Service dogs part 2

The community of service dogs started quite small but expanded over the last few years. I would say it started when people truly noticed the benefit of animals towards certain type of people. We always see how much your quality of life drastically changes when you have an animal. Their instincts are so strong they can sense when you're not feeling well right away. There are so many types of service dogs nowadays but still, not everyone can have them.

The first one, and probably the oldest, is guide dogs. The name says it well. They are guiding blind people in places they go to in their everyday lives. I can only speak about the rules to have them in Canada because this is what I know. In Canada, you have to be considered legally blind and have good orientation and mobility skills. The dogs never know if you can cross a street safely for sure so the human has to use his or her skills to make sure it is. Guide dogs are by far the ones who need the most training and cost the most to whichever school trains them. They are the dogs that need to have the less fears and make the less mistakes because of course they are the eyes of the person.

Another type is Assistance dogs for people that are more physically disabled. The ones who have balance problems, in a wheelchair, diseases that affects the bones or muscles and many others. These dogs have to be big and strong. Some have to be slow and others more active. Their main tasks are pulling the wheelchair, help with balance, pick up objects, open and close doors. I can easily say that these dogs are the most multitasking because they do multiple things at a time. They are also the ones that know the most skills. The estimation of their training is about five months and they are the few that can be trained depending on the person's needs.

The third one which probably almost the most popular is service dogs for people with autism. These dogs are mostly there for support and make the life of these people more bearable. They can help with anxiety and many types of breakdowns. The dogs can also help in daily tasks since the life quality is better. The main characteristic about them is they have to be extremely calm and patient. They have to be resilient and be prepared to do an intervention for many situations. These dogs can also help with sleeping patterns since they bring comfort and security. Their training is about three months long since they don't have to learn specific skills. What makes these dogs special is that their instints is a lot stronger than any other dogs so you have to spot them.

The next one is for medical needs but mainly for diabetes, epilepsy and people who faint a lot. These dogs use their instintcs for medical alert. They can sense when the person with one of these conditions life is in danger because something might happen. They need to alert the danger before it happens so the person can either go somewhere safe if possible or take the medication to prevent the crisis. These dogs are more rare because not a lot of schools train them and I think you have to buy them so they can be pretty expensive. Also, only a few people with these conditions are allegible to have the dogs. It can't be too severe but it can't be not severe at all it has to be the just middle about it. I'm not too well informed on the training of these dogs because they are so rare but I think it can be a couple months too I just don't know the exact number.

The last known one is service dogs for mental health. They are mainly for different types of anxiety disorders but mainly PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and depression (only clinical and chronic depression). These dogs are also there for the life quality. Their presence is there to calm the person and do a boost of serotonin. The most known one are for PTSD. They will reassure the person by their presence and do an intervention when a crisis arrives. Some of them can also help with night terrors because they can feel the nightmare coming and hopefully wake the person up before it's too big. These dogs are known to help for physical health too because of course mental and physical health are related. Since the anxiety can be lower, some people can have less physical pain either in the neck, back or head.

So here are the most known types are service dogs and what makes each of them so different. They are life changing for all those people and are a necessity so make sure to understand and accept the fact that they now come as two.