What Makes a Good Service Dog?
Service dogs provide invaluable assistance to their owners, enabling them to live more independent and fulfilling lives. But not all dogs are suited for the role of a service dog. Certain qualities are required to make a good service dog.
Qualities That Make A Good Service Dog
Service dogs must be patient, intelligent, friendly, self-controlled, and hardworking. They must also be able to focus on tasks and pay attention to their handlers, even in distracting situations. Service dogs should also be alert and observant to anticipate their handler’s needs. Finally, they should have an easy-going personality to tolerate being handled by strangers when necessary.
Service Dog Training
When service dogs are selected for training, the handlers look for strong physical and behavioral traits early on and throughout the training process. Having a completely healthy pup is important, as they have very important jobs. For families who are faced with a rare disease, another benefit of having a healthy pup is keeping dog healthcare costs low.
Service dogs receive extensive training before they can become certified as working animals. This training typically involves teaching them basic obedience commands such as sit, stay, come, leave it, heel, etc., as well as more complex commands such as retrieving items or helping with mobility issues. They are also taught skills such as recognizing signs of distress from their handlers or alerting their handlers when someone is approaching from behind.
Good Dogg’s training partner, Diggity Dogs Service Dogs, expertly trains service dogs to be placed with loving human companions in need. They are top-notch at breeding and training medical alert, psychiatric, and mobility service dogs.
Breeds And Traits Most Sought After In A Service Dog
Though any breed of dog can become a service dog if it meets the qualifications, there are certain traits that make some breeds better suited for service than others. Herding breeds like German Shepherds or Golden Retrievers tend to excel due to their intelligence and loyalty. Some small breeds like Poodles are also popular due to their size, making them more accessible for individuals with disabilities to handle. Ultimately, the most important thing is that the animal has the right temperament for the job.
It is also crucial for a service dog in training to have a clean bill of health and no signs of genetic disorders. Depending on the type of training and/or certification, different healthcare requirements may be necessary, including regular veterinary checkups, rabies shots, and other recommended vaccines. Genetic qualities also play a factor in the dog’s overall health. It is essential to get service dogs in training thoroughly evaluated before they are considered a support animal for a person with disabilities. Service dogs are typically bred from other successful service dogs, and are carefully selected to be reliable and dependable for their owners.
Service Dogs for Children, With Help From Good Dogg
Since service dogs require intensive training to be better equipped to assist the children, pairing a service dog with a child is very costly and time-consuming. Unfortunately, a lot of families of children with rare diseases can’t afford to have a service dog for their child.
Our founders at Good Dogg saw first-hand the gap between children with rare diseases and service dogs that could help them. Our foundational mission is to enable children with rare diseases to be paired with exceptional service dogs to better their lives.
Leverage the Beverage™
Good Dogg Beverage helps to provide service dogs for children with rare diseases through our Leverage The Beverage™ program. By donating a portion of our beverage profits, and 100% of our merchandise profits, we work with our charity partners to increase availability of service dogs.
To follow the service dogs that we have sponsored through this program, check us out on Instagram, @gooddogseltzer
Here is a photo of one of the service dogs that Good Dogg was able to sponsor for a child in need, Austin and Paris:
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