What Are Service Dogs Supposed To Do?

Service dogs are working animals that accompany their owners wherever they go. The dogs perform a variety of jobs for people who are physically or mentally disabled to help them get along with their daily activities. Service dogs have been utilized since the Seeing Eye Guide Dog Association was established in 1929. About 15,000 people use service dogs in the United States as of early 2011, and additional people are on waiting lists, according to Texas A&M News and Information Services.

  1. Guide Dogs

    • Guide dogs are trained to assist the visually impaired people get around in their homes and are especially useful in public places. They can help their owner navigate city streets, avoid obstacles, use public transportation and locate doorways; they also can alert her to danger. Guide dogs can accompany the owner into any public facility, store or restaurant and are trained to lay down if their owner is sitting. At home, they retrieve objects and provide companionship.

    Hearing Dogs

    • Dogs for the deaf alert their owners when they hear certain sounds, such as an alarm clock, tea kettle, smoke detector, telephone ringing or door bell. They can tell their owner if they hear keys dropped or a traffic danger. They can even alert their owner when another person says the owner's name. A deaf person can also learn about his environment while out by watching the dog's reactions.

    Dogs for Other Duties

    • Service dogs are trained to be valuable assets to the physically impaired individual, performing household duties. Trained specifically to aid in whatever their owner needs, the dog can retrieve objects, take off shoes and socks, operate light switches, pull wheelchairs, open doors, carry items in a saddlebag, even use a specially designed phone in an emergency. Some dogs are sensitive to their owner's changes in condition and can alert her that a seizure is immanent, or if the dog senses a drop in her blood sugar.

    Psychiatric Service Dogs

    • Psychiatric service dogs learn helpful tasks to assist their owner during times of emotional, psychiatric or medical crises, depending on the needs of the individual. Some psychiatric service dogs can fetch medication, summon other family members for help, assist the person to rise out of a chair, remind the owner to take medication, alert a sedated person to respond to sounds. They also act as a companion and help individuals cope with emotional overloads and provide reassurance to a person with phobias and fears.