pet. For example, a CGC dog has to hold a stay for 15 minutes, but a service dog needs to be able to hold it for at least 4 hours. A CGC dog has to walk nicely on a loose leash, but a service dog has to heel properly. A CGC dog has to be polite meeting new people, but a service dog has to ignore people even when they call to him or offer him food. There's no restriction on a CGC dog to eat things that fall under the table, but a service dog mustn't even consider it.
There is no formal test or certification program for service animals in the U.S., but there is a legal standard.
If you want to make your dog a service dog, first you have to qualify as disabled. There are many people with diabetes that are not disabled by that diabetes. In fact most people with diabetes are not disabled by it. So you'd want to have some medical documentation in your records that you are not only diabetic, but that testing doesn't work for you because of the type of diabetes you have. Some people are that brittle, but most are not.
Then you have to train the dog to do something that you cannot do because of your disability. You should be prepared to prove the dog is able to do what you say. There's a group in my state that claims to train diabetic alert dogs and they are being sued by our state's attorney general because several of their dogs were tested and didn't alert reliably or at all.
You should keep a training journal that outlines all the training you do. What classes you take, what exercises you work on each day during training, what he learns, what needs practice, how you'll change the next session based on what happened with the last one, etc.
Here's a listing of the basic skills all service dog should share, from the Delta Society's National Service Dog Center, to give you an idea of the scope of things your dog will need to learn.
http://www.deltasociety.org/download/sd_min_stds_rev2a.pdf
Then you spend a minimum of six months and 120 hours on public access training (and that really is a minimum).
References :
I'm a service dog trainer.