Service dogs, medical service dogs, and assistance dogs are all names for the same thing. They are the only type of dog that is protected by federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
This protection means that service dogs are permitted in any place that the public is permitted, such as grocery stores, malls, movie theaters, hotels, etc. They are protected by federal law because they are much like a piece of medical equipment with a heartbeat.
They do not fall under any pet regulations, such as a pet fee for a hotel room, since they are in no way considered a pet.
What are Service Dogs Trained to Do?
Service dogs are trained to perform a wide array of tasks that are then used to help mitigate the challenges that are presented by a disability to an individual.
Many individuals that we work with at Guardian Angels have been self-isolated at home or have caregivers, so they are unable to independently enjoy major life functions.
Service dogs can be trained for:
Diabetic Alert Dog
The dog is trained to alert the recipient if their sugar levels are too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). When the service dog alerts the recipient, the recipient knows to test their blood and take their medication accordingly to adjust their blood sugar levels. The dog can also be trained to alert other people in the home or set off an alarm in the event that the recipient needs medical attention.
Mobility Assistance Dog
Service dogs can be trained to help people with disabilities perform daily tasks such as picking up dropped items, opening/closing doors, turning on/off lights, pressing automatic door or elevator buttons and performing an array of other activities. A mobility assistance dog is commonly paired with a recipient who has a condition such as, but not limited to, a spinal cord injury, brain injury, arthritis, cerebral palsy, or muscular dystrophy. They can be trained to brace their recipients who have balance issues, and some specialize in assisting people in wheelchairs.
Seizure Alert Dog
Service dogs can be trained to assist recipients before, during, and after a seizure. They are trained to alert the recipient before they have a seizure and can help the recipient during the seizure by protecting their head from injury, and they help after a seizure by helping the individual to reacclimate and feel secure.
PTSD Service Dog
Service dogs can be trained to alert their recipient in advance if they are going to have a nightmare, a flashback, a panic attack, etc. They are specifically scent trained to help individuals who have conditions such as post-traumatic stress (PTSD), anxiety, depression, etc. These service dogs help their recipient go out in public again while serving as a physical barrier between their recipient and strangers entering their personal space. Additionally, PTSD service dogs are not only trained in shielding, but also to redirect and ground their recipient from anxiety/panic attacks, flashbacks, and waking them from impending nightmares.
Service dogs have a highly sophisticated sense of smell that allows them to alert in advance helping their recipients function in a safer, more normal manner. Depending on the situation, they can also be trained to go find a family member in the household or push a monitored help button if necessary.
The medical service dogs we train here at Guardian Angels go through no less than 1,500 hours of service dog training over the course of a year and a half to two years. Our extensive training includes, but is not limited to desensitization, basic and advanced commands, public access training, and socialization.
Want to Learn More About Service Dogs? We’re Here to Help!
At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, we are happy to answer any questions you may have about service dogs and how they are trained. Feel free to contact us today to learn more!
A dog is both a predator and a scavenger, so when he smells a trash can full of goodies, the scavenger part of him kicks in. Your dog getting into the trash is not only inconvenient for you, but it can also be dangerous for your dog. At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, we’ve put together some tips on how to help you teach your dog to stay out of the trash and how to safeguard the trash in case they do get into it. (more…)
The difference between the various groups of dogs out there, such as service dogs, assistance dogs, emotional support dogs, and therapy dogs can be very confusing. To help people understand the difference between service dogs and therapy dogs, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs has put together an informative article to help people better understand the differences.
What is a Medical Service Dog?
Service dogs, medical service dogs, and assistance dogs, which are all the names for the same thing, are the only type of dog that is protected by federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Since they are federally protected, they are permitted to have public access privileges. No other type of dog, including therapy dogs, has this privilege.
Service dogs are protected by federal law because they are much like medical equipment- but with a heartbeat. They are permitted to go anywhere the public is allowed to go. This includes places such as:
- Public transit
- Grocery stores
- Movie theaters
- Malls
- Hotels
- Concert venues
- Restaurants
- And more
Because service dogs are not considered to be pets in any way, shape, or form, they do not fall under any pet regulations. For example, if a grocery store, hotel or apartment has a no pet policy, this will not apply to a service dog. A service dog is more like medical equipment and not a pet, so under the law, you can’t charge someone extra or deny someone service due to them having a cane or a wheelchair or a medical service dog.
What is a Medical Service Dog Trained to Do?
