Hello, First, be aware that a service dog will attract a lot of attention and may increase public interaction if that's a trigger for you. If that's not an issue, then you can also teach using saliva samples taken. Keep gauze pads and ziploc bags on you at all time for a while. Right after an episode, as soon as you are able, such on a gauze pad then place it into the ziploc bag once soaked, and freeze it. Take several of the samples overtime as you are able. These samples can be used to teach scent detection. You can teach her a cue for something you want her to do that's helpful for you during times of anxiety. Put that action on cue, then begin having her sniff the sample, give her the comfort due (called an alert cue), and reward when she obeys. After a couple of weeks of practice, have her sniff the sample first, wait seven seconds to see if she will remember to do the comfort cue on her own, and if she doesn't then give her the cue - rewarding a lot if she does it without needing the cue after sniffing, and rewarding moderately if she needed the cue. Practice until she starts doing the cue reliably with just the sniff sample, without needing the verbal reminder. Once she understands that that scent means alert, then practice with a normal saliva sample and the sample taken during times of anxiety, only rewarding when she gives the cue when sniffing the anxiety one, ignoring any incorrect alerts. Once she can differentiate between those samples, then hide the sample in a pocket and practice at various times throughout the day, gradually adding more and more distractions to the environment and rewarding when she detects the sample and alerts. Go back a step in training if she starts to struggle and practice at that step longer before progressing again to keep her succeeding. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Nov. 27, 2023

Hello, Are you asking what tasks are usually taught to help with anxiety and panic attacks, or how to teach a task? The most commonly taught task to help with anxiety or panic attacks is to teach pup to alert to your anxious "cues", by finding things you tend to do while anxious, like freezing, clenching, bite nails, rub arms, wiggle a leg, ect...Those cues will be unique to you and probably subtle. Pay attention to what yours are. Once you know them, teach pup to alert you whenever you do those things so that pup will also alert when you do them subconsciously while anxious. That alert can help interrupt and comfort a person who is approaching a panic attack. Typically that's the initial anxiety alert task trained to qualify pup. You can also teach additional things that benefit you, such as pup doing pressure therapy - like pup lying on you. Leading you to exits during times of high anxiety. Helping initiate social interactions for those with social anxiety. Laying under your legs and chair to provide a comforting presence and stay out of the way in public places, or being a brace for you if you get dizzy. Social media, such as instagram and facebook is actually a good resource to connect and follow other owner-trainers who are teaching their own pups tasks too. It can be a good place to meet others in your city doing the same thing to connect for practicing things with people doing similar training with their dogs. There are trainers who offer remote and in person service dog training assistance - whose role is not to take the dog and train it entirely themselves (which is great but much pricier), but who can guide you in training your own dog as needed for a lower price. Youtube is also a resource to find service dog trainers who share some how to videos on teaching specific tasks to help you trouble shoot as you go. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Jan. 5, 2023

