What It Takes to Be A Service Dog

In a previous post and subsequent short videos, we’ve looked at what service dogs can do for people, and a little bit about how they’re trained. Standard poodles are of course a favorite for the service sector due to their high intelligence and trainability, and also for their hypo-allergenic coats. The Australian Labradoodle was originally bred specifically for being service dogs, combining the best qualities of the best dogs.

Not every dog - poodle, labrador, shepherd - is cut out to be trained as a service dog, and most service dog training organizations have strict criteria by which puppies are judged, and programs for finding good homes for all the dogs that don’t quite make the grade for one reason or another. So I thought in this post we should look at the specific criteria used to choose the perfect dogs for training.

Assistance Dogs International, Inc. has a 12-point list of qualities that guides their training standards and ethics. These criteria are:

1. An Assistance Dog must be temperament-ally screened for emotional soundness and working ability.

2. An Assistance Dog must be physically screened for the highest degree of good health and physical soundness.

3. An Assistance Dog must be technically and analytically trained for maximum control and for the specialized tasks he/she is asked to perform.

4. An Assistance Dog must be trained using humane training methods providing for the physical and emotional safety of the dog.

5. An Assistance Dog must be permitted to learn at his/her own individual pace and not be placed in service before reaching adequate physical and emotional maturity.

6. An Assistance Dog must be matched to best suit the client’s needs, abilities and lifestyle.

7. An Assistance Dog must be placed with a client able to interact with him/her.

Items 8 through 12 are about the client and the organization’s responsibilities. American Poodles At Work [APAW] just offers its philosophy for training poodles as service dogs…

“We believe that assistance dogs should want to work, want to please. As such, we use praised-based methods of training, encouraging our dogs to learn more. We teach each dog to think and process the information, executing commands efficiently and without frustration no matter how daunting the task. By providing feedback (much like the child’s game of ‘Hot & Cold’), our dogs can quickly narrow down possibilities to make an appropriate decision.

Our puppy training starts the day pups are born, stimulating the neurons to enhance brain capacity. Once puppies are old enough to make conscious decisions (around 3 weeks of age), we start gently teaching behaviors that we want ingrained for life. By around 16 weeks our puppies have learned the basics of close to 60 commands, some of which are as reliable as an adult dog’s response.

Our dogs are raised together, but once they are older (6-12 months) certain pups may be placed with Puppy Parents who continue socializing them until the puppy is approximately 18-20 months old. At that point we bring the young adult back to brush-up on the skills they learned as a puppy, learn a few more advanced tasks, and be matched with a client for their ultimate career. However, the majority of our dogs stay at our facility with various overnight and weekend excursions with volunteer trainers through-out their adolescence.”

Puppies and dogs who don’t quite make the grade for one reason or another are still well trained, well maintained dogs that are likely to make wonderful pets. Most of the service dog organizations have ways to apply for a “released” dog, and there’s no real shortage of people interested. If you’re interested, check out the criteria at Assistance Dog Institute or contact any reputable service dog training organization. APAW offers a links page with a nice list.

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Filed under Adoption, Poodle Skills, Service Poodles, Training |