How assistance dogs can help people with disability
How assistance dogs can help people with disability
Assistance dogs are working animals trained to help people with disability move around, improve health, perform general tasks and activities, and live more independently.
What is an assistance dog?
An assistance dog is a guide, hearing, or service dog that is trained to perform a number of tasks that help people with disability navigate day to day life or offer support and independence. There are also Autism assistance dogs that are trained to comfort a child if they become distressed, helping to prevent a child’s emotional reaction from escalating into a meltdown. Some service dogs are even able to help remind people to take their medication and other routine tasks. Dogs are chosen to be assistance dogs by considering their size, health, temperament, risk of shedding and intelligence.
Types of assistance dogs and tasks
There are a number of assistance dogs and therapy dogs that provide support to people with disability. Each dog is trained to perform different types of tasks, depending on who they are being trained to help.
There are three main types of assistance dogs:
Guide dogs
Guide dogs or seeing eye dogs are trained to help visually impaired or blind people move around safely and independently.
Hearing dogs
Hearing dogs are trained to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing by alerting them to important sounds like phones, doorbells or smoke alarms.
Service dogs
Service dogs are trained to assist people who live with various disabilities manage personal and other tasks.
Some assistance dogs are also trained to help with medical responses, autism assistance and mobility assistance. Golden retrievers and labradors are the most common types of assistance dogs.
How are assistance dogs trained?
Puppies chosen to be assistance dogs are trained for around 2 years. Puppies are selected based on their temperament.
These dogs spend around 18 months living with a volunteer puppy educator before taking 6 months of advanced training with an organisation such as Assistance Dogs Australia, Guide Dogs Australia or with a certified trainer.
How do assistance dogs help after training?
Because of the tasks that an assistance dog performs and the extensive training that they undergo, they are generally given special access privileges. This means they can go into a large number of places that a non-working dog is not able to as Government legislation allows this.
However, the legislation is different in each State and Territory, and a handler may be required to get certification before their dog is able to access locations. Because of the extensive training that they receive, assistance dogs are normally legally allowed to enter public places, including:
Restaurants, pubs and cafés
Cinemas and theatres
Supermarkets and other retail shops
Hotels, motels, and accommodation
Public transport including taxis, trains, trams, buses and aeroplanes
Medical or dental practices and hospitals
However, there are some locations where they are not allowed to enter due to the risk of cross-contamination. These places may include food preparation areas, hospital operating theatres and high risk medical settings such as Burns Units and Intensive Care Units.
In many States and Territories across Australia, legislation means that fines and penalties can apply when businesses or people refuse access and services to people who have a guide or assistance dog.
Assistance dog etiquette
It can take a lot of focus for a guide dog to perform its tasks and appropriate etiquette when engaging with a handler and their guide is needed. This means you can't just walk up to an assistance dog to give it a pat.
Some ways to make sure you are following assistance dog etiquette include:
Not feeding, patting or distracting a dog when it is working.
Asking if a handler needs assistance and not taking hold of the dogs’ harness or the handler.
Ensuring that pet dogs are under control when they are near an assistance dog as they may be a distraction.
Giving way to an oncoming assistance dog and its handler.
What to consider before getting an assistance dog
Despite the help and support that an assistance dog offers they may not be for everyone. If you're interested in getting an assistance dog there are some things you may want to consider, including:
The cost of looking after an assistance dog. There are costs associated with feeding, and looking after an assistance dog, just like any household pet. You need to consider if you can afford these costs before getting an assistance dog. There is also the ongoing training costs and the initial cost of partnering with an assistance animal.
Whether you are willing to commit to any ongoing training needs for the animal. Although they are given the highest amount of training possible there may still be ongoing training requirements to make sure they can perform the tasks they need to.
Once you have a service dog, you’re probably going to have a lot of people ask questions. You’ll need to be prepared to answer questions and have people approaching you while you are with your assistance dog. For some people this is not ideal and they need to take this into consideration.
If you are bringing an assistance dog into a family you will need to consider the needs of your family. There could be people in your family that have allergies or a fear of dogs.
Whether you can look after the dog. The dog will still require walks, food, grooming and all the other things a dog needs to be healthy and well cared for. You need to consider if you are physically able to look after and provide for the dog.