Tasks Psychiatric Service Dogs Preform
Do you know how common it is for a client to be told they need a service dog but to have no idea what types of things the dog can do for them? It is SO common. Sometimes at the beginning of matching I will ask for a breakdown of the every day difficulties my clients have. Just because two clients have the same disability does not mean they will require the same tasks from their service dog. Task training is incredibly customized to each handler. Let's talk today about the tasks psychiatric dogs can preform to help handlers in their every day life.
Task
Blood Pressure/Heart Rate Alert
Purpose
Behavioral Interruption
Behavioral Interruption is used when the dog recognizes a common behavior that is detrimental to the handler. The dog will paw, boop with nose or hip bump the handler to alert to the behavior in effort to stop it. Many times this is when a handler is disassociating, self harming, or used to catch behaviors leading up to a panic attack.
Medical Retrieval and Reminder
This is taught for our clients that have trouble remembering their medicine times. The dog can be taught to go get the med bag and set it on your lap. Many of our clients also benefit from the dog being able to go retrieve their med bag when they cannot go get it themselves.
Blocking and Orbit
Both of these tasks are meant to keep the clients space in public. Block can be taught in front or behind the client. For example, when our client is in a line the dog will most often block from the back keeping the handlers space behind. When someone approaches in a conversation, a block can be taught from the front to keep the space during that conversation. Orbit is just a block in motion. The dog will go around the client as they walk through a crowd to keep the actual space bubble intact for the client.
Find the Exit/ Find my car
This is used for clients that have trouble in public and need the assistance of finding a way out of a store. This can happen during disassociation, panic or brain fog episodes. Sometimes our handlers just need to get outside to leave the situation and their brains are not engaging properly for them to accomplish that on their own. The same goes for the find my car task. We can teach the dogs to recognize your car with scent work making it easier for them to help you find it in a parking lot.
Puppy Alarm / Wake Up
Many of our psychiatric handlers struggle to stay on a schedule and get up each day. The dog helps with this in ways that are not actually task work as well. Often the act of being in charge of another living being helps our handlers to set schedules. They are in charge of feeding and bathroom so it gives more of an incentive to wake up and get going each day. As an actual task we can teach the dog what time the handler should wake and when the alarm goes off. The dog will then climb in bed and lick the handlers hands gently to help them wake up and get going for the day.
Remember that each client does not need the same things from their dog. We could probably add ten more tasks to this list from turning off lights in the house to finding your person for help. When you talk with your program make sure you relay to them your actual troubles each day and try to solve those with the help of the dog. It may not fit perfectly into the above list, and that is OK!
So much of service dog training is centered around independence for the handler. Psychiatric Service Dogs are no different. Their job is to make it possible for our handlers to leave the house alone each day. Their tasks should be helpful for you as the handler to live a more healthy life. They should be able to mitigate your disabilities to assist you in a better life.