[nagdu] When a service dog is a pet - WAS differences between service dogs and pets

[Julie J.]

Dailyah,

Yes, I mentioned that in my original message.  The thing I was trying to get 
at is that when a disabled person is thinking about getting their first 
service dog, the thing that everyone always says is that pets are not 
service dogs.  They aren't talking about the task training.  People are 
talking about the everyday life and management of a service dog.  I was 
trying to understand exactly what people mean when they say that service 
dogs aren't pets in that context.

Julie
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-----Original Message----- 
From: Dailyah via nagdu
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 7:24 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] When a service dog is a pet - WAS differences between 
service dogs and pets

Apologies if this has already been noted or is stating the obvious...but 
ummmm...lol...the difference between a highly-trained service dog of any 
kind (guide, hearing, mobility, etc.) and a pet who's not trained at all or 
as highly-trained as the service dog is only one thing...
A service dog has been specifically, individually trained, and does work or 
performs tasks that all or partially mitigate their human's disability.  If 
we want to get picky - all or partly mitigate the legally recognized or 
"legally qualifying" disability.  Legally disabled is when one or more of a 
person's Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are profoundly impaired. ADLs are 
things like seeing, walking, breathing, grooming, talking, working, 
hearing...it's a long list, but ya'll get the idea.
Even if a dog is a service dog for one person, that doesn't mean they are a 
service dog for someone else.  The disability and the dog's training have to 
match.  For example, if I suddenly had a beautifully trained hearing dog 
given to me who alerted me to all sorts of sounds in my environment that dog 
cannot be my service dog partner because my hearing is just fine.  Unless 
someone Deaf or HOH is handling that dog, that dog is a pet.
There are the slightly funky exceptions or variations.
If the disabled person is a child or an adult unable to be responsible 
and/or physically manage the dog so a parent or nurse participates, that'd 
be a triad service dog team.  In the case that the dog is doing work for the 
disabled person but there has to be a more able third party involved, the 
dog is still a service dog.  (Some programs like Canine Companions 
differentiate these teams and call them Skilled Companions, but the laws 
treat skilled companions as service dogs.)
Also, and this one varies by locale and can be fuzzy, but there are some 
task-trained dogs that are handled by a non-disabled handler but who 
actually work with a whole series of disabled people because it's part of 
the handler's job. The handlers of these dogs have jobs like School 
Counselor, Special Ed Teacher, Physical or Occupational Therapist, Nurse, 
Doctor, etc. The dogs are sometimes called Facility Dogs by training 
programs, but many just consider these service dogs just like the 'triad 
teams' where the disabled person is always the same person.  If the dog is 
out in public working because someone like a physical therapist is having a 
disabled client or patient team with the dog to work on rehab (or whatever), 
the dog would be a service dog then, too. The same dog is a pet, though, if 
and when the handler is able-bodied and doesn't have a disabled client 
along.
Cheers,Dailyah
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