Shelter Dogs Shine As Psychiatric Service Dogs

Shelter dogs need many doors opened to save their lives. Finding new channels where these dogs will shine is a welcomed gateway where any number of dogs have an opportunity for a second chance.  A few years ago some in the service dog training community started experimenting using hand-picked shelter dogs “with the right stuff”. I was thrilled at the prospect: There’s a tremendous need for trained dogs that provide different types of assistance to humans. As it happened, shelter dogs proved once again they were up to the task. The bridge into working as a psychiatric service dog (PSD) was not an insurmountable one to cross.

Psychiatric service dogs are trained to bring help, medication, interrupt repetitive behaviors, identify hallucinations to suit the specific needs of each individual. These dogs assist people with illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, among others, and are task-trained to help lessen the effects of these diseases/disorders...