Medical service dogs are trained to perform a variety of special tasks that are used to mitigate the challenges presented by a disability for an individual. Many of the people we deal with at Guardian Angels have been self-isolated at home for years or have caregivers and are unable to enjoy major life functions independently. A medical service dog is highly trained and can help the recipient in ways that not even a caregiver can.
Some of the ways a service dog can assist their recipient include but are not limited to:
- Alerting the recipient if their sugar levels are too high or too low
- Alerting their recipient in advance if they are going to have a seizure, a nightmare, a flashback, a panic attack, etc.
Service dogs have the ability to do these amazing tasks due to their incredible sense of smell, allowing their recipient to begin to function in a more normal way. The recipient relies on their medical service dog to do these things. Additionally, we also train mobility dogs who can pick up dropped items, turn on/off lights, open/close doors, and perform an array of other activities.
At Guardian Angels, our Service Dogs are put through no less than 1,500 hours of training over a year and a half to two and a half years. This extensive training includes basic and advanced commands, desensitization, socialization, and public access training. They also learn to ignore loud sounds, horns, sirens, other dogs, etc.
What is a Therapy Dog?
Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are considered pets. Therapy dogs are trained to provide affection and comfort to people in places such as retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospitals, disaster areas, and hospices. They are amazing at cheering up patients and putting smiles on the faces of staff and patients alike, and at Guardian Angels, we salute them!
Legitimate therapy dog handlers put their therapy dogs through a good deal of obedience training and socialization exercises to ensure visits to places like hospitals are friendly and positive for the patients and the dogs.
As mentioned above, therapy dogs are still considered pets, so they have no special rights under the law and are not granted any special access to public areas. In most cases, they are required to have a special Therapy Dog Certification, but this still does not provide them with any public access privileges like a medical service dog.
Have Questions About Service Dogs? We’re Happy to Help!
If you have questions about the difference between therapy dogs and service dogs, feel free to contact us today to learn more!
At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, all the dogs go through the same training. But depending on whether it is a dog from our breeding program or a rescue dog, sometimes different things show up during training, and we never force a dog to do something it doesn’t want to do. (more…)
People are often confused about the different groups of dogs out there, such as assistance dogs, service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support dogs. To help assist people in understanding the difference between service dogs and other types of dogs, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs has put together an informational article to help you learn the differences.
What is a Service Dog?
The only dogs that are protected by federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are service dogs, medical service dogs, and assistance dogs, which are names for the same thing. These are the only type of dogs that are federally protected enabling them to have public access privileges. No other category of dog has this privilege.
Service dogs are federally protected because they are very much like medical equipment – but with a heartbeat. They are allowed to go any place where the public is allowed to go, including on public transit and in grocery stores, movie theaters, malls, and hotels, etc. Service dogs are not considered pets in any way, shape, or form. They do not fall under any pet regulations.
If a hotel, for example, has a no pet policy, it does not apply to a service dog. Perhaps they do allow dogs, but there is a deposit for an extra cleaning fee that does not apply to a service dog.
Because a service dog is like medical equipment, you wouldn’t charge someone extra or deny someone services just because they came in with a cane, braces on their legs, or in a wheelchair, so you cannot deny them if they have a service dog.
What Does a Service Dog Do?
A medical service dog is trained to perform special tasks that mitigate the challenges of a disability for an individual. We deal with many people that have often been self-isolated at home for many years and/or have caregivers and are unable to enjoy major life functions. A medical service dog can change this and do things that not even a caregiver can do.
A service dog can tell the recipient if their sugar levels are too high or too low; they can tell them in advance if they are going to have a seizure, a nightmare, a flashback, a panic attack, etc.
Service dogs can do these things in advance due to their amazing sense of smell. Therefore, these people can begin to function in a more normal way. They depend on the dog to do these things. We train mobility dogs as well. Those dogs can pick up dropped items, open/close doors, turn on/off lights, and do a plethora of other activities.
Our Service Dogs go through no less than 1,500 hours of training over a year and a half to two and a half years. Training includes basic and advanced commands, desensitization, socialization, and public access training. They learn to ignore loud sounds, horns, sirens, and other dogs, etc.
What is an Emotional Support Dog?
Emotional support dogs are any dog. All dogs provide some level of emotional support. They are always happy to see us, want to come to cuddle with us when we are sad, etc. They are not trained to perform any specific tasks or skills to assist the owner.
Emotional support dogs, in most cases, do not have the level of training a proper service dog has and are not covered by ADA, except in a few circumstances that are limited to HUD housing. They are no longer allowed to fly commercial airlines as service dogs do.
