WHAT IS A SERVICE DOG?

As per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dogs are defined as any dog that is specifically trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with mental and/or physical disabilities. Service dogs are not pets. The tasks performed must be related directly to the individual's disability. Assistance dogs are divided into three primary groups: guide dogs, signal dogs, and service dogs. The most commonly known, the guide dog, helps the blind and visually impaired navigate through the world while avoiding any dangerous obstacles. Signal dogs alert the deaf and hearing impaired to crucial sounds or alarms, typically through physical contact. Service dogs assist individuals with disabilities on a much broader spectrum. A service dog may provide mobility assistance by picking up dropped items, by applying deep pressure therapy to calm an autistic child, or by waking a sufferer of PTSD from a nightmare. Regardless of how the dog assists the individual, all assistance dogs must be focused on the handler, desensitized to distractions, and able to promptly perform tasks. 

WHAT IS A THERAPY DOG?

Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs provide comfort to a group of people rather than a specific job for a specific individual. Therapy dogs are not federally granted legal access to public areas. Therapy dogs must be well trained in basic obedience, must have calm, low-energy temperaments and friendly, easy-going personalities. Typically, they visit various institutions like hospitals, schools, hospices, psychotherapy offices, nursing homes and more. Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are encouraged to socialize and interact with a variety of people while they’re working. Their roles vary, from dogs who give learning disabled children the confidence to read out loud to actively participating in physical rehabilitation therapy. In some cases, a therapy dog will work in a particular establishment exclusively, like a psychotherapy practice. It is unethical and illegal to attempt to pass off a therapy dog as a service dog for purposes such as flying on a plane or being admitted to a restaurant.

WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DOG?

An emotional support dog, more commonly referred to as a “pet”, requires no training and provides therapeutic benefits through companionship only. Emotional support dogs do not qualify as either service dogs under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition, they are not trained to offer comfort, therapy, and affection to groups.

FALSIFYING A SERVICE DOG

Under Florida Statute 413.08, a person who knowingly and willfully misrepresents herself or himself as using a service animal and being qualified to use a service animal commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 (imprisonment not exceeding 60 day) or s. 775.083 ($500 fine) and must perform 30 hours of community service for an organization that serves individuals with disabilities, or for another entity or organization at the discretion of the court, to be completed in not more than 6 months.

There are individuals and organizations that sell service dog certification or registration documents online. These documents do not convey any rights under the ADA and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal.

TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION

We strongly believe a service or therapy dog is only as good as the handler. Service or therapy dogs should not only be trained to perform tasks, but be able to understand when to perform such tasks without being commanded to do so. This requires a calm, well behaved, and balanced dog that has a purposeful bond with the handler. Dogs must be able to behave and respond immediately to the handler's command in both a private and public setting and remain calm in any given situation. Service or therapy dogs must not, under any circumstances, act aggressively, beg, jump on humans or furniture, inappropriately eliminate, or be out of the handler's control. Service dogs are typically kept on a very short lead while therapy dogs are free to work on and off lead. 

At Dogmata. we classify training for service dogs into two disciplines: task training and behavior modification. Physical disabilities demand an emphases on TRAINING the dog to perform tasks such as turning lights on and off, picking up dropped items such as car keys or a pen, opening and closing doors, alerting the handler to a knock on the door, alerting the handler of an alarm going off, among others. 

On the other hand, BEHAVIOR is the core training for mental disabilities. Although psychiatric service dogs are still trained to perform tasks, building a bond of trust and respect between canine and handler is the training core. A psychiatric service dog encourages the handler to be active through daily structured walks, overcome social anxiety through conversations about the dog, build confidence, and provide an everyday routine. 

Before beginning service dog training, we require a letter or a prescription with a doctor's DEA number stating, "I believe this patient would benefit with the use of a service dog.". Handlers will also need to register their dog with the American Kennel Club to obtain an AKC number. All titles earned will be associated to the individual canine's AKC number. All dogs, including mixed breeds, can acquire an AKC number. Purebred dogs who were not from an AKC registered litter can obtain a number through the Purebred Alternative Listing. Mixed breeds can obtain a number through the Canine Partners Program. 

TESTS & TITLES

CGC Title

The first step towards Service/Therapy certification is obtaining the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) title. The CGC program is recognized by organizations across the world as the gold standard for basic obedience. The CGC introduces dogs and handlers to real world situations, such as meeting another dog, by simulating these situations in a safe and controlled environment. Upon acquiring the CGC title, both service and therapy dogs can begin to practice in real world situations in order to pursue the next level of training. 

CGCA TITLE

The second step towards certification is passing the next level of the Canine Good Citizen Program: The Community Canine. While the CGC tests simulates real world setting in a controlled environment, the goal of CGCA is to test the dog and handler's skills in a natural setting. For example, rather than the dog being tested at our facility, in Community Canine, the "walking through a crowd" test item will involve the dog walking through a real crowd of strangers. 

CGCU Title and Public Access Temperament Test (PATT)*

The final AKC test, Urban Canine, is combined with the Public Access Temperament Test*. This final test is a minimum of three hours and involves both handler and canine visiting multiple locations in order to encounter every possible real world situation with intense distractions. The purpose of the test is to ensure that, no matter the circumstances, the handler has control over the dog and that the dog is stable, well behaved, and unobtrusive to the public.

Therapy dog and Service dog certification is obtained upon earning the above titles in addition to passing the PATT. Service dogs are certified with Dogmata for two years. To maintain certification, service dog handlers must retest and pass the PATT every two years.

AKC Temperament Test

The AKC Temperament Test (ATT) was developed to bring focus and provide a meaningful evaluation to assess the temperament of our canine companions.

The ATT tests how a dog reacts to a variety of stimuli. The test is designed to certify that a dog is emotionally stable, inquisitive, cooperative, appropriately social for its breed, biddable and demonstrates the ability to recover from a startling situation in a reasonable amount of time. If a dog passes the ATT on two occasions, under two different evaluators, the owner may apply for the AKC Temperament Test (ATT) suffix title.