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Can my dog become certified to help with severe anxiety and panic attacks

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mogmi_the_moogle:
Let me just explain my situation a bit. I live in Michigan I have had fairly severe anxiety for as long as I can remember. When I was 10 my anxiety got a lot worse and my depression started do to the fact that my parents were always working and we lost our house to foreclosure.  Do to my parents work I was usually alone except for my dog and rarely left the house besides school(this improved when i was 14) . By the time I was 13 my anxiety and depression was so severe i had to be home schooled, and then I became a hermit. After starting with a psychiatrist and counselor I was able to leave the house and started seeing my friends.When I was 15 I tried returning to school but was to anxious and crashed after 2 weeks. Now I am doing better but I will be commuting to collage next fall. I still have severe anxiety and panic attacks with school environments, so I would like to have my dog become a service dog to be able to attend college.Is this enough reason for him to be certified? If it is how do I get him certified? Thank you for the help. :smile:

Stephanimal:
You would first need to talk to your psychiatrist and therapist to see if they believe you are disabled by mental illness. As one must be considered disabled to have a service dog. In the USA there is no certification process it is all based on training. Once you find out you are considered disabled, you can think about training your existing dog to become a service dog.

Training a service dog takes about 2 years. Many dogs don't make the cut and depending on the age and health of your current dog you may want to look at another as a prospect. The dog must be tasked trained and the task must mitigate your personal disability. For example retrieving dropped items for a person capable of picking the item up themselves is not a task for that person, but it would be to someone who had balance or mobility issues.

There are people here that can give you more information and advice, but I wanted to let you know what I know. Good luck hun.

Roxie:
Welcome to the group!!!  Glad to meet you!

YAY and congratulations on going to college! I admire people who don't let a diagnosis or a disability limit them from achieving their dreams!!!

There is no certification for Service Dogs here in USA.

To be eligible to use a SD, one must be disabled under ADA law. A physician must determine if a patient is disabled.... it is not a matter of simply a diagnosis or diagnoses.

Side bar: if you really have  a heck of a time with anxiety and social situations, are you thinking ahead to how you will cope with all the focus on you: staring at you, talking about you, trying to distract and pet your SD, challenging you curtly and firmly, insulting you, kicking you and your SD out of places, store security following you, exclusion from peer activities?? Just something to think about.

It is my belief, one must be very stable in their recovery before taking on the owning - stewarding - managing a SD... which is like having the sole care of a 2 year old child 24/7.

Magesteff:
Service Dogs are not certified. If someone tells you they can certify your dog, run the other way. Training of a serivce dog from puppyhood takes about 2 years. the dog must have basic obedience commands very solid, must not have agression issues (barking, nipping at others, lunging on the leash etc), must be able to pass a public access test, must be able to ignore distractions when working, there are other things that you should also have the dog be able to handle, but these things are a start. THe dog also needs to be able to do a task that mitigates your disability.

I agree with Roxie, if you haven't become stable on medication or through other coping methods, you may send your dog confusing signals. At home that won't matter so much but in public it could be a disater waiting to happen. I do not know you or your medical issues and I am not a doctor, so I can't tell you if it would be good for you or not. You need to take this up with your therapists and doctors to help you make this decision.

I would also suggest that you need to decide if you will be training your dog yourself, with the assistance of a trainer, or looking to a program to provide the dog. I would also suggest reading a lot about Service Dogs and their training so that you understand the demands that this will put on both you and your dog.

Kirsten:
Here's more information on psychiatric service dogs:  http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/psd

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