An emotional support dog has no right to enter a public establishment any more than a pet dog does. If you are a pet-friendly business, of course, you are
welcome to accept ESAs and pets of all kinds in your establishment – just know that ESAs have no special legal permission to be there.
Why You Shouldn’t Allow All Dogs in Your Business
Unfortunately, there’s been a trend by businesses who are confused or intimidated by service dog policy that decide “just allowing all dogs” should be the answer. We’d like to discuss with you why this is not the best solution.
At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, our recipients frequently report attacks on their dogs by untrained pets inside retail establishments and VA buildings. This not only does damage to our dogs both mentally and potentially physically, but it can “undo” their many hours of training by imprinting a fear response to other dogs. Please give careful consideration to your policies before allowing all pets.
Educating your staff is not as difficult as it seems, and if you need assistance, just give Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs a call. We’ll be happy to help with understanding service dog laws.
Donate to Guardian Angels Today!
At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, your generous donations are used to help us assist veterans and others with disabilities to regain their independence and have a new normal! To make a donation, view our campaigns here.
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs has been recognized as the winner of the 2022 VETTY Award in the suicide prevention category, presented by the Academy of United States Veterans. Guardian Angels is a national 501(c)3nonprofit organization whose mission is to rescue, raise, train, and donate highly skilled medical service dogs to veterans, first responders and individuals to mitigate the challenges of both visible and invisible disabilities.
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs’ recipients suffer from a myriad of disabilities, including PTS, military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injuries, diabetic and seizure disorders, mobility issues and more.
These disabilities can often lead to feelings of isolation and suicidal ideation for those affected. The highly trained service dogs that Guardian Angels provides to their recipients help to improve overall health and happiness, restore their sense of freedom and independence, and create a new normal full of possibilities.
Over the past 12 years, Guardian Angels has provided hundreds of service dogs to individuals across dozens of states in the U.S. To date, not a single Guardian Angels Medical Service Dog recipient has been lost to suicide.
“We are so proud of everyone connected with our organization,” says Carol Borden, Founder and CEO of Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs. “From staff to volunteers and foster trainers, everyone involved has played a fundamental role in advancing our mission of making a difference in the lives of veterans and our other recipients. It’s an honor to have our work once again recognized by the Academy of United States Veterans.”
This marks the nonprofit’s third VETTY win and fifth consecutive year as a finalist for the award. The organization previously won the award in 2021 for outstanding efforts in veterans’ suicide prevention, and awarded the 2018 VETTY for outstanding efforts in Veterans’ Mental Health. The Academy of United States Veterans established the annual VETTY awards to recognize those that contribute to the well-being of the veteran community.
The 7th annual VETTY award gala was held on April 23rd at the M Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs’ staff member and Army veteran, Sean O’Rourke was in Las Vegas, along with one of our incredible Service Dogs to accept the award from Assal Ravandi, Founder & CEO of the Academy of United States Veterans.
As he accepted the award on behalf of Guardian Angels O’Rourke said, “Let’s ensure the focus remains on all our veterans and helping them find healing and that beautiful new normal through extraordinary dogs. Thank you so very much for recognizing our labor of love”.
To learn more about how Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs works to prevent suicide among veterans and others affected by disabilities, visit https://www.medicalservicedogs.org/
About Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Williston, Florida and has grown into a nation-wide medical service dog organization. The organization rescues, raises, trains and then donates individually trained medical service dogs to veterans, first responders and others who suffer from disabilities including PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, diabetic and seizure disorders, mobility issues and more. Since their inception in 2010, Guardian Angels has donated and paired hundreds of individually trained medical service dogs with those in need. For more information, visit: www.MedicalServiceDogs.org
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With the summer season upon us, it’s time to enjoy the warm weather and sunshine. While the summer weather is great for outdoor activities like swimming or relaxing in the backyard, the heat can be dangerous for your pet or medical service dog. At Guardian Angels, we have put together some tips to keep your dog safe and comfortable this summer.
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Sean served his community for years as a police captain. While on duty, Sean received a call to respond to a local convenience store. There, he fought with a robbery suspect and was severely injured. Many surgeries and months of rehabilitation were necessary to help repair the damage from Sean’s broken back, traumatic brain injury, and permanent memory loss. (more…)
While Michael was deployed in Afghanistan, his base was hit by rockets, which led to him suffering a shattered leg and jaw along with a traumatic brain injury. (more…)
While you may be familiar with service dogs, you may not know the type of training they go through to become one. Service dog training includes various areas of study and can take a lengthy amount of time to complete. At Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, we’ve put together an overview of the training service dogs require to help you gain a better understanding.
