How do I make my dog a Service Dog?
This is a question we get a lot.
Good thing is, Jennifer Gollinger, LCSW, has her Doctorate degree in Education Learning Science and is a Certified Service Dog Trainer who also has her own Service Dog.
The dog must have a few mandatory qualities before even thinking about starting the Service Dog Process:
Can not be aggressive to people or other pets
You must have a disability. Not all disabilities can be seen. This can be a physical limitation or a psychiatric disability such as anxiety disorder, Trichotillomania hair pulling disorder or PTSD.
If you have a puppy you need to be actively potty training to not use the bathroom in public areas indoors. A fully trained Service Dog will not use the restroom indoors and can be trained to go on command, this will be your goal.
You can commit to at least 4 months of weekly commitment to start you can self-train after as the process can take several months. The 4-month commitment will be required to be paid upfront, to ensure the 4-month commitment is consistent, and a letter of completion will not be provided before the 4-month period. The training will cost approximately $1,280.00 for the 4 months.
Insurance does not cover Service dog training
Our Approach on the Service Dog Area is-
We do provide Task service dog training which also includes information on coping with Service Dog discrimination and how to manage that when you experience it and where to report it. This service dog training is provided Nationwide Virtually in Live Sessions. Appointments can be scheduled any time of the day, including nights, weekends and holidays. The Live Trainings are One on One with your dog and does not provide mental health care; this is a Service Dog Training Only.
We do not provide Service Dog Certification Letters, because there is no such thing as a Certified Service Dog. That is a fake document. We provide a proof of Task Training with a professional proof of training Letter and a copy of a public access exam that we administer, which is earned and authentic but is not required by law to have this letter, however it can improve the handler bond and can possibly assist in credibility.
Mental Health providers and medical providers should not provide Service Dog letters without obtaining proof of service dog training or your statement that you trained the dog to perform a task. Frequently, providers are confused about what the difference is between a Service Dog and an Emotional Support Dog. They are VERY DIFFERENT.
We do not validate any medical diagnosis for your service dog unless we speak directly with your mental health or medical provider. If you live in Florida, we are Mental Health Providers Board Licensed in Florida we can provide mental health services to support a diagnosis if there is one applicable to the task your dog will learn.
Without our team verifying your need for a service dog, the proof of training will only state your task trained assistance dog training and public access was administered. We recommend that you and our team obtain validation from a medical provider to include on your documentation.
The Public Access test we will provide at the beginning of training, and you will gradually train your dog every item on it. A sample of a psychiatric public access test can be found by clicking here. We also train for physical disabilities too. We recommend you work on the side to train and practice with your dog between every meeting. If your dog fails, the Public Access test, we will do more trainings and then try again. We cannot provide proof of training until your dog has successfully passed the Public Access test and completed at least 4 months of pretraining; your dog will require long term training especially if it is a puppy.
We do not “Make your dog a Service Dog” we provide training, we teach you how to make your dog a service dog and then you keep practicing beyond the proof of training provided.
An Authentic Service Dog takes a few years to train, and a puppy cannot be a full-blown Service Dog. A puppy with a Service Dog vest appears unauthentic because puppies cannot be fully trained Service Dogs. As I said it takes years of training to be a full-blown service Dog. You can get a Service Dog in Training Vest or no vest at all as they are not required by law in the United States. Foreign Countries have different laws.
You will have to self-train after our training and continue to conduct refresher training on your own by practicing a little here and there or hire your own private dog trainer.
If you meet someone with a Puppy and they say it is a Service Dog fully trained then, it is not a real Service Dog, it should be addressed as a Service Dog in Training. IDs with Registration or License Numbers are also fake and IDs are not required. Carrying a photo of your service dog from an ID badge with no license or registration number that says Service Dog is a great identification. Not required by law but sometimes easier than having to do the back and forth at a location. Some businesses ask for a Service Dog Proof of Certification or ID. These are fake if they have a license or certification number and any proof ID are also unfortunately not required by law, but people have presented so many fake identification cards that businesses demand to see them and it can be a huge hassle.
If you experience this and do not have a basic identification card, to avoid the drama, make sure you film your experience, stay calm, be very polite, if you are erratic and out of control the business may flip things, so stay calm, film it, restate your question, do you not allow service dogs? My dog is a Task Trained Service Dog for my disability, film the entire thing and then immediately file a Charge of Discrimination on the Florida Commission on Human Relations
Click FILE A COMPLAINT (it is located 3rd from left to right on the top bar in yellow)
On the drop down Click “PUBLIC ACCOMODATION”
Scroll down and click the form “Public Accommodations Discrimination Pre-Screening Questions -FCHR”
then Click - START
fill it out it is yes or no questions, Discrimination of a Service Dog means not letting you have your Service Dog which is discrimination of your disability.
After you answer the last question click SUBMIT on the bottom right side.
Then you fill be linked to a more detailed form, fill it out clearly and Send. Within a few days a representative reaches out for next steps.
They are only allowed to ask you two questions:
Is your dog a Service Dog?
What service does he provide?
Service means - the task, the job that the dog does
DO NOT SAY WHAT YOUR DIAGNOSIS OR DISABILITY IS
If you have a PTSD dog you do not say psychiatric dog, you do not say he’s for my PTSD, you say he is my medical device for my disability and provides the task the job of = of for example Deep Pressure Therapy is provided for PTSD for grounding.
for a Diabetic Dog you DO NOT SAY HE IS A DIABETIC ALERT DOG - you say he is a task trained service dog that works as a medical device to alert me of a medical emergency for my condition. They are not allowed to ask - what is your condition.
for a dog trained to help you with leg injury or some sort of physical disability, you do not say he helps me because of my bad leg. You say: he is a Task Trained Mobility Service Dog that provided Mobility assistance. This task trained dog would be trained to walk alongside a wheelchair or cane calmy, provide balance if needed and other mobility support jobs.
We do role play of various scenarios where challenges arise.
Please fill out the form below and indicate in the Subject Line: Service Dog Training virtual, to let us know if you are interested or need more information. Thank you
If you are interested, please contact us for more information. Our Virtual Training Live One on One are 60 minutes, the cost for each session is: $250.00 if you pre purchase the 4 months at which is 16 classes including the public access test and a document indicating the dog has passed the public access test the full amount will be discounted from $4,000 to $3,800.00 you can provide payment for first 2 months and the remaining ½ after 2 months.