Service Dogs for Adults

Adults with psychiatric disabilities need assistance too!

Somehow in our quest to make sure every child with special needs grows up in the best environment possible, we have forgotten the harsh reality that hits when they hit 18-20 years old: now they are an adult.  Not only do they have to go through a lot of the same changes other young adults are facing, they have an entire list of extra struggles that they are dealing with.

A lot of the help and support they received growing up is gone.  Fewer people are understanding of their condition; fewer organizations are there to support them into this sudden transition; fewer options are available to assist them with their necessary accommodations.  It's a terribly scary world out there when everything is going your way... and when things aren't lining up for you, the adult world can be devastating.

We need to start a second wave of these special needs organizations for young post-secondary aged special needs students.  Service dog, education, job training, etc.  Special needs doesn't mean incapable and the world needs to begin seeing that.  The more we help those who need accommodations, the better everyone's lives will be!

Service Dog Training: Not All About the Dogs

I feel it is important for me to write some posts about the work I want to eventually do with autistic students.

As I've been working with Elsa, I have begun to realize I really enjoy dog training.  Last December, I was fired from my job working with autistic students because I refused to comply with a rule that I believe is against Federal regulations. Due to the fallout from this (traumatic, to me) event, I am pretty well blackballed from teaching autistic students anymore.

For awhile, this realization kept me in the dumps.  I was already looking for a service dog before I left the school because of my anxiety but as it developed deeper into panic disorder after the major changes I had to deal with, I began looking a bit deeper.  I found Elsa's litter through a friend and spent quite awhile making sure everything was exactly as I needed it before choosing her.  Things have gone well and even through the frustrations, I have enjoyed working with her more than I could have expected.

I finally understand how I can merge my talent of working with autistic students and love of training dogs... service dogs!  I hope that eventually I can use the skills I am learning right now to train dogs to provide services for autistic students. I hope I can start a non-profit and work to make the dogs as close to cost-free as possible for the families.  I want to work with moderately to severely disabled people in their twenties.  I want to focus on those who are attempting to find jobs and could use the help of a service dog at work and at home.

I want this blog to help people understand service dogs better, help those who are looking to train their own dog get a sense of what goes into it, and help me stay on track as I work to become a service-dog trainer and start my own non-profit.