Trying to decide whether we need a pet or a service dog

[Wendy and Trusty]

I'm not sure if this discussion belongs here... or in the Service Dog group. Please let me know if I should post this elsewhere. Here's a little background... my husband and I both grew up with wonderful pets in our homes (dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits, turtles and other awesome animals). I took several of our dogs through dog obedience training and showed them at 4-H events when I was young. We don't currently have any pets. We have a beautiful 3-year-old little boy on the autism spectrum. I've been waiting for him to mature a little before considering bringing a puppy into the family (for the puppy's sake). My son was so nice and gentle when being around a cat the other day - and seemed just quite delighted with her. Since then, I've been researching dogs and dog breeds to get a feel for which dog we should add to our family. I've also been learning about service dogs - and have read some amazing articles about service dogs and kids on the spectrum. I'm not exactly sure what a service dog can be taught, but the things my son could probably benefit most from are: deep pressure, calming presence when he's in sensory overload, keeping my son from running off, going to sleep with him at night, and just being a wonderful companion and playmate for my son. Down the road, perhaps he could benefit from bringing a service dog to school with him. For those of you with experience and insight to share, I would love to hear pros and cons of having a service dog versus a pet. I can certainly understand and see the benefit of seeing eye dogs, or dogs that are trained for mobility when someone needs a dog to help them in that manner. I guess that's why I'm having difficulty in deciding whether we really "need" a service dog, or just a pet. Thanks for taking the time to read this! :)

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

My grandson is on the autism spectrum, does not have a service dog, but I've always thought a service dog would be a wonderful help to keep him safe.  Unfortunately, this was not my decision to make.  

He is now 12 & is still escaping from various places, needs an escort on the school bus & whenever leaving the classroom.  He is extremely clever & quick...he can be gone in the blink of an eye.  He has been discovered running along the shoulder of a a 55 mph highway after escaping out of a bathroom window, on my roof after escaping out a bedroom window on the second floor...there have been many, many escapes.  Your son is young & there is no way to predict what he may be inclined to do in the future...from our experiences, I would encourage you to get a service dog for safety's sake.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I've been thinking about this since I saw your earlier post.  If you read through the link I shared earlier you'll see that there is an incredible amount of training that goes into a true Autism service dog.  It seems like they can do some amazing things...but only after they have been truly trained for their role.  That means being raised by a trained puppy raiser and then coming back for six months of actual service dog training, before they are matched to the home where they will eventually go.  The Manager of the gym that I go to is a "puppy trainer" for service dogs and these dogs are always with him.  The training is constant and the expectations are significant.  If I wanted a dog to work with my autistic child and expected them to apply deep pressure, recognize when the child was going into sensory overload, and especially keeping him from running off I would only consider one of these dogs who have been properly trained....and from what I'm seeing that would not be a Doodle.  Getting the dog as a pet is certainly another option, but you have to consider how your son will respond when the puppy is jumping and nipping him.  I would think that would not make him calmer.  I have a young adult son with Down Syndrome who doesn't react well to even our trained Doodles if they get "frisky".  He gets nervous and we have to intervene.  You must also think about how the puppy will respond to being "handled" by a toddler.  I'm not intending to be negative.  I've been looking at what can be accomplished by a properly trained Autism service dog and I'm totally impressed.  I just think that expecting a "regular" puppy to be able to work with a trainer once or twice a week and still be ready for this type of responsibility is setting them up to fail.

[Adina P]

I agree.  I think there are lots of cases where people get pets and those pets are 'calming' and helpful just being present.  Occasionally people end up with a "Lassie" that just knows how to do all these amazing things.  But that's rare and wholly different than a dog that is trained to always react/respond consistently in the right way.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

I agree with Jane. Also, if you want the dog with him at school, he has to be a certified service dog. Schools do not allow pets even in special circumstances from what I understand.

[Adina P]

But there is no national certification that I'm aware of.  Do you know of any? As I understand it anyone can train a dog and call it a service dog.

I think you can claim "service dog" and then all they can ask is "what tasks does he perform?"...am I wrong?  Have things changed? 

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

As far as I know there is no one national certification but to be considered a "service dog" , but as far as housing/flying or other types of legal things go the dog has to be trained to do specific tasks. Usually depending on the specific service there are groups who train them, there's one I'm a huge supported of that provides dogs for vets with PTSD that works with Stop 22. So for example if someone has PTSD and they have a dog that just having the dog there helps them and if they have a panic track or flash back or nightmare and just by the dog being with them can calm them down that is a pet. However is the dog is specifically trained to wake them from their night mare, apply pressure, or escort them to a safer/calmer area(the list goes on) then that is a service dog. I believe the only two questions businesses can ask are a) is that dog a service dog and b) what tasks do they perform. And the tasks would need to be specific things, not sure how much detail the handler needs to provide though. For people who have trained the dogs themselves there are different organizations that will register the dog if proven to provide a service but so many of them are fraudulent, very sad for the people who really need them and can benefit from the dogs.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The fraudulent agencies do great harm to the dogs, too. There are bogus people who call themselves service dog trainers or agencies, pull dogs from shelters or Craig's List, and then rehome them with hardly any training at all. Those dogs often get dumped in another shelter or abandoned. DRC has been contacted by more than one person who spent thousands of dollars sight-unseen for a doodle "service dog" who not only wasn't trained for service, in one case the dog wasn't even housebroken. These dogs are then rehomed or abandoned again.  

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

so sad :(

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Sorry, I misspoke. You're right. I meant he has to perform certain tasks. He can't just be a emotional support animal and be allowed on public premises that don't normally allow dogs. 

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Exactly, I think it's a common misconception that Emotional Support dogs are service dogs. Emotional support dogs do not need to have any formal training and I don't think they have to perform any certian tasks. I think for a dog to be considered an emotional support dog a licensed professional like a therapist has to verify that they are. And by verifying I think all they have to do is say that the dog provides comfort or companionship to their client. To verify I know they need to write a letter to whom it concerns, housing, flying, whatever I guess. I'm not sure what separates an emotional support dog comforting a client verses my dogs comforting me when Im stressed, maybe someone else on DK knows. I'm not sure about that though because like I said before there are soooo many fraudulent services online where you can "buy" a letter from an online therapist. Again so sad that things like that exist.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I also agree with Jane, on all points. 

I think you also have to understand that any dog, service or pet, is going to bond with his primary caretaker/handler, and that's never going to be a young child. This is why the big, recognized service dog organizations will not place service dogs with young children. 

I used to do all the adoption placements for DRC, and when I had a family whose answer to the question "Where will the dog sleep at night?" was "with my son", I used to have to explain to the applicant that the dog would most likely want to sleep with "his person", i.e. the adult who feeds, walks, trains, and cares for him, not with the kids. I never had one person (in 1000 placements) tell me I'd been wrong about that.

Whether you get a pet dog or a service dog, it's going to be your dog. If you get a puppy, (and there is no such thing as a "service puppy", no matter what marketing tools the doodle breeders would like you to believe), it is going to be like having another child for a long, long time. I can't speak for getting a true already trained service dog, who has been bred and born to work, but when it comes to getting puppy who is just a pet, you have to ask yourself the question I advise all parents to ask before getting a dog: Do you want a dog? If you didn't have children, would you still be thinking about getting a dog? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I already posted this link for Wendy, but it's interesting reading. Apparently, even some service dogs get extremely stressed and unhappy when forced to spend the night with a child instead of with their primary caregivers: https://about.illinoisstate.edu/vfdouga/Documents/331/PDF/factors%2...(1).pdf