What are the best Dog Breeds for Service Dogs? Answers at Dogster Answers.

Wed, May 23rd 2012, 08:38 GMT

You have to be careful with many breeds and health concerns. My family has 3 cavaliers, and 2 of them have heart conditions. They are the sweetest dogs, But 1 of ours was born with problems, and the other developed them at a later age. Have you ever looked into Havanese? They are great dogs, not a breed that you will see everywhere. Very smart, very funny, and very devoted to their family and owners. As a plus they don't get too big, and act like little clowns. I have severe anxiety disorder, and while she is not a therapy/service dog, Isabella never fails to make the anxiety go away just a bit when I look at her and play with her. Brie

ANSWERED BY Member 1112328

Thu, Apr 26th 2012, 01:43 GMT

Currently, we are training a Great Dane puppy for my 14-year-old son with autism because that is the muscled dog that meets his needs and doesn't have a reputation like the smaller rottie. His retired dog is a lab, and my favorite companion at home is a rescued Tibetan Spaniel while my ultimate dog would be the Cavalier King Charles. So...the short answer is do your research on breeds. Do you want one with lots of maintenance or very little? This will be your most important decision. Also DO NOT get a rescue animal for a SD. You don't know the dogs history and personality issues. Get a puppy from a reputable breeder and do the socializing and training yourself. (It will be therapeutic.) Get the books Teamwork I and Teamwork II. While II is primarily for physical disabilities, you may can translate it to what you need. Also ADA does not require a vest with ID, though you need to check your state laws. Also, I would not identify as PSD dog. It's nobody's business.

ANSWERED BY Member 1085757

Sat, Apr 14th 2012, 12:16 GMT

I do not have a dissability, although me and one of my bffs and me want to train one for anyone who has a dissability and we wanted to know what the good breeds are. I learned that labs are gr8 and so are retreivers. Any agressive dog wont be good and small dogs might be hard if you have a wheelchair. I hope my info was helpful.

ANSWERED BY Member 1105866

Mon, Feb 6th 2012, 05:16 GMT

Congratulations on taking the first step to getting a service dog! I'm by far no expert but if you go onto the service dog forum I'm sure you'll find much more experienced service dog handlers to help you on your quest. Technically any breed can be a service dog but not every dog in that breed makes a good service dog. I've seen everything from corgis to shelties to boston terriers. It depends on what you need, what dog fits you well and your life. I personally like Shelties and Corgis(although I've heard they can be a bit neurotic). I would suggest first looking at good breeders for dogs that need to be re-homed or a good rescue that knows their dogs well. The pound/shelters aren't the best places for finding good candidates. By the way there is no certification for a service dog. It is recommended that a service dog can pass their CGC and PATS (public access test) but not required.

ANSWERED BY

Jazmine *Jazzy*

Sun, Feb 5th 2012, 06:49 GMT

There are more service dog organizations that train Psychiatric/Mental Health Service Dogs than there were even five years ago. I know of one in Seattle, WA called Heeling Allies (http://www.mentalhealthdogs.org/) and another in Coronado (close to San Diego), CA (http://littleangelsdogtraining.net/servicedogs.html ). If you aren't totally committed to training your dog to both behave appropriately in public and perform tasks directly related to your disability (and your request for a dog needing minimal training to qualify for certification indicates to me that this is likely), forget about size/breed and work with a service dog provider. Heeling Allies helps people who live west of the Mississippi, while Little Angels Service Dogs works with any U.S. resident (though they require recipients to engage in fund raising to offset their expenses, as do many service dog providers). Both require recipients to travel to them for matching and training (typical of other providers). Good luck!

ANSWERED BY Member 1065887

Tue, Jan 17th 2012, 16:05 GMT

i have probelms walkin and standing and i think australian shepherds are the best cuz thats what i have for my sevice dogs and she can and does everything that any other one can

ANSWERED BY Member 1085381

Mon, Dec 5th 2011, 10:43 GMT

go to http://www.psychdog.org/ talk to someone there and they hopefully will help you out as for the breed it all really depends on your living arrangement's and life style. You don't want a dog that will just sit on the couch all day if you are a active person or a active dog if you are a person that comes home and just wants to relax or veg.

ANSWERED BY Member 1075557

Mon, Oct 10th 2011, 13:42 GMT

Hello! There are a lot of good answers here and also some very bad ones. You should check http://www.usdoj.gov This site give more information on what is required for your PSD or SD. Just off the top, there is NO Federal requirement for a vest or certification. If a State says they require it, the Federal Government trumps them. I have dealt with this over and over. Good Luck in your search for a PSD and or SD.