Hello Bridget, People train their own dogs to become service dogs all the time. My own sister actually trained her own service dog to help with severe allergy alerts. It is a large commitment and takes on average 1-2 years to fully train one because pup needs to learn not only the task associated with service work but also the social skills and public access manners to be allowed public places. An emotional support animal that isn't allowed public accesses is another option you could train, which doesn't have as high of training requirements but could be very beneficial at home still if that's where the majority of panic attacks happen. First, pup needs to be allowed public places - this means working on pups general obedience, socialization, and manners, so that pup can go places, get along well with everyone, and be well mannered enough not to disturb others. Joining a Canine Good Citizen or Intermediate obedience class is a good way to work on those things. How is pup around kids, various ages, races, and personalities of people, new objects, noises, other animals? Pup needs to be able to be calm and not distracted by those things. Pup should be able to handle a child or adult suddenly running up and hugging or petting them (although someone should never do that to a service dog - it probably will happen at some point when in public with pup so often). The socialization and manners part of Service Dog training is actually the hardest part many times. Without it a dog can be asked to leave places by restaurant and building owners for causing a disruption and they won't qualify as a service dog. Pup will always be a dog still, so will never be perfect at all times but should do very well! To qualify as a Service Dog a dog needs to be well mannered in public as mentioned above, and be able to perform at least one specialized task that directly assists with the medical or psychological condition they are trained to help with. The person also has to have a doctor approved medical or psychological condition that qualifies - anxiety attacks, depression, PTSD, ect.. should qualify. It sounds like pup would be an excellent candidate in terms of task training - I don't know much about pup's overall manners and socialization, but many dogs learn to alert by scent, which might be what pup is doing. Dogs are also good at detecting subtle body language cues which is something else pup might be picking up on. If you can figure out what cues, even if subtle, that your son does during an panic attack, you can replicate those subtle changes during practice and teach pup to respond to those for future help. How pup is taught to respond depends a lot on what helps your son most and what you wish to teach. Pup learning to get someone else to help, Molly providing a calming presence through actions like pressure therapy, or simply staying with your son to prevent a panic attack if that helps him avoid them, as just a couple examples of things you can teach for psychiatric assistance service dogs. If you pursue trauma therapy with a license therapist at some point, an animal trained for service work or emotional support work can often be a good asset to those appointments, to get the most benefit from combining supports. There are a couple of ways to train the initial detection. Some dogs are able to detect anxiety based on scent. This is done using saliva samples taken during times of high anxiety. The dog is taught an alert, such as Sit, paw, bark, or nose on verbal command. You then practice having the dog sniff the sample, give their alert, and you reward with a treat. Practice this until you don't have to tell the dog to alert but they will simply alert when they smell the sample, then you reward. Once pup can alert really well on the sample, then Saliva samples taken during anxious times and saliva samples taken during normal times are practiced together - with the dog only being praised and rewarded for alerting to the anxious sample, and not the normal sample. Ignore incorrect alerts and don't reward them. Practice this until pup can reliably alert to the correct sample only. Once pup alerts consistently, you plant the sample on your son and practice with the scent somewhere like a pocket - rewarding alerts. You then plant the scent on him at random times during your day and in different environments to help pup do the alert when they aren't in "training mode" to teach them to pay attention to him in various environments and be ready to alert at all times. If your son isn't up for being part of the training, you can practice with his samples being planted on you at first, then switch them to him once pup is reliable to help pup focus on him instead of you. It's easiest to start with the training being geared toward the person pup will be assisting in some cases though, because pup will build a loyalty and attention to the person they associate with the rewards given for paying attention to that person and their scent, the most. You can also teach pup to alert to your son's anxious "cues", if you can find things he tends to do while having a panic attack...That might be something like freezing, picking at nails, wiggling a leg, breathing heavily, slouching over, tensing all their muscles - it will most likely be subtle and you will exaggerate the acting out of it during your training practice at first to help pup learn to look for those signals. The cue will be unique to your son as well so you will have to pay attention to find his. Once you know them, teach pup to alert you or provide support like pressure therapy on command (at first commanding it until pup starts to offer the behavior whenever they seethe cue on their own) whenever he does those things so that pup will also alert when you do them subconsciously while anxious. Typically that's the initial anxiety alert task trained to qualify pup. You can also teach additional things if helpful for your son, such as leading to exits during times of high anxiety, helping initiate social interactions for those with social anxiety, laying under his legs and chair to provide a comforting presence and stay out of the way in public places, as a few examples. Social media, such as instagram and facebook is actually a good resource to connect and follow other owner-trainers who are teaching their own pups tasks too. It can be a good place to meet others in your city doing the same thing to connect for practicing things with people doing similar training with their dogs. There are trainers who offer remote and in person service dog training assistance - whose role is not to take the dog and train it entirely themselves (which is great but much pricier), but who can guide you in training your own dog just as needed for a lower price. Youtube is also a resource to find service dog trainers who share some how to videos on teaching specific tasks to help you trouble shoot as you go. If you decide to pursue this, I suggest starting with pup's public access - with socialization, manners, and obedience. You can work on task training at the same time if you have time, but obedience and socialization is often more time sensitive. While doing that, you can certainly reward pup's natural alerts right now to further encourage them. In the United States there is no official certification required for a dog to pass as a Service Dog. A qualifying medical or psychological condition, great behavior while in public, and at least one task that directly helps with the person's condition is all that is required. Carrying a copy of ADA law regarding service dogs, pup's vet papers, a note from your doctor simply stating your son's need for a service dog (you don't have to disclose what condition he needs help with to anyone), and a vest for pup letting people know pup is a working service dog can help people allow pup into places more easily though. When flying or renting housing, documentation from the vet and his doctor is mandatory in most places though. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

March 28, 2022