Service dogs, trained to the person who needs them

PTSD Service Dogs

A PTSD service dog is a dog that is specifically trained to service and assist people with post traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses including anxiety and depression, which can be triggered because of a traumatic event that has occurred in someone's life.

PTSD dogs are trained to

• Assist in a medical crisis
• Provide treatment related assistance
• Assist in coping with episodes of panic and anxiety attacks and emotional overload
• Perform security enhancement tasks

Tasks a PTSD service dog may include

• Signaling or interrupting repetitive or injurious behavior
• Reminding the handler to take medication
• Retrieving objects such as medicine and water
• Waking the handler during nightmares or night terrors
• Guiding the handler from stressful situations
• Distracting the handler during episodes of panic or anxiety attacks
• Preventing people from crowding around or rushing up on their handler, and acting as a buffer
• Environmental assessment such as turning on the lights and room searches for the handler, in such cases as anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations

Each Canines 4 Hope service dog is trained to the handler's specific medical needs. The tasks above are examples of tasks a PTSD service dog can be trained to perform, and a program may or may not include them.

Benefits of a PTSD service dog may include

• Provide an active lifestyle for the handler
• Help with episodes of depression, panic attacks, night terrors
• Provide companionship
• Help lower blood pressure
• Relieve or mitigate the handler of emotional stress, sadness, anxiousness, loneliness, anger, irritability, hopelessness, depression
• Calm their handler
• Provide medical assistance and retrieve help
• Preventing people from crowding around or rushing up on their handler
• Help adjust serotonin levels

A specially trained PTSD service dog can provide a sense of security, calming effects, physical exercise and provide assistance, which can make a positive difference in the life of those that suffer with post traumatic stress disorder.

Autism Service Dogs

What is autism? A condition disturbing perceptions and relationships: a disturbance in psychological development in which use of language, reaction to stimuli and interpretation of the world, and the formation of relationships are not fully established and follow unusual patterns.

Dogs have been proven to be an asset for children diagnosed with autism and their family. Autism service dogs provide a social bridge for children who are often secluded by others because of their behavior or lack of social interaction. A well trained autism service dog can also provide comfort as well as calm children who suffer. An autism assistance dog can change the lives of a family with a child who has been diagnosed with autism or autistic symptoms.

Trained to respond to these autistic symptoms

• Impulsive running: dog will help retrieve and get child back to parent
• Self harming behavior: dog will interrupt behavior and alert parent
• Awakening at night: dog will bark to alert parents
• Interpret mood swings: dog will crawl into child's lap to calm child
• Interrupt social isolation: child tends to focus on dog companionship
• Non-verbal child: child learns to give dog commands
• PICA: dog will stop child from eating inappropriate items
• Self stimulation: dog can interrupt behavior

The tasks above represent what an autism service dog is capable of performing. Each autism service dog is specifically trained to its owner's personal needs based on their medical condition, and may or may not include the tasks described above.

Other advantages of having an autism assistance dog

• Increased social interaction: assistance dogs have proven to improve social skills and social interaction with children affected by autism. These dogs are naturally interesting, which often draws the attention of the autistic child as well as others.
• Redirecting repetitive behaviors: dogs can be taught to nudge a child that is performing repetitive behaviors. This touch is often all that is required to redirect the child from these behaviors.
• Improved independence: assistance dogs can provide independence by allowing the child to walk with the dog as opposed to constantly holding the hand of a parent or adult. These highly skilled dogs can assist the child while under the direction of the adult.
• Increased vocabulary: children with autism are often noticed to have an increase in vocabulary after being paired with an assistance dog. The children seem to be more comfortable in speaking with the dog, which transfers to more verbal interaction with people.
• Improved quality of sleep: assistance dogs provide a certain level of comfort that can often improve a child's ability to sleep more throughout the night.
• Overall calming ability: when performing everyday tasks, children feel less pressure working with a dog as opposed to their peers. The tactile experience of having a dog as a companion has also proven to provide calming effects.

Autism service dogs assist children and families with activities of daily living, while increasing the safety of the child and reducing the stress level of their family. Canines 4 Hope also refers to these dogs as autism assistance dogs and autism alert dogs.