Takeaway
Service dog training does not end once a dog is fully trained or certified. Ongoing reinforcement, public access training, and task practice are essential for maintaining a service dog’s reliability, safety, and ability to support their handler. Through consistent practice and maintenance, service dog teams can continue to build confidence and adapt to changes throughout their working relationship.
Misconceptions of Service Dog Training
The public’s perception of service dog training often fits a one-and-done model. While service dog training programs are both extensive and comprehensive, service dogs still need to refresh their skills, especially the ones they don’t use as often.
Think about it this way: could you recall everything you learned in algebra class growing up? Probably not. Dogs are the same way. By reinforcing their knowledge and regularly engaging their brains, service dogs can build confidence and consistency in their skills. Without continued practice, skills that require high levels of competency can become less reliable over time.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dogs are not required to be professionally trained and/or certified. However, regardless of how a service dog is trained, reinforcement is necessary to effectively support their handler.
What Does Service Dog Maintenance Look Like?
Maintenance training can look different depending on the service dog team. Some skills are naturally practiced every day while others require intentional practice to keep them reliable.
Maintenance training can include three major areas:
- Proofing
- Public access training
- Ongoing task practice
Proofing
Proofing is a strategy handlers use to prepare their service dog for different environments, distractions, and situations they may encounter while working. By practicing skills in different environments and situations, handlers can help ensure their service dog remains reliable when those skills are needed.
A service dog may know how to ignore distractions in a quiet environment, but proofing helps reinforce that skill in more challenging situations such as crowded stores, restaurants, or unfamiliar locations.
Continued Public Access Training for Service Dogs
Public access training ensures that a service dog team can safely navigate everyday environments, including remaining under control, ignoring distractions, and responding appropriately in public settings.
The ADA doesn’t require service dogs to be professionally trained, so owners do have the right to train their own dogs. However, many handlers choose professional training because of the complexity of the process and the guidance a professional provides.
Public access training helps service dog teams develop the skills needed to safely navigate public spaces with their handler. Here are some examples of the requirements:
Handler
- Ability to control service dog in public environments
- Ability to get service dog in and out of the car
- Ability to recover leash if dropped
Service dog
- Ability to safely cross a parking lot and stop for traffic
- Ability to ignore distractions
- Ability to hold positions like sit-stay when approached in public
- Ability to stay while handler walks away
- Ability to remain calm around dogs in the vicinity (service or pet)
While this foundation is set during the initial training of a service dog, refreshing these skills allows the daily life of teams to flow smoothly.
Practicing these basics a few times a week with your service dog will allow you to take them in public with confidence that they will stay on task and behave appropriately in the public space.
According to the ADA, businesses can only ask 2 questions:
- Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
- What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
Because businesses are limited to asking only these two questions, proper public behavior from legitimate service dog teams plays an important role in building public trust. Well-trained service dogs help reduce misconceptions and support better accessibility for handlers.
Ongoing Service Dog Task Practice
Ongoing task practice can look different for various service dog teams depending on the handler’s disability and needs. There are many kinds of service dogs, and many service dog training programs focus on developing disability-specific tasks that allow dogs to provide meaningful support for their handlers.
As dogs age, their cognitive abilities may start to decline. Keeping them practicing their tasks on a regular basis, even if they aren’t used as often, allows them to be prepared for when a specific task is needed.
Service dog teams may practice task-related behaviors through controlled training scenarios when certain situations do not happen frequently in everyday life. Maintaining skills for disability support can improve the quality of life for both the dog and the handler.
How Often Should Service Dogs Practice Their Skills?
Handlers should provide their dog with daily positive reinforcement for tasks done well, especially the basics.
Short sessions of public access training and task practice effectively reinforce habits and responses. The key to refining their skills is being consistent so they don’t lose skills over time.
As a handler, your lifestyle may change over time. As you navigate school, your career, and other challenges life may throw your way, your environment may change. Your service dog has to adapt alongside you. Having short sessions of training regularly gives you the opportunity to learn and try new things with your service dog. During large transitions and/or changes in your needs, maintaining consistency can ease the tension of a transition for both handlers and their service dogs.
What Happens When Skills Aren’t Maintained?
We have to remember service dogs are dogs at the end of the day. As they age and approach retirement, physical and cognitive abilities may change over time. For many people with service dogs, their dog is essential for managing their disability. When skills become less reliable over time, it can impact their handler’s safety and independence. It may become easier for their focus to shift while they are working, making distractions in public harder for them and their handler to handle. This can result in safety concerns for both the handler and the dog.
Ongoing Practice Maintains Reliability, Safety, and Effectiveness
By conducting regular maintenance on your service dog’s tasks, it allows the team to continue running smoothly in public. Just like regular maintenance helps keep a car running properly, consistent service dog training helps maintain reliability and prevent skill breakdown over time. This allows handlers to feel confident relying on their service dogs in emergencies, in turn improving safety and effectiveness.
Final Thoughts
At Justice Speaks, the safety of service dog teams is at the forefront of our mission.
By regularly maintaining service dogs’ training, we can enhance accessibility and respect for all service dog teams as they enter public spaces.
The maintenance work handlers conduct today can help shape a more accessible future for service dog teams everywhere.
