service dogs

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I'm wondering how many people on here have service dogs?(not companion, and not other animals, dogs only)

if you do I have a few questions:
what breed do you have?
boy/girl?
did you train it yourself? and if not where/who trained it?
what tasks does it preform?

I was recently diagnosed with Aspergers and I'm looking into getting a puppy to train as a service dog for myself, I've never trained a dog to do work for autism needs, only medical alert (I've trained 2 dogs), so I'm unsure how to go about it, but I believe I can benefit greatly from a service dog

Not a service dog, but I do find spending time with a pet can have a similar effect to compression of the nervous system. I'm more socially competent after petting a dog.

I don't have a service dog, only an ESA cat (and will hopefully be getting permission to bring someone else from church's therapy dog to church with me with it acting as a service dog for me), but I can give you information about the puppy in training I know. The therapy dog that they're trying to get to go to church with me also helps them train service dogs and the last one they had was an autism service dog for a 10 year old boy.

Breed: Poodle (standard, black)
Sex: Female
Trained by: American Poodles at Work
Tasks:
-Deep pressure via climbing in lap, Sit before crossing road in order to make him remember to walk immediately after checking both ways, prevent wandering,... I don't remember all of what she does.

Thank you Tuttle.

I know dogs are very helpful, I couldn't leave the house if not for them.

anybody else have a service dog?

Sydney is my service dog. I have a doctor's letter as well, and Sydney has an ID tag with her picture on it.

At the grocery she pulls the cart, pulls my back to the car if I get too tired hiking in the woods.

what's her breed?

Border collie.

oh very nice, I'd love more details on her

my grandmother who is a dog trainer (she's had over 50 dogs in her life) currently has 2 border collies and a German Shepard, I personally wouldn't want a pure border collie as they have a bit to much energy for me personally.

I'm looking into maybe a golden retriever- a dog with energy, brains, a fluffy coat(this is important to me), but are also able to chill for a while without having something to do

Why just dogs? My bearded dragon is my offical service animal.

because I'm going to train one, so other animals are irrelevant to me

I still want to know what your bearded dragon does for you.

It's sad that non-dog animals aren't allowed to become service animals anymore otherwise my cat would become a service cat rather than an ESA cat.

These dog breeds are recommended for people on the autism spectrum, Newfoundland, bloodhound, border collie, Yellow Labs, golden retriever or other highly intelligent breed.

http://www.autism-world.com/index.php/2 ... nd-autism/

Newfoundland listed first, great choice: my autism service dog is a Newfoundland. But the breed is super high maintenance and a lot of work, will be the central focus of your life. More than worth it to me. Grooming alone is at least an hour a day. This is a huge dog that needs a lot of training and exercise and takes years to mature but is the most awesome dog on earth.

Do NOT get a Newfie unless you are prepared to spend vast sums of money and time on the dog. A Newfie needs wild dog time out of service harness every day to run wild and free, sniff, and swim. And Newfies get hot easily and need cold places.

I know a lot about dogs, I've spent my life with them

I know 2 high level obedience newfie's named Petra and Sonnet, I do like their size but they drool to much for me. so I'm going with a golden ret, or maybe a German shep

I'm just curious what most people use

Basically she keeps me calm and prevents any possible meltdownsor panic attacks. She breaks the ice when meeting new people and by the time people notice there is something "off" about me, they don't really care because I'm so inteligent about lizards. I've only gotten kicked out of a place once with her and the refused to look at her paperwork, but if other people start refusing to let me bring her in, I'm getting a good lawer and going to fight the power. I'll take it to the Supreme Court if I have too. It's not my fault I have agorophobia and severe social aniexty, and it's not my fault dogs freak me out. It's not like Pippin is huge iguana running amuck and screaming her lungs out. Pippin is barely a foot long and better behaved than most human children. There has NEVER been a reported case of salmonela from a bearded dragon. The cases that have been reported in other species were species that live in a moist enviroment and are not properly cared for.