A Comprehensive Guide on How to Train a Service Dog

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Dog lovers know how special the bond can be between a dog and their owner, but service dogs take that relationship to a whole new level. These specially trained dogs provide their owners with a quality of life that wouldn’t be possible without their assistance, making them truly man’s best friend.

Molly Neher of Portland, Oregon, has seen firsthand how service dogs provide their owners with peace of mind and confidence, while also helping them perform important daily tasks. After being diagnosed with non-epileptic seizure disorder at the age of 18, Neher began searching for an assistance dog to help her regain independence.

She was dismayed to learn that many service dog organizations had long waitlists and high costs, making it challenging to obtain a service dog. According to the National Service Animal Registry, the cost of a service dog ranges from between $15,000 and $30,000, with some specially trained dogs costing as much as $50,000.

“All of the organizations I contacted had waitlists of three to five years and because I was having 10+ seizures a day, waiting that long wasn’t an option,” she says. “I heard there were organizations that could help dog owners train their own pup to be a service dog and I liked that option.”

Neher found a private dog trainer in her area who helped her find and work with Reid, an eight-month-old partially trained Labradoodle.

Her experience inspired her to join Bellevue, Washington-based nonprofit, Atlas Assistance Dogs, where she is now Director of Operations and Programs and works to help others with disabilities learn how to train their own service dogs.

It may be surprising to learn that it’s possible and perfectly legal to train your own service dog, but it is. And for those willing to put in the work, you can save a lot of money and build an incredible bond with your working animal in the process.

Read on to learn how below.

What Is a Service Dog?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a service dog as one who has been trained to perform tasks to benefit a person with a disability. This can include blindness, autism, hearing loss, diabetes, psychiatric conditions, and more. The National Service Animal Registry has a full list of disabilities that qualify a person to have a service dog.

A service dog is trained to meet very individualized requirements for their companion, such as opening doors and drawers, retrieving or carrying objects, turning lights on and off, and more. Because they’re trained to such a high degree, service dogs can be expensive and the waiting list at some nonprofit organizations can often take months or years, which is why many people elect to train them themselves.

Can My Dog Be a Service Dog?

Not all dogs are capable of being effective service dogs, so before you can train your dog to be one, you’ll want to consider the following:

• How old is your dog? Your dog should be old enough to enter into formal training, but young enough that you can rely on him for many years of service after his training is complete.
• What does your vet say? Have your veterinarian do a full assessment of your dog to determine his fitness for the work: health conditions like arthritis and diabetes put an undue strain on the best of pets, so adding service animal responsibilities is unwise.
• Is your dog spayed or neutered? All service dogs should also be neutered so males are less aggressive and females don’t face working when in heat.
• What’s your dog’s temperament? According to United Disabilities Services, successful service dogs demonstrate a desire to work, have a calm demeanor, have the intelligence to perform complex tasks, and possess a friendly and loving disposition. You can test for these traits in your dog with an assessment test from the American Temperament Test Society.
• What disability will your dog be trained to help with? Someone needing a dog to help them with balance may need a larger breed, while a small dog could make an excellent diabetes alert service dog.

What Breeds Make the Best Service Dogs?

Any breed! While Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and even German Shepherds are popular service dogs, any dog fitting the criteria can be the perfect assistant to those in need. It all comes down to the disability they are helping with, and what temperament they have.

Beth Mantis, a health coach and licensed human and animal bodywork/massage therapist at Beth Mantis Bodyworks in Eagle Creek, Oregon, decided to get a service dog several years ago after her doctor told her it could help with her hearing loss.

Her job requires frequent trips, so Mantis wanted a smaller dog who could accompany her while traveling and she adopted Harvey, a Havanese. She liked the concept of training her own service dog and worked with Atlas Assistance Dogs to train Harvey how to alert her when someone approaches, help her locate her phone, and notify her when someone is at her front door.

“The trainer I worked with helped me to identify three tasks I wanted Harvey to learn that could help me with my hearing loss,” Mantis says. “In addition, Harvey has given me a sense of security when he travels with me.”

I Can’t Afford a Service Dog. What Are My Options?

Neher and Mantis are just two examples of the many people who have been successful training their own service dog. So, if you can’t afford a ready-trained service dog, yet you know you would benefit from having one, training your own dog may be the most effective, most affordable, and quickest way bring one into your life. Otherwise, you might wait for years or pay thousands of dollars to be matched with one.

Training a Service Dog: An Overview

Hire a Professional Trainer to Help

Under the ADA, you can train your own service dog, or you can hire a professional trainer or dog training organization to work with you and your dog. The only requirement is for the dog to be trained to perform a major life task you have problems performing or can’t perform yourself.

