What Service Dogs Offer: "He's Turned My Life Around!"
Light Brown Poodle Service Dog
Think all service dogs are super-diligent guardians of their humans’ well-being? They are, for sure, but they’re also more. They bring their own personalities to the relationships with their people. “My dog is the class clown,” says Rachel, handler of Kenny, a standard poodle approaching three years of age. “He’s like the frat boy with a bucket on his head at the party.” (To protect their privacy, we’ve used “Rachel” and “Kenny” in place of the real names of the person and the pooch.)
Meet the Service Team of Rachel and Kenny
The AKC’s Canine Good Citizen Logo
Rachel and Kenny have worked and lived together for about two and a half years. Over that time Kenny has grown from a 23-pound pup to a magnificent 80-pound specimen of standard poodle masculinity. His training was rigorous from the beginning: between two and five training sessions per week, plus extra sessions with Rachel and a dog training expert. Kenny graduated with his “Canine Good Citizen” designation after about 18 months.
How well-trained is Kenny? Consider this: when Rachel’s mother dropped a package of hotdogs on the floor, Kenny picked up a loose one and carried it around the house – without eating it. He did the same when a wrapped ice cream bar hit the floor. How many of us can say our dogs would exercise that kind of restraint?
How Kenny Helps Rachel in Daily Life
Through love and training, Kenny has indeed become a well-behaved dog, able to help Rachel with an array of important daily tasks. Because Rachel suffers from a chronic pain syndrome, she needs Kenny to protect her from the incidental bumps and jostles the rest of us take for granted as we navigate life in public. Kenny also retrieves objects and steadies her when she moves. “He comes to a game lunch I have with friends and picks up cards and game pieces we drop,” she says. “He tolerates being indoors but he really wants to be outside, so he encourages me to get out of the house. He’s a ball of energy, so joyous. He loves his job and he has no bad days.”
Kenny also knows to find help if Rachel needs it. He can bring a friend by name or alert Rachel’s parents if their help is required.
But it’s not all work for Kenny. During his downtime, he gets to go to the dog park and chase a ball or do a few laps of zoomies. And Kenny is a cooperative playmate. “We take him to the small-dog side of the park because he’s definitely not an alpha,” says Rachel. “Everybody is his friend. His dominance level is somewhere below that of a pet rock. He doesn’t even chase squirrels – he’d rather fraternize.”
Young Woman Sitting on a Bus with a Service Dog Sitting Next to Her
Service Dog Teams: Dealing with the Public
Like most handlers, Rachel experiences challenges in dealing with the public she encounters in her outside life. “Many people ask about his breed,” she says, a benign question she says she is usually happy to answer. Not all strangers are respectful and polite, however. “He wears a vest that identifies him as a service dog and asks that people not touch him or take his picture. Sadly, not everyone complies. You just have to expect that people will interfere.”
People sometimes ask Rachel why she has a service dog and what her condition is, questions she is not required to answer. “I just tell people he helps me with mobility. It’s OK if they are respectful, but not everyone is. I’m not a martyr, but the world just isn’t friendly to people with disabilities.”
“Kenny is Part of Who I Am”
Rachel says Kenny has helped her come out of her shell, to escape what she calls her “mind of pain.” With his goofy persona, Kenny has become integral to her life, “part of who I am,” she says. But she also cautions, “Service dogs are not for everyone. They are not just pets and they are not the be-all and end-all for every condition. They are still animals, tools for life, but the person still has to have the energy and will to keep going.”
Thankfully for Rachel, she has Kenny to add his energy and encourage her will. What more could you want from any friend, canine or human?