LP thanks for your reply, you are very knowledgable about service dogs. I hope to be soon :). Your right I was told my future service dog need to be groomed daily and clean for the public. He represents the service company he came from and they are ADI accredited which is very strict. Well groomed, well behaved at all times in public, no big weight change (fat dogs are not able to be effective service dogs). My dog is trained for body pressure when I am hypo triggered and there is even a hand signal to get the dog to pretend he has to go for a potty break. When you need to get away from a trigger person or awkward situation. This allows some space. He also will sit behind me in line if the person behind me is super close, giving me some space. I avoid malls and big stores, even grocery stores unless they are very tiny. I think my world is about to open up and I am so grateful for him.

hugs, it helps a lot to understand. when you have a real service dog for real reasons and people who have no idea what a service dog is, never mind that there are invisible disabilities - and then cruel/ignorant things people will assume and SAY?? even here??? it can be so difficult. mostly it can make me very tired when i already am tired from being sick : (
Most of the questions i am asked are positive, but still make me tired when asked thirty times in thirty minutes : ) it is difficult if an anxiety day? extra difficult, but Hank knows to make a reason to go a different direction and that helps - like your new dog : )

also amazing to have your life opened up as you were saying, Musk. the increased independence is incredible :O)

i love that your already trained partner knows to block you from intrusive or uncomfortable/triggering people - i just learned about that task from a training group i'm in. it is especially good as your dog is not being protective in any way, like growling or something like that, but only placing his body between you and that person. perfect SD behaviour. nonagressive.

Hank helps me with mobility, seizures, PTSD, anxiety - my goodness, fibromyalgia - deep tissue pressure - it is hard to put it all down as he does so much more than i have ever tried to specifically define. we started out as mobility partners, that's why he needed to be so big. They most often choose Labs or Shepherds as seeing eye dogs but nowadays have found that all sorts of breeds specialise in behaviours or gifts that help specific people the best. it can be difficult, as a typical person, to tell the difference between a real service dog and a fake - best to rely on observation and not interfere with the working dog. it is against the law to distract a working team. The people who are MOST upset about fake service dogs and the problems they present real working teams, is real service dog teams. Sometimes fake service dogs lash out aggressively at real ones and cause quite the disturbance; it is dreadful to experience it. They make a bad name for the good working dogs.

some of the dogs are very small. some of them are huge. i knew one person on here a few yrs ago and if i remember correctly sometimes she needed two for mobility. for an example, i met a lady one time who had a tiny little mut who she kept close to her heart when she had to go out - this was her heart medication alert service dog - you just never know. we happened to have a small conversation as i had the big service dog and she the tiny one.

Therapy dogs are the dogs that people take with them to visit people in nursing homes or hospitals. These dogs must have ... i think a CGC cerificate and, of course, be well groomed/trained, etc.