ANSWERED BY

♥ Anya ♥

Mon, Oct 3rd 2011, 19:12 GMT

If you're in the US, there is no such thing as certification (at least not that's legally recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act). Certifications are often scam outfits trying to trick people or they're helping people with fake service dogs. Just an FYI. As to what breed, how small do you mean by "smaller"? I think my dog in training is a "smaller dog" at half the size of my retiring dog. But my retiring dog is a 110# Akita and the dog in training is a 50 or so pound Rottie mix. Some people say small dog and mean something like Chi at a max. Others mean up to 25 pounds. Also, how much energy are you willing to accept? What temperament do you want beyond energy? How easily trained? Intelligent? What kind of fur? If you want a partially trained (like obedience and socialization) dog, one possibility, if you can find one is a retired show dog. Another route, sometimes are the dogs cut from guide dog programs. Good luck.

ANSWERED BY

Angel

Mon, Sep 26th 2011, 10:47 GMT

I have bipolar and have two dogs: a service dog, Daphne, who is a border collie/lab mix, and a service dog in training, Liam, who is a toy poodle. I recommend the toy poodle. Make sure you get one from good, calm parents like I did. Plan to spend lots of time and energy training him or her. Psychdogs.org, as mentioned by another poster, is a very good resource. My toy poodle is a great little service-dog-in-training. I take him all over the place with me and am teaching him lots of useful behaviors, like "kisses" and "cuddles" and how to remind me to take my meds in the afternoon. Feel free to PM me if you need help from someone who's been there.

ANSWERED BY

Liam-Service-Dog-in-training

Thu, Aug 11th 2011, 23:53 GMT

There is no best breed. It is the individual dog's temperament that makes it a good service dog. Also you are not likely to find a "Rather trained dog." You might find an older dog that has obedience training - does that suit you? A service dog usually has two years of intense training. I know, I trained one under the supervision of a master trainer. It is a wonderful and exhausting experience. Something like that is what I expect you will have to do. It might not take you two years if you find an obedience trained dog. How long it takes is partially determined by how much time you put in training the dog. I have major clinical depression. There were days when I did not feel like living much less training a service dog. I did it anyway because the dog called it forth from me. Today he is ten and a half years old and I am realizing that I will soon get to go through the experience of training a new dog. Good luck to you. Don't be discouraged no matter what!

ANSWERED BY

Donovan Rest in Peace

Sun, Jul 31st 2011, 09:35 GMT

It depends on what you need the dog to do. If you need a dog that is persistant and won't let you slack off, a Pommeranian makes a good nagging fishwife. They are hyper alert and notice the smallest change in your attitude. Pick a calm puppy, it will make training the quiet command easier. They do need to be brushed a couple times a week and a good grooming from a Pro every couple months. For med alert, training a puppy yourself will help it bond with you and recognize what your "normal" is. If you can't handle barking, then don't get a Pomeranian. Mine doesn't bark in public when working, but does bark at home. Also, if it has bad knees, you will have to carry it. Whichever breed you choose, be sure to socialize it very well. Also, with a Pomeranian you will have to deal with the cuteness factor, they attract people.

ANSWERED BY

Pepper, SD, CGC

Sat, Jul 23rd 2011, 16:54 GMT

There is one group that does PSDs, but I am not sure where. It's somewhere in New England area. You will probably need to train from the ground up. It's your preference as for breed, but as someone who had a small breed PSD, not always easy. You deal with MUCH more prejudice than with a larger breed. I am in the process of training a larger dog for myself, both for PSD, and my health is deteriorating, so he'll be able to help me with that. Follow the links someone else posted, and join yahoo groups, there are some specifically for this type of service dog.

ANSWERED BY Member 1042071

Mon, Jul 11th 2011, 00:57 GMT

I have a friend who breeds Pomeranians, message me if you would like to contact him, he may have some puppies available, they come with a bag of accessories. Every dog is different, service dogs are usually labs but some can be smaller like pomeranians, yorkies or chihuahuas. You need to create an accounbt to message me

ANSWERED BY

Gia

Sat, Jun 25th 2011, 16:58 GMT

I have a PSD that is a pit bull, much like Hellen Keller. I would not have any other breed. She is very well behaved. Despite what most uneducated people believe pit bulls are the most human devoted dogs I have ever known.

ANSWERED BY Member 1038674