Psychiatric Service Dogs
Service Dogs are task trained to mitigate their owners disability. Some of the Psychiatric Service Dog tasks include:
▢ Agitation response
▢ Assist in creating a safe personal space
▢ Assist to leave social situation (panic attack)
▢ Block
▢ Brace or lean against handler (grounding)
▢ Buffer in crowded places
▢ Cover
▢ Crying interruption/response
▢ Deep Pressure Therapy
▢ Emotional overwhelm interruption
▢ Fetch items
▢ Find location/item
▢ Flashback interruption
▢ Follow designated person
▢ Grounding
▢ Guide away from chaos
▢ Interrupt dissociation
▢ Interrupt freezing behavior
▢ Interrupt harmful behavior
▢ Interrupt panic/anxiety attack
▢ Interrupt repetitive behaviors
▢ Interrupt scratching/ skin picking
▢ Meltdown interruption
▢ Nightmare interruption
▢ Provide distraction
▢ Provide excuse to leave uncomfortable situation
▢ Reorient to the here & now (lick, pets)
▢ Respond to smoke alarm
▢ Routine reminders (feed dog, eat meals, go to sleep, with alarm set)
▢ Snuggle
▢ Summon help from specific person
▢ Watch my back
Psychiatric service dogs are dogs that are specially trained to work with people who have certain kinds of mental illnesses or learning disabilities. These dogs can help their owners perform tasks that they otherwise might not be able to do or help them to live a more independent lifestyle.
Jojo alerts to me when I’m starting to get emotionally overwhelmed. He interrupts me when I’m having a meltdown. He is amazing at guiding me away from chaos when things are getting too loud and overwhelming. He knows when I’m dissociating and will lick my face/ paw at me to ground me.
His new favourite thing he taught himself is to knock at my phone/ get between my hand and phone when he can tell I’ve been on it too long and am getting overwhelmed.
-Zanna H in Boston, Massachusetts
Kiara alerts and intervenes with anxiety and panic attacks.
When she has noticed an increase in fidgeting and zoning out, she will come and boop me or put her paw on me to get my attention and bring me back to reality.
With my panic/anxiety attacks, I usually try and curl up and she will squish her way in, lay on me (Deep Pressure Therapy) and nose my hands onto her so I pat her instead of any self harm actions.
-Kayleigh N in Ft Myers, Florida