Service Dog Qualifications

Service dogs provide assistance to disabled persons, such as those with hearing or vision impairment, autism, seizure disorders, psychiatric conditions or mobility limitations. These dogs undergo strict training and testing by veterinarians and professional trainers to reliably provide assistance to their handlers. Potential service dogs are either purebred or shelter dogs. Service dogs must meet certain standards both physically and mentally to become a certified service dog.

  1. Mental Qualifications

    • Service dogs undergo psychological screening to ensure the dog is emotionally stable enough to provide service to his owner. The dogs must be mild-mannered and absolutely not aggressive. Service dogs must be intelligent, easy to work with and easy to train. Obedience is key in a successful service dog candidate. The dog must not be fearful, so as not to prevent the dog from performing his duties or cause the dog to behave unexpectedly.

    Physical Qualifications

    • A service dog must be in top physical condition to ensure the dog is able to provide service to a disabled person over a long period of time. Certain breeds of dogs genetically predisposed to conditions such as cancer or blindness are not good candidates for service dogs. This is because suffering from a medical condition renders the dog incapable of providing service. Even dogs not predisposed to medical conditions must pass health screenings to ensure they are not suffering from any disease. Service dogs must be spayed or neutered, as this lessens a dog's tendency to run away or be aggressive. Finally, current vaccinations are required for all service dogs.

    Training Qualifications

    • To become a service dog, the dog must undergo rigorous training by certified service dog trainers. Different service dog organizations have trainers and methods they use, but all methods allow the dog to learn at its own pace and in a humane way. All service dogs must respond to basic obedience commands (sit, stay, down) as well as specialized task commands specific to the types of services the dog performs (a guide dog for the blind performs different tasks than those for the hearing impaired). Service dogs must be able to perform at least three tasks specific to its disabled owner's needs. These dogs must respond consistently in both public places as well as at home. Service dogs are required to respond to any command on the first ask at least 90 percent of the time, as well as responding to voice commands and hand signals.