From Cute Puppy to POTS Service Dog Rockstar
A simple day in the life of a POTS sufferer (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) can often be -- not so simple. But, those days can be made just a little more manageable with the help of a service dog.
Sammy came to us as a young puppy who was eager to find a purpose in life. He was active, engaged, and eager to please people. Because of his social intelligence and innate drives, he was a great candidate for Three Dimensional Dog's in-home service dog training program.
After Sammy's mom, Anna, reached out, our client services team scheduled her first appointment with a 3D Dog certified canine behavior expert. During that time, we conducted an in-depth consultation with her which explored her medical needs and goals for training. Our clinicians took detailed case notes, which were referenced throughout the training process. Then, we developed a customized training curriculum for him to become a fully-capable medical alert service dog; a trained dog that meets all the standards set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Let's Go!
Many pretrained service dog programs can take upwards of 2 years. In Sammy's case, in-home service dog training began almost immediately and Anna was able to experience the emotional benefits of having a dog right away.
Process
Our sessions begin with canine "parent training", where we teach dog parents the basics of how to raise a well-adjusted dog. In Sammy's case, he came to us as a 9- week-old puppy. Dogs go through the same stages of development as human children, so several sessions were needed to parent him through his various development stages. This parent training component covers parental boundary-setting, proper communication practices, and routine-building for the pup. These skills are all foundational to the development of future service dog tasks.
Best Dog for Service Training?
Some clients adopt from shelters, and we love that. In many cases, we have found that with our highly-effective behavior modification strategies, we can even rehabilitate dogs who would have never been considered as candidates due to their preexisting behavior issues. Often times, they too can be capable of living a rich, purposeful life as service dogs.
Time Investment
The amount of time needed for each case differs depending on the dog's temperament, preexisting behavior issues, age, complexity of the client's needs, and the number of tasks they require. In Sammy's case, after only 16 sessions with 3D Dog behaviorists Kelli Grigg and Aaron McDonald, Sammy and Anna had achieved public access capabilities and an impressive number of medical alert and psychiatric-related tasks. This was all achieved at a tiny fraction of the cost for a pretrained service dog. Plus, there was no wait in developing their relationship.
So far he is capable of:
Accurately predicts seizure-like episodes well before they occur
Balance support when dizzy
Intuitively finds her husband during an episode
Retrieves specific medication when needed
Deep pressure during psychiatric episodes
Finds and retrieves other items
Blocks people in public
Intuitively engages in deep pressure and emotional support during distress
Sammy in Action! "Where's Momma" Task.
Be sure to follow Sammy the Service Dog's journey on Facebook!
Benefits of Balance Assist
As for the balance assist task, the human nervous system demands to have an accurate reference point in order for the vestibular system to properly orient itself to it's surroundings. Often times for POTS sufferers, the simple touch of a dog provides that reference point without the need to fully lean on or utilize the dog for bracing. Sammy continuously assumes various strategic positions around Anna for that task. This helps Anna's nervous system to relax out of a sympathetic state (fight / flight) and into a parasympathetic state (rest and digest). The effects of which cascade into her emotional states and can help to reduce anxiety by releasing endorphins, oxytocin, and dopamine. All of which are a part of the human body's natural, internal pharmacy.
Spouses Are Important Too!
Not only do service dogs serve their guardians, spouses of POTS sufferers can also benefit. They often bear much of the burden of caregiving, and many of these tasks can be allocated to dog. Thus, having a service dog present also helps to restore their quality of life. They represent not only liberation for the sufferer, but also for family members.
Now, the best part. Here, we can see Sammy engaged in some of his tasks:
Emotional benefits
What to know more?
Here is a quick guide which outlines the process. You can utilize a dog you already have in the family, or adopt a suitable dog for this role. We also encourage clients who do not have a dog to explore their local rescue shelters to adopt. We can help you with that and have had great success in finding outstanding dogs in rescue who fit the bill for becoming future service dogs.
If you are interested in learning more about 3D Dog's private, in-home training service dog program, reach out to the team and we would love to discuss how we can customize a training curriculum for you.
Aaron McDonald is a canine behaviorist, theorist, author, dog trainer, consultant, and President of Three Dimensional Dog in Birmingham, AL. With 24 years of experience he has accumulated well over ten thousand hours of instruction and education in the rehabilitation of canine behavioral dysfunction, canine behavior consultancy, and training. This experience has culminated in the development of the Unified Theory of Canine Behavior, an innovative, systems-based cognitive-behavioral theory.
Aaron has participated in live radio, news broadcasts, and has been sought for his expertise by: Heads of State in the middle east, CNN, Yahoo News, Southern Living, B-Metro Magazine, Eating Well magazine, petMD, the world’s largest pet health media provider.
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