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Posted by KDiamondDavis on February 16, 2003 at 13:45:58:

In Reply to: What does it take posted by phborzoi on February 16, 2003 at 05:18:08:

:Your friendly host here, asking a question LOL

:I am sending a Borzoi to TX to be trained by his new owner to be a service dog. He's tall enough for her to lean on, and is oh so sweet. He's shy, but she's sure she can work him out of that.

:What does it take to be a service dog? His grandfather was a TDI certified dogbut I have no idea what this entails! :)>>>

As you probably know, a therapy dog is not a service dog. Therapy dogs provide people with emotional benefits, and do not have the public access rights that disabled people have with their assistance (or service) dogs. Therapy dogs have to be okay in public with their handlers' full attention, but assistance dogs have to be okay in public for many hours at a time, even when their disabled handlers are distracted by other responsibilities.

There may eventually be a national test that assistance dogs have to pass before their disabled handlers can exercise public access rights with their dogs. But I believe the situation now is still that anyone can claim a disability and take a dog in public, until and unless there is misbehavior on the part of that dog and/or handler in a public setting. At that point, no matter what certification the dog might have, public access rights don't apply--the proprietor of the public place has the right to deny access to a dog who isn't safe for other members of the public.

In addition to having suitable temperament and training for public access, an assistance dog has to in some way mitigate the handler's disability. And that has to be a disability that is legally recognized--although, which disabilities qualify is still being defined in the courts. Mitigating the disability means that the dog performs some physical assistance for the person that improves the person's ability to function in spite of the disability the person has.

As I understand it, if this dog's temperament works out, and the training the dog needs to behave safely in public (which also includes not knocking other people down, etc!) is done, and the handler has a legitimate disability where she needs the dog with her in public to help, and he learns to provide that specific assistance--that would be the formula for him to be an assistance dog.

For more information, check out the website of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, www.iaadp.org

Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinarypartner.com

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