How to Train Dogs to Help People With Disabilities
People with disabilities often use trained dogs to help them get through daily activities that would be a lot harder or impossible without the assistance of their trained dog. These dogs are put through extensive training to help them to focus on the task at hand, and prevent them from becoming distracted.
- Begin training the dog that is going to be used early on, as early as eight weeks of age. You do not want to begin training right away though, wait a few weeks after you purchase the dog to begin training so that the dog is allowed to bond with you and build up a level of trust.
- Expose the dog to many different types of distractions to see how the dog reacts to them. You need a dog that is of even temperament and does well with children, other adults, other dogs, cars and loud noises. You need to be sure that the temperament of the dog will allow it to focus solely on the disabled person to whom they are assigned without becoming distracted due to outside influences.
- Enroll the dog in basic obedience classes at an early age so that they can learn to be even tempered and also come to know basic commands such as sit, stay, come and any other necessary signals that they may need to work as a service dog. This will also help to socialize the service dog with other dogs from an early age so that they are not bothered by other dogs while serving the disabled person they are assigned to help.
- Consider the specific needs of the person who will be receiving the service dog. You want to teach it commands that will be helpful to the disabled person that it is assigned to help. This could be hand signals or words that assist the person with mobility, or tasks such as retrieving common items that would be of assistance.