Superheroes Among Us: The Service Dog Enigma

You see him lying there on the café floor, taking a nap under the table.  A family with two small children walks by – one child points to the dog as he passes.  The dog lifts his head up to gaze at them - then, without a sound, gently rests it back on the floor.  The café barista “pings” the service bell and calls out your name – your order is ready.  You see the dog’s ear twitches at the sound of the bell but it doesn’t change his demeanor.  He doesn’t even leave his position under the table.  That’s when you notice the dog’s harness.
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Five minutes later, you watch as the dog’s person calls the dog out of his slumber to come to her side.  The woman leans on the big dog to get out of her chair – that’s when you notice the woman shaking as she struggles to stand.  She rises with the dog as her brace, then together, slowly, you watch them walk out of the café.  A man holds the door open for the woman and her dog – he even comments on how handsome her dog is.  The dog catches the man’s gaze with a little wag of his tail and then it’s right back to business – he must help his woman walk out to the bus stop safely.  After all, he is a service dog – and he has a very important job to do…

The Making of a Superhero
A service dog’s job is not an easy job to fill.  Many dogs do not have the level of confidence, self-control, patience, problem-solving skills, or healthy level of independence required to handle the day-to-day human operations of office buildings, travel systems, public forums, restaurants and malls – no matter how much we try to make them have these skills.  Teaching a dog a specific task associated with a disability is often the easiest part; it’s building the lifestyle skills that lead to superb behavior in public venues that takes much longer.   

"With great power comes great responsibility."
​~ Uncle Ben to Peter Parker in Spiderman

Service dogs are really like superheroes among us!  Being a service dog is a job most dogs are just not cut out to do and not every dog that starts the path to becoming a service dog can finish it.  It’s like why most of us humans are not brain surgeons or rocket scientists.   Let’s dig a little deeper…

Exploring novel objects, like this bunny statue

In many cases, the art of making a service dog starts shortly after birth.  Potential service dogs are handled by humans from the time before they can see so they get used to human companionship – even this early task prepares a dog for his future role.  As soon as they can walk and explore on their own, around the age of 4 weeks, they are passively exposed to various noises, surfaces, novel objects and more.  Within their first several months of life, they are repeatedly exposed to other dogs and people to develop appropriate social skills and to prevent the development of fear and aggression.

This exposure continues into adolescence, since a dog goes through several developmental phases during his first year.  A service dog in training learns strong obedience skills – such as the basic sit, down, stay, come, etc. as well as some commands that are more specific to that service dog’s field – but just as importantly, the dog learns to build confidence in public situations and good behavior.  This includes impulse control, patience, and the ability to remain responsive around a plethora of distractions.  These are all skills that require a LOT of time and practice to build in a lifestyle training approach, so for most service dogs these lessons start from the “puppy raiser” or owner who is training their own service dog under the supervision of a qualified service dog trainer. ​

You mean I'm really supposed to resist these little hot dogs?? This is hard work!

Ask anyone who has ever volunteered countless hours to raise a pup for a service dog organization: as Maya Angelou once said, “The price is high, but the reward is great.”  My very good friend Nicole Guite has raised 15 dogs for three different service dog programs (Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Heeling Autism and BluePath Service Dogs) over the years.  She knows firsthand how much the experiences she gives her pups during the puppy-raising process can have an effect on their future vocation.

A Lifestyle Approach
It’s practically impossible to put a specific number on the amount of hours spent on a service dog in training.  As Nicole will tell you, “Dogs are learning all the time even if I am not specifically working on a training task.”  This concept is as true with dogs as it is with children.  We hopefully do not only teach our children manners sometimes, but rather whenever the opportunity pops up in life so they can learn the right thing.  Training a future service dog really is a lifestyle approach as well.

Learning to settle in a restaurant is an integral part of training for any service dog.

“There are times when we are actively training skills - whether that be sit, down, come when called, or to ignore distractions on walks - but there are also times where the training is more passive, such as the puppy learning to be quiet and calm in a crate when I'm not home.  Training a service dog puppy involves incorporating the puppy into your daily activities and teaching the puppy appropriate behaviors as you go, rather than setting aside 20 minutes a day to train,” says Nicole.

Practicing getting to (and then into) the car

Everyday activities that we often take for granted can actually provide invaluable lessons to a service dog in training.  “An activity as simple as loading the puppy into the car involves a multitude of training opportunities - the puppy should sit politely while I put on his leash and remain calm while I put on my coat, get my purse, etc.  As we leave the house, the puppy learns to walk calmly through the doorways, rather than pulling me through. The puppy learns to walk politely on leash to the car and to calmly wait outside of the car until he is given the command to get inside. Once inside, the puppy needs to learn to ride calmly.  Getting into the car is a 5 minute task but during that brief 5 minutes, the puppy learns many skills that he will be able to apply to his work as a service dog.”

For Nicole, one of the most fun and important parts of training a future service dog is going on regular socialization outings to work on building confidence, patience and impulse control.  She picks socialization outings carefully to ensure her pup’s success, rather than to meet her own agenda, and only chooses to take the pups on outings that they are ready for.

“I have taken my dogs to places like the Coney Island boardwalk, an aquarium, and the most exciting one was The Today Show, when Wrangler (a Guiding Eyes pup) was being raised on the show.  A group of puppy raisers went down to The Today Show for International Guide Dog Day.  We were out on the plaza with our dogs - I felt like my dog and I were celebrities because all the fans wanted to say hello and pet her!”  It was a good experience for the pups because it was done correctly and it set a good example for viewers to understand the work that goes behind making a service dog.