An organization like Atlas pairs volunteer dog trainers with clients on a one-to-one basis. Training typically takes place twice a week over the course of six months at a cost of $700 to dog owners.

“We believe that anyone who would benefit from a qualified assistance dog, should have one,” Neher says.

To qualify for Atlas training, Neher says dogs must be at least 14 months old, socialized, and have passed obedience training and the American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen test. In addition, dogs cannot have unresolved behavioral or temperament issues.

“Our training program focuses on disability tasks, public access, and gaining confidence as a service dog handler,” Neher says. At the end of the training, Neher says dogs are eligible for the Public Access Test, which determines their fitness for carrying out their duties in public, and are certified as service dogs through in-house Atlas certification.

Train Your Dog Yourself

If you elect to train your own dog, or adopt one, to be a service dog, your training should start with the very basics.

Foundational skills for service dogs include socialization, housebreaking (think housebreaking-plus, as your dog should be able to potty on demand with specific commands), and familiarization with the world around them (shy or skittish dogs often are not suited to service dog life).

Start with these skills and build on your successes. Aiming for them to pass the Canine Good Citizen test is a great way to shape your training regimen.

When your dog is approximately 14 months old, and has mastered training basics, you can begin to work with a professional dog trainer to teach your dog tasks to help you live more independently.

According to the service dog provider, Canine Companions, some of the skills service dogs are trained to do include learning how to help guide people who are visually impaired or blind; learning how to alert those who are hearing impaired or deaf to various noises and alerts; learning how to detect the signs of seizures, or dangerously low blood sugar in diabetics; and for the physically impaired, service dogs can even learn how to open doors or drawers, turn lights on or off, or retrieve, carry, or pull objects.

If you’re not sure if training your own service dog is the right option for you, Atlas Assistance Dogs have published an online Guidelines to Self-Training Approaches to educate dog owners about the training process. The AKC also offers a course called Service Dog 101 that will show you how to train your own service dog.

Does My Service Dog Need a Certification or Permit?

The ADA does not require you to register your service dog. In fact, the ADA has guidelines for what business owners can ask you related to your dog and disability. If your disability is not obvious, a business or employee can only ask these two questions:

• Is the service animal required because of a disability?
• What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

That’s it. They cannot require you to produce a training certificate, registration, or ask anything specific about your disability.

You can choose to identify your dog as a service dog by using a harness that identifies his special status, and the harness can help your dog understand his role. Many dogs are trained using their harness and understand that when the harness is on, it’s time to work, and when the harness is off, it’s time to rest.

If you choose to register your service dog, you can do so through an organization such as Service Dog Certifications or the National Service Animal Registry. While this isn’t required, you can order a service dog ID or certificate to identify your dog, which can help to educate the public that your service dog is essential to your ability to carry out certain tasks, and he should not be distracted, pet, or played with while he is working.

Service Dogs vs. Emotional Support Dogs vs. Therapy Dogs

Service dogs, emotional support dogs, and therapy dogs are sometimes mistakenly understood to be the same, but they each serve fundamentally different purposes.

While all these types of dogs can provide great comfort and utility to their companions:

• Service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks and have the most rights to access public spaces, as they are considered essential to an individual’s ability to perform essential tasks.
• Emotional support dogs provide their owners with comfort and emotional support, but aren’t trained to perform specific tasks. These dogs have fewer rights to accompany their owners in public spaces, such as airplanes, where service dogs are allowed.
• Therapy dogs are trained to go into institutions such as schools, churches, and hospitals to offer affection, love, and cuddles to individuals in a therapeutic way, but as with emotional support dogs, they are not considered a service dog and have fewer rights in public settings.

Regarding service dogs specifically, it’s important to understand that a service dog is a working dog and because they are performing this very important function for one person, they are not a pet.

Because of this very important difference, service dogs and their owners have certain rights in public spaces that companion dogs are not entitled to, such as the ability to accompany owners in all public spaces, with exceptions only if the dog cannot be controlled by his owner or if he is not housebroken, according to the ADA.

Final Thoughts

Whether you decide to train your service dog yourself, or work with a professional trainer or organization to help, it is possible to train your own service dog. Not only are you likely to save thousands of dollars and acquire a service animal more quickly, it’s an effective way to build a strong and lasting bond with your new companion, as Neher did.

“By alerting me to my seizures and helping me during and after them, my service dog, Reid, has given me safety, purpose, and independence,” she says.