Can old people have service dogs? Surprising Answer

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If your senior loved one has a visual impairment, hearing loss, or other disability, you’ve likely looked into many ways to make their lives easier. For animal lovers, a service dog can provide assistance in ways that are wonderful and perhaps even a little unexpected. It’s important to remember that service dogs fulfill a specific task – their highly specialized training makes them much more than a typical household companion.

From training to costs to time commitments, many factors affect the decision to get a service dog. If you’re thinking about how to get a service dog for the elderly loved one in your life, read on to learn more about these incredible animals and the many benefits they offer.

A service dog can be any size or breed of dog that is trained to perform a specific task relating to a person’s disability, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The following are just a few examples of the types of tasks a service dog can help with:

  • OlderReminding someone to take medication
  • Alerting someone of an upcoming panic attack or seizure
  • Alerting a deaf person to important sounds
  • Guiding a person with vision impairments
  • Tasks Due to Physical Disorders

    The assistance that service dogs provide to elderly people dealing with visual or mobility impairments, may be crucial for their safety and wellbeing.

    Service dogs can be great guide/mobility dogs. They can be trained to pull a wheelchair, to serve as balance dogs, or to guide people with visual impairments in the right direction while in public. Moreover, service dogs can keep other people at a distance from their handlers and help them navigate in crowded places. While in public, service dogs can both provide mobility/guide support to their elderly handlers and comfort them emotionally if they feel anxious or distressed. We will take a look at mental-related support later.

    The mobility benefits that the assistance of a service animal bring, can be related to the improvement of the circulation, the cardiovascular system, strengthening bones and muscles, increasing the blood pressure.

    When at home service dogs can be trained to retrieve medication or to remind their owners about the medication they need to take in a prescribed time. Waking up their owner, i.e. after they got strong medication is another task that service dogs can be trained to perform. They can even be trained to bring the phone or press a button connected to 911 if needed.

    Other useful tasks in a home environment that service dogs can fulfill is to turn on/off the lights or to bring their handlers different objects (not only medication) on command. In cases when elderly people deal with arthritis, even simple actions like picking up objects and bending over may cause serious back pain.

    Barking as a signal response to alarms like: fire alarms, cocking alarms, clock alarms, may be life-saving in some situations, especially when their handlers are elderly persons with hearing problems. Hearing dogs are a really important type of service dogs, as they help their owners while in home as well as while in public. They assist their handlers to be aware of when they have received a text message or a phone call when they have forgotten a meal in the oven, when the smoke alarm has been activated, when the doorbell is ringing…etc.

    Serious conditions affecting many elderly people around the world are Dementia and Alzheimer.

    “Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of Dementia”. Alzheimer’s is a specific disease- it is considered a type of dementia that affects thinking, memory and behavior. Symptoms may grow severe enough to interfere with tasks on a daily basis. Although Dementia affects mental health it is not considered a mental illness. Rather, it is a disorder of the brain that can lead to communication difficulties and memory loss. Hence we can not put Dementia and mental health conditions like PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks over a common denominator.

    Dementia and Alzheimer can lead to memory loss, difficulties in fulfilling simple daily tasks, inability to follow a conversation, struggling to concentrate, confusion about the place and/or time.

    Service Dogs can be trained to assist people suffering from Dementia with routine actions like eating and dressing. These animals can prevent these people from wandering out of their home, especially when alone. If a person with a serious mental condition runs out of the house and gets lost, service dogs can guide them to their home or get a passerby’s attention through barking. Furthermore, a GPS can be attached to the service dog’s vest/harness/collar and will help the family members locate their relative.

    In general, we can say that service dogs can help people with mental disorders follow their routines and move throughout the day.

    Benefits of Adopting Retired Service Dogs for Seniors

    Adopting a retired service dog has many advantages for any senior looking for a four-legged companion.

  • Socialization: Service dogs must go through months of training before they can start working with disabled individuals. Part of their training focuses on socialization, the process of learning how to have positive interactions with humans and other animals. If you adopt a retired service dog from a reputable organization, the dog will be well-socialized and able to interact safely with adults, children, and other pets.
  • Behavior: Service dogs must be well-behaved, so you won’t have to deal with excessive barking, nipping, and other behavioral issues.
  • Training: Service dog owners have a wide range of needs, so their service animals must be trained appropriately. If you adopt a retired service dog, you may end up with a pet that can perform specific tasks to help you maintain your health or independence. For example, former guide dogs are great companions for older adults who’ve lost some of their visual acuity.
  • Temperament: Service dog training also includes teaching working dogs how to tolerate loud noises, crowds, and other distractions. If you reside in assisted living or another community setting, this training ensures your new pet won’t have any trouble accompanying you to public places.
  • Service dog laws/ everything you need to know

    If you are very lucky, you have met at least one service dog. These heroic beasts are loyal and steadfast to a fault. They have rigorous training that requires them to sacrifice themselves to save their people. Only a very few puppies have the temperament to become service dogs.

    Service dogs get intense and specialized training. Some can pull and push wheelchairs. Some can pick up items from the floor or from a hard to reach cubby and place them in the hands of a human. Others can alert their diabetic handlers of a glucose imbalance. Still others know how to open doors, turn lights on and off, escort their bonded humans on and off public transportation, call for help, and assist in other elder care tasks,

    Most people have seen service dogs in the company of blind or severely disabled individuals. But did you know that many other people are eligible for service dogs? Your senior could be eligible for a service dog if he has one of the following conditions:

    There are a lot of different terms used to describe dogs that provide a service to humans. Service dogs are the same thing as assistance dogs so long as they are trained and certified to do a specific thing to help their humans.

    Therapy dogs provide an important elder care service, but they are not, service dogs. The owner of a therapy dog will not necessarily be able to bring that dog into a restaurant or airplane. It’s up to the discretion of the individual business owner whether to allow entrance to therapy dogs. Emotional support dogs are basically the same thing as therapy dogs. However, psychiatric dogs are service dogs and must be afforded the same privileges as dogs that serve the blind.

    True service dogs are, by law, allowed in any public place so long as they are not causing a disturbance. They are even allowed in hospitals and ambulances. Business owners and their staff are allowed to ask only two questions about a service dog. They may, legally, ask if this dog is required because of a disability, and what the dog is trained to do. They may not ask the disabled person questions about his disability. Nor is anyone allowed to ask for documentation.

    In general, the first step in obtaining a service dog is to contact a service dog provider. They will determine if a senior’s disability makes him or her eligible for this kind of elder care assistance. To be eligible for a service dog, your senior must be able to train with the dog for at least an hour a day and give commands. Service dog recipients must be able to pay for the care and feeding of their dogs.

    How can home care professionals help individuals with service dogs? Home care aides observe their clients very carefully and might be the first people to notice if a senior needs a service dog. They can provide transportation to and from the training program and accompany a client on walks with a service animal.

    In conclusion, a service dog can be a great asset for a wide variety of people over the age of 65. Service dogs are NOT just for the blind and wheelchair-bound. If you believe your senior is eligible for a service dog, do not hesitate to contact a service dog provider and take the first steps.