Puppies with a purpose outside The Today Show on International Guide Dog Day

Being an Advocate
There’s a lot of confusion in the current social climate regarding service dogs and what makes them different from ESA’s (Emotional Support Animals) and therapy dogs.  For more clarification on this subject, see my blog post Solving the Assistance Dogs Puzzle: Service Dogs, ESA’s and Therapy Dogs.

I am often working to bring clarity to people who contact me to inquire about their pet dog becoming a service dog.  Nicole has plenty of opportunities to educate the public as well. “Because socialization is so important for a future service dog, I spend a lot of time out and about in public with my service dog puppy in training.  As a result, I am often stopped by people who want to greet my puppy, which always gives me an opportunity to educate the public about the organization I'm raising for, as well as service dogs in general.”

Nicole and her Josie

​Of course, everyone always wonders how she could give the puppy up after a year into the process.  Nicole answers this question as she does below, but in the moment she’s also focused on another task.  “While talking, I am also working with my puppy on the appropriate ways to behave around people and this also gives me an opportunity to educate the person on the proper ways to greet and interact with service dogs and service dogs in training.”  Occasionally, Nicole also shares her experiences and educates the public by giving speeches at events.

Respecting Service Dogs – Their Process and Their Rights
As Nicole describes above, the lifestyle skills required to make a good service dog are not just skills that can be proofed strong enough in a 6- or 8-week training course.  Especially when, for some service dogs, having these skills and making the right decision could be the difference between life or death for its disabled partner.

Service dogs have a very important job to do!

Now that you know this, let’s go back to the brain surgeon or rocket scientist example again…  A career like that requires a person to endure countless hours of study, hands-on practice, and years of honing his or her skills and achieving the right licenses and certifications – you don’t just turn into a brain surgeon after a 6-week online course.  For many of us, those jobs are beyond our desires or capabilities and we would be doing a great disservice to people in those fields if we only pretended to do what they can actually do successfully.  In fact, there’s a word for that – it’s called “fraud.”  And a dog does not get out of bed one day and “decide” he’d like to become a service dog.  This is a decision that some humans try to make for their dogs without thinking about whether or not it is in the dog’s best interest.

People who try to pass their own pet dog off as a “service dog” just to get onto an airplane or into a store may not realize how much an untrained dog wearing a “service dog” vest can infringe on legitimate service dogs.  Just as people may not realize how their own actions can negatively affect service dog teams.  Nicole says, “Something that may seem harmless, like making kissing noises at a service dog or petting the dog even when the handler asks you not to, can cause issues for the dog and its handler.  Service dog handlers rely on their dogs to keep them safe and distracting the dog for even a moment could put the handler and the dog in danger.”
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I can understand why many of us would like to have service dogs, though it’s important we respect those that need to have service dogs.  While I do get a little nervous flying on an airplane when there’s some turbulence or being stuck on a bridge in traffic, I do not spiral into an emotional breakdown.  And while my dog provides me with great emotional support – he’s there to pet when I just need a friend and just looking at him makes a bad day melt away – I’m just a “normal” person with just your average emotional highs and lows.  I do not have a physical, mental or emotional disability that affects my ability to function on a daily basis.  My condition does not warrant me unstable without the aid of a service dog or ESA.

Not a service dog, but a cherished pet!

​So while I LOVE having my dog with me, his place is only as my cherished pet!  We spend our time together at home and anywhere that pet dogs are allowed to go.  And when he can’t come with me, I do miss him - but I look forward to seeing his smiling face when I walk through the door again!

The Reward is Great
As any puppy raiser will tell you, the most difficult part of raising a service dog is definitely when the dog has to leave the raiser to begin formal training back at the service dog school.  “It's something you know is going to happen so you try to prepare for it but when the time finally arrives, it is difficult regardless of whether it's the first puppy you raised or the 12th puppy,” says Nicole.  Yet the day is bittersweet.

“Mixed in with the feelings of sadness is also feelings of excitement - you have just spent the last year preparing the puppy to enter formal training and it is exciting that the time has finally arrived for them to begin that part of their journey.  I try to focus on the feelings of excitement and how my puppy is one step closer to changing someone's life.  It also helps to get another puppy right away!”  This is why Nicole is currently raising her 15th puppy!

After months in formal training with a certified service dog instructor, a dog may finally have put all the pieces together and be ready to become licensed as a legitimate service dog.  For Nicole and many puppy raisers, seeing their pup meeting this goal is the most rewarding part.

“When I see the dog I raised with their new person, it makes all of the heartache from giving the puppy up disappear.  It absolutely warms my heart when I see the service dog handler do something as simple as putting their hand on their dog's head or the dog rest their head on their handler's shoe.  Even though the dog was once ‘my’ dog, seeing the dog become ‘their’ dog is the proudest moment for me. Some people struggle with that moment when they realize that the handler is now the dog's person but to me, that moment signifies everything I had worked so hard towards - the dog is now ready to fulfill its role as a service dog and change the life of this person.”  Aww, anyone else need a tissue now??

Just a few of the people who have benefitted from Nicole's puppy-raising of future service dogs

My hope is that since you now have a better understanding about what goes into making these superheroes among us, you too will find it easier to respect service dogs and their work, and also help support the movement to educate the general public about their very important role.  Together through education, perhaps we can decrease the number of people who take advantage of the service dog title every year and help those who have a true need for service dogs acquire the superbly-trained dogs that they need in the right way.

Changing lives, one pup at a time <3