A service dog is defined by the ADA as a dog that is trained to perform tasks to assist or benefit a person with a disability. A disability can be visible or invisible such as PTSD, Diabetes, Seizures, etc.
What are the Requirements of a Service Dog?
A person is eligible for a service dog if they have a permanent disability that significantly limits one or more major life activity. A service dog must always remain well-mannered and be trained to perform specific tasks that aid someone with a disability.
If it is not obvious what service your dog provides, recipients must be willing to answer two questions about their service dog. You can also choose to clearly identify your dog with service dog accessories to make their purpose clear in public spaces.
To be a service dog, the dogs must be brave enough, large enough, and intelligent enough to do the job. A service dog can never pose a safety threat to the public and is required to be able to perform their task 90% of the time or more, no matter the environment.
When Does Service Dog Training Begin?
Our service dogs begin their training in puppyhood. In the early stages of their training, the service dogs will learn the same things any well-behaved dog must learn, including:
- Crate training
- Housetraining
- Learning what to play with or chew (and what not to)
They will also begin to learn basic obedience exercises and skills. As puppies, they will go through a variety of exercises such as confidence building, mobility games, desensitization, and scent skills.
What Basic Skills do Service Dogs Learn?
Service dogs will learn the basic skills that come to mind when you think about dog training. They learn standard commands such as:
- Down
- Sit
- Come
- Heel
- Stay
- This basic training helps service dogs learn the positions that are useful during their task training and work. With basic training, we can also begin the process of distraction and proofing, so they learn to focus on their current task rather than being distracted by what is going on around them.
Advanced Service Dog Training
In many cases, most pet dog trainers, military dog trainers, police dog trainers, etc., have never trained service dogs or studied disabilities. Because of this, Guardian Angels created a college accredited program to teach apprentices how to become service dog trainers.
When it comes to training a service dog, multiple components of their training are far above and beyond the of training for other types of disciplines, such as:
- How to train a dog to alert on a certain high or low for diabetes
- Alert in advance for a seizure
- How to know when to hit an emergency help button if you were incapacitated
- How to wake someone from a night terror
What Special Tasks are Service Dogs Trained to Do?
- Task training is a major part of service dog training. Without learning the proper tasks, a dog cannot become a service dog. Service dogs can be trained on a variety of tasks, but their specific training will depend on the person’s disability and needs to help them lead an independent life. Common tasks for service dogs include:
- Retrieving dropped items
- Retrieving the phone
- Providing balance
- Turning lights on and off
- Opening/closing doors
- Helping a fallen person back to a standing position
- Alerting prior to a seizure
- Diabetic alert
- Mitigating challenges of PTSD by shielding, grounding from anxiety/panic attacks and flashbacks
- Waking someone from nightmares
- Help someone transition from sitting to standing
This training will help someone with a disability lead a more independent lifestyle. There are high expectations for a properly trained service dog in public. A service dog should essentially be invisible unless they need to perform a task for the recipient.
At Guardian Angels, our dogs exercise and practice on confidence-building courses as part of their specialized training. These courses offer challenges to the service dog and expose them to different environments that they may experience in their daily work.
In these courses, they work with their handlers to learn how to navigate the stairs and deal with moving objects. They also work on walking across a sway bridge and balancing on wobbly tables or platforms, among other obstacles. These courses are great exercises for the dog’s mind and body and teach them valuable real-life scenarios and skills they need to properly serve their recipient.
Learn More About Guardian Angels’ Mission Today!
Visit our Donate page today to learn more about our mission to unleash the power to heal for veterans and others in need. Our service dogs change lives for those who have a disability. If you want to be part of that mission, make a donation today!
Pittsburgh, PA April 23, 2022 (EIN Presswire): The Pirates and PNC are teaming up with Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs to provide a service dog to a military veteran in the Pittsburgh area. Guardian Angels will train the dog and bring it to games throughout the season to engage with fans and help get the socialization it needs. Once training is complete, the Pirates Pup will head to his Forever home, partnered with a military veteran dealing with permanent disabilities.
“This is an incredible partnership” said Chris Ann Phillips, CAO of Guardian Angels. “We are so grateful to the Pirates Organization, Pirates Charities and PNC Bank for joining us to change the life of another Veteran with disabilities in the Pittsburgh area”.
