Service dogs are specially picked and trained since birth for their future job, with a specific client in mind, to be able to aid that person with their disabilities. Emotional Support Animals ARE NOT service dogs, because they don’t have to be trained in any specific tasks. Service dogs can do a variety of working tasks, and in public are regarded as medical equipment, so they are allowed to go with their hander or their trainer to any place that is open to the public.

All service dogs take at least 2 years to train, and most of that time is spent in public working on behaving themselves and ignoring people, food, and everything else that would overwhelm a pet dog into not listening in a crowded environment. This is called Public Access (PA) Training, and takes up the first year or so of the dogs’ training. After they are trained in PA, they start learning their specific behaviors to aid their handler, called Tasks. Once a service dog is Task-Trained, they are a full service dog and no longer a Service Dog in Training (SDiT), though, of course, they’re always still learning and improving. For the final 6 months of their training, the focus is on teaching their handler how to use their Tasks and handle them in public, until they are a seamless team and the dog can be transferred to the handler’s home to begin their working career.

While service dogs can legally be any breed or size of dog, they are usually breeds that already have a working job for their breed that requires high obedience, which is why the top three dog breeds for service work are Standard Poodles, Golden Retrievers, and Labrador Retrievers. Despite the prevalence of them in media, German Shepherds are not within that standard and are not as common, because of their high grooming needs and propensity for protective behaviors, because legally service dogs ARE NOT allowed to be trained in protection work or show any aggressive/protective qualities. This, despite sounding arbitrary, can be VITAL to the heath and safety of the handler, because if the handler is unconscious, seizing, or otherwise unable to give commands, a protective dog may prevent access to the handler for paramedics or other EMTs, putting the handler’s life at risk being unable to get medical assistance because of a dog that doesn’t know the EMTs are there to help.