How to train a psychiatric service dog

Wondering how to get started with training a psychiatric service dog? Keep reading (or watch the video below) for your training options, as well as common psychiatric service dog training tasks.

Get a doctor’s note for your service dog

Before we get into how to train a service dog, it’s important for you to think about how a service dog will help you improve your everyday life and then discuss with your doctor.

The FAA/DOT, as well as service dog training organizations and many trainers will require a doctors note so it’s best to get started on this now. When you see your doctor, it’s best to outline what tasks you think your service dog will help with most.

For example, if you experience panic attacks, you can share with your doctor how your dog will help ground you using pressure therapy. If you commonly forget to take your medication, tell your doctor that you plan to train your dog to retrieve your medication. We’ll talk about this more when we get to specific psychiatric service dog tasks.

Options for training your psychiatric service dog

Typically you’ll have 4 options when it comes to training your psychiatric service dog.

Self-training

Pros: Little to no financial commitment 

Cons: There’s a lot that comes with training your own service dog, and honestly, having the support of a 3rd party can be really helpful.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions about psychiatric service dogs, and frankly, many people and employees of businesses aren’t as familiar with service dog laws.

Additionally, WHILE you’re training (i.e., when your dog is a Service Dog In Training), laws can differ from state-to-state, so it’s helpful to have a 3rd party who is knowledgeable to help you navigate service dog laws. 

There’s a lot to learn, so self-training can be a pretty big time commitment. 

Adoption via a service dog organization

Pros: You don’t have to do a ton of work to train this dog

Cons: The biggest con is the waiting list! Usually, it can take years to adopt from an organization, and a smaller con is that it can take time to develop that bond with your dog since you didn’t personally train the dog. You are also adding the expense of an additional dog (rather than training a dog you already have).

Working with a private trainer

Pros: Custom training for you and your dog and highly personalized support. You can choose to train your own, already existing dog, OR have the trainer help you pick out a dog/puppy with the right temperament.

Cons: Super expensive! Tons of personalized support means you’re paying for that trainer’s time which can be tens of thousands of dollars. While this is feasible for some, it’s not feasible for everyone.

I will say this is my favorite option if you have the $ but if you don’t the last is my favorite option, and that is…

A service dog organization that will help you self-train

This is a hybrid of self-training and working with a trainer. Some organizations may have an online component while others may have a group training component. 

Pros: The cost is less than a private trainer. Additionally, you have guidance and a community to help you feel confident in your service dog’s training. 

Cons: It may require more time than working with a private trainer; however, they are typically MUCH more affordable.

My favorite organization is Atlas Assistance Dogs, which is where I currently volunteer! 

Training Your Psychiatric Service Dog

There are two categories of training your psychiatric service dog will need:

1. Public Access Test (PAT)
2. Psychiatric Service Dog Tasks

Your PSD will have federally protected rights and therefore have access to public places where ESA’s and pets are typically not permitted.  

As a result, it’s important your PSD behave in all public settings, which includes showing good manners when existing in these spaces. 

The public access test will include:

• A temperament test – like how comfortable are they being touched by a stranger, or whether they’re tolerant of loud noises, remaining calm when being left with a stranger, showing no fear or aggression toward sudden loud noises
• basic manners like sit, down, stay, heel
• Being under the handler’s control while another dog passes by
• Approaching and exiting a building in a safe & controlled manner
• 100% potty trained

As far as Psychiatric service dog tasks, this really relies on each individual and their disability. Some common tasks are 

1. Deep tissue therapy which can be used for panic attacks, depression, to interrupt self-harm, and more.
2. Medication reminders and/or retrieving medication – this can be used if you forget your medication, or you can teach your dog to notice certain cues where you may need your medication. For example, playing with your hair or fidgeting can alert your dog that a panic attack is coming and that you’ll need your medication for that.
3. Barrier – if you experience claustrophobia you can teach your dog to create a barrier between you and other people.
4. Graceful exit – You can teach your dog to nudge you and lead you out the door. This is great to leave a social situation that is making you uncomfortable. Rather than having to explain to people what is going on with your disability, you can let people know that your dog needs to go outside.
5. Interruption – you can train your dog to lick or nudge you to interrupt night terrors, a panic attack or self harm.

If you’re just trying to focus on the BASICS right now, a  great place to start would be to train your dog to WANT to focus on you – Even when you don’t have treats. The biggest challenge with public access training is teaching your dog to disengage from distractions and focus on you. Once they’re focused, it’s relatively easy to ask for a sit, down, etc. That’s why I have a free webinar on how to teach your dog to WANT focus on you – even when you don’t have treats. I’ll include a link to get the recording in the description below. 

If you would like a training tutorial on any of these behaviors, be sure to let me know in the comments below.