Diary of a Service Dog
A little help goes a long way.
There’s been a lot of things said about Service Dogs lately. We seem to be getting a lot of attention, which is great! I guess people are starting to realize how helpful we can be to others. We are being used to assist more and more people who need us for many different things.
My friends and I work very hard at becoming good Service Dogs. We go through a lot of training to be able to do what we do for others. And to be honest, I wouldn’t be happier doing anything else! I love my job!
One of the things we learn in our extensive training program is how to help our partner open a closed door.
Here I am assisting my handler in opening things around the kitchen.
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Of course there are doors all around us outside of our homes that can be big obstacles to a disabled person. You have probably seen special doors for the disabled at the entrance to many public places around your town. Places such as the grocery store, the mall or the library. These automatic doors that open with the push of a button, have made our job much easier. Now, we can assist our handlers with less effort on our part, saving our energy for other important tasks.
Here you can see Wilhelm opening the door for his partner.
Wilhelm, the black lab, presses the handicap button to open the door for his trainer, Jaymie Cardin.
Service dogs learn to assist their partners with many aspects of navigating public places, which can include opening doors.
Usually the cue for opening a door is “touch”. Here you see Lilly show us what she does when her handler says “touch”.
Service Dog Lilly is using her “touch” cue to press the button to open a door for her handler.
Service dogs often help their handler’s keep their energy levels up by helping avoid extra effort such as opening heavy doors.
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