We have two Service dogs in service right now. The brother to our CH.Mar Haven's Last Cowboy Song HSAS is an amazing service dog...We had kept him to show and someone came to learn about GSD as she was considering switching from Doberman's. She fell in love with him ( RODEO ) and he with her to the point of tears...and in tears I let him go. A trainer worked with him 2 weeks and then she took over. Within 3 months he was doing all required of him in picking up what she dropped...alerting her husband to seizures, stopping and bracing her before her walking faltered, etc. AND within 6 months he had ridden in the ambulance with her, been in ICU with her....flew to N.Y. to see Specialists and been to the theatre and everywhere in New York. Being a BIG dog ( she is quite tall ) he was trained to get out of the way under things instead of laying at her feet. The only problem he EVER had was when he got under the seat in front of her at the Theatre...when the person in the seat stood up it slammed down and jammed him and it took a minute to get him out. <G> The other one is with a woman that had served our Country in Viet Nam...and she has serious PTS....the dog has literally saved her life. Just ONE of the things she is supposed to do is ALERT the owner just before she gets stressed...and GUIDE her out of really LOUD situations that cause her to 'go back' to noises of war. In other words....these dogs MUST handle all kinds of noise!! They cannot 'bail' on their owner physically or mentally because of any situation or noise. Sound shy is not acceptable for any working dog. They are tested for that even as Guide Dogs. Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.marhaven.com ]On Behalf Of Cindy Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Service Dogs *While Service Dogs do indeed do many physical things for people, you needto remember there are also Emotional Support Dogs too. Some are used forreturning veterans who have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and otherpeople of course, with a variety of issues.* There are Service Dogs for persons with psychiatric disabilities and there are "Emotional Support Dogs" for persons with psychiatric conditions (disabling or that do not rise to the level of disabling). There is absolutely no right afforded to people with Emotional Support Dogs under the ADA, which governs places of public accommodation. There are additional rights granted to persons with Emotional Support or comfort dogs under the Air Carrier Access Act (governs in the air when you fly) and under the Fair Housing Act (housing, apartments). These are separate laws covering separate contexts that have nothing to do with each other. Serving as an "icebreaker" does not constitute legally a service dog task and does not qualify a dog as a service dog. Neither does simply its presence providing comfort to a person experiencing anxiety, etc. The federal government has been quite clear about this, and has written guidance available on the Department of Justice website addressing this. A service dog task is one that is individually task trained to mitigate a disability, is not a natural behavior for the dog, and must directly relate to the person's specific disability. Once again, www.iaadp.org provides excellent guidance about what constitutes a trained service dog task and what does not. On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 3:40 PM, Sue Tomlinson < arcturusgermanshepherds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > While Service Dogs do indeed do many physical things for people, you need > to remember there are also Emotional Support Dogs too. Some are used for > returning veterans who have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and other > people of course, with a variety of issues. > One of the huge benefits to a service dog is its an "ice-breaker" . Many > people feel unsure what to say to someone who is disabled, but they can > talk about the dog and feel on safe ground. > > ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2012. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================