The Pirates organization has just launched a contest to name this future Service Dog. You can vote for one of 4 names selected by the team:
Homer, Bucco, Rookie or Jolly are the choices, and can be voted on by visiting: https://www.mlb.com/pirates/fans/team-dog between now and May 3rd. You can also follow this future service dog’s training on Twitter @PiratesPup or on Instagram or @piratespup.
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is based in Williston, Florida, but has paired nearly 50 deserving recipients in the Pittsburgh area and are in the process of funding a new state-of-the-art campus in Washington County, just outside of Pittsburgh.
For more information on Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, our campus campaign, dog sponsorship or an application, please visit www.MedicalServiceDogs.org
About Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Williston, Florida and has grown into a nation-wide medical service dog organization. The organization rescues, raises, trains and then donates individually trained medical service dogs to veterans, first responders and others who suffer from disabilities including PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, diabetic and seizure disorders, mobility issues and more. Since their inception in 2010, Guardian Angels has donated and paired hundreds of individually trained medical service dogs with those in need. For more information, visit: www.MedicalServiceDogs.org
A lot of businesses have suffered greatly through the pandemic. Thirty percent of small businesses and even some large businesses, including non-profits, closed their doors permanently in the last two years. It is estimated that another 10% of the remaining businesses have been so severely damaged that they may still permanently close in the next 12 to 18 months. However, there are businesses that did survive and even thrive. (more…)
Dogs, much like humans, get a variety of health benefits from regular exercise. Physical activity is an excellent way to enhance and lengthen your dog’s life.
Like non-working dogs, service dogs require a healthy weight and regular exercise to stay in their best working condition.
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At Guardian Angels, we put a major focus on understanding the law. It’s important to keep in mind that the law is not as simple as you may think because there is federal law and state law as well different regulations for the DOD, the VA, HUD, and the DOT.
There are also a variety of variables among a lot of pieces of the law which is why we focus on teaching the law to our newly paired teams. This helps to ensure that they know what their rights are. We also work with merchants on service dog laws to ensure they also know their rights.
“I teach a lot. I have extensive videos. I have been all over the country teaching very large groups of realtors, judicial systems attorneys, business owners, manager groups, etc. because they all need to know how to navigate through the convolutes of the law and have the right information. The merchants need to know what their rights are, how to recognize a proper working service dog, and what to do if it’s not,” said Carol Borden, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder.
“They also need to know how to recognize an imposter dog and what to do. As well as our own recipients, they have to know what’s okay and what’s not okay with their service dog. When they need to respect others in certain situations while being resected themselves.”
PAWS Act of 2021
The most recent development is the service dog law, Puppies Assisting Wounded Service Members Act of 2021, or the PAWS Act of 2021. This bill requires the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to implement a grant program to help pair service dogs with eligible veterans. Organizations that receive these grants will be required to provide veterinary health insurance coverage, travel expenses, and hardware for each service dog and veteran that participates in the program.
According to Congress.gov, Eligible veterans for this program are those who:
- Who are enrolled in the VA health care system
- Have been evaluated and treated for post-traumatic stress (PTS) but remain diagnosed with PTS
- May benefit from a service dog
- Agree to successfully complete training through an eligible organization.
Eligible veterans will be required to see a VA health care provider at least once every 180 days to ensure they continue to benefit from the service dog.
Eligible organizations are nonprofit organizations must meet the following requirements:
- Must meet publicly available standards set forth by the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans
- Must possess expertise in the needs of veterans with PTSD
- Must agree to cover all costs more than the grant amount to guarantee the benefits of the program for the veteran
- Must agree to reaccept or replace a service dog provided to a veteran
- Must submit an application to the VA
How is Guardian Angels Involved with Florida Service Dogs Laws?
Several years ago, Carol was asked by a Florida state senator to advise on service dog law. We set up some new state laws in the state of Florida, creating penalties for both imposter dogs and for merchants that refused actual working teams. What many people don’t understand is that the state law can’t supersede a federal law, but it can create laws to support federal law and address things that the federal law did not address.
Carol went to Tallahassee several times, where she testified in favor of a new service dog bill, which was passed into law. Once that happened, other states picked up on these actions. Carol was also asked to review multiple drafts of a service dog bill for Michigan which was voted into law. One of our Michigan service dogs was the first to receive a Michigan Service Dog patch.
Learn How You Can Contribute to The Guardian Angels Mission
To help us continue our mission of providing life-changing service dogs to our veterans in need, donate today! Your generous donations help us to feed, train, and pair our service dogs with recipients to help them regain their independence. Click here to check out our latest campaigns.
