OT - feeling really discouraged about service dog

I don't know your history, but just wanted to pipe in about PTSD and wondering if you've tried or looked into EMDR?  Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.  Very good for PTSD. Good luck with finding a dog- I too beleive that the right one will come along when the time is right. Hang in there!!!

Kelly I just read about this and thought of you.  Check it out please.   
It was designed for Veterans but they say it helps Civilians with PTSD as well. 

http://www.everydayhealth.com/anxiety/0810/new-app-helps-veterans-cope-with-ptsd.aspx?xid=aol_eh-news_1_20120813_&aolcat=HLT&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl27%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D191715

I'm so sorry to hear this, Kelly! That really stinks and it makes sense that you're discouraged. I hope things get better and you find a service dog with a reputable program soon.

I think I'm going to end up having to adopt a dog and work with the professional trainer to train the dog.  There just aren't any other programs that are feasible right now.  Many programs don't train service dogs for psychiatric disabilities like PTSD, they only train dogs for people with physical disabilities or things like hearing impairment.  Some programs that do train dogs for PTSD have really long waiting lists, like five years.  Some programs that train dogs for PTSD only provide dogs for veterans - apparently there is currently some funding available for vets that need service dogs.  Some programs are far away from me, like one in Seattle, and you have to go to Seattle for two weeks to train with your dog and traveling across the country for two weeks by myself is just not realistic for me right now.

I know someone who was in a similar situation. She couldn't find a dog that met her daughter's needs so she researched breeds and training and did it herself. It didn't take nearly as long as she thought it would. The only professional training the dog had was a basic puppy manners class and an advanced obedience class. Along with intense socialization this lady was able to do the specialized training on her own as her daughter's needs arose. She chose a large breed (standard poodle) because some of her daughter's needs are physical but in your case you may be fine with a smaller breed.

Did she have experience training dogs?  I cannot imagine how someone could train a service dog without having experience training dogs.  It's actually very difficult just to select a dog that has the right temperment for a service dog, at least according to my research and the professional trainers I've spoken with.  I'm sure it works out OK for some people but most people that select a dog and try to train it themselves, without having extensive experience training dogs, end up with a dog that might make a good pet but that is not suitable as a service dog.

No experience at all. She lives in the heart of Manhattan in a co-op that does not allow dogs. (She fought the board in order to get the dog.) I do not know the specifics of what the dog does other than help her 5 year old daughter to stand up and walk. I can tell you that she is  the most dedicated advocate for her daughter that I have ever seen so it does not surprise me that she figured out a way.

Kelly, can you elaborate on the reason the program you were counting on will not work for you now?
If it is a matter of them not training them fully or for the reasons you need that is really an easy fix.
If they are choosing a dog with the right temp and intellegence then you can fix that. Those are the
two things you need to train the dog for your needs. Intellegent even tempered dogs are easy to train. As a dog person (Large Dogs) my entire life I can tell you that with those two traits training a dog only requires patience from the owner. If The program does the hard part for you, (housebreaking, down,sit,stay,not jumping, wait,come) the rest is going to be quick and easy, The dog will want to do good for you and learn what you want. It will already know that you are trying to communicate with it and be happy to learn.

If you go the personal route where you buy your own dog you can do the training yourself as long as you choose the right dog. But you know that. Dogs that love you will guard you instinctivley, they will also lean on you (a sign of love and acceptance). Dogs that love you will instincively come to your side and sit with you when you are sad, or scared. Your right that choosing the right Dog is the key. You can get a low cost pet and get a good one with experience in picking the puppy by doing temperance and intellegince testing on it. You could also just pay a higher price and go thru a reputable breeder who breads for those reasons. And if you went thru a breeder you could arrange to pay extra for the breeder to do the basic training (house breaking and sitting).

My last dog I paid $1600 for my Beauceron but she was the best dog. It took me about 2 weeks to train for each task and then I only needed to reinforce them. Easy, I had more people ask me about getting her pups (but I don't breed). Anyway something to think about.

Well, when I was first talking to the director of this program, I was getting concerned because I asked for reference and she did not want to provide any.  She told me that the program has been operating for nine years and no one had ever asked for references before, which I find hard to believe.  She told me she couldn't give me any references due to confidentiality reasons, which I understand, but I didn't understand why she couldn't ask any clients if they would be willing to talk to me.  I assumed that if people had received a service dog through the program and were happy with their dog, they would probably be happy to talk about it.  She said a lot of her clients had PTSD and so that's why they wouldn't want to talk about it.

At that point I told her I was really concerned with the lack of references because other programs I'd contacted all told me they could provide multiple references.  At that point, she gave me one name and I called the guy and he was very happy to talk to me and was very happy with his service dog.  But that whole thing was a big red flag for me.

Then yesterday I spoke with a trainer with the program.  On my application to the program, I had listed several tasks I wanted the dog to be trained to do.  The trainer said I needed to narrow my list down to just three tasks because they cannot train a dog to do more than three tasks or the dog gets too stressed out.  But when I speak to other people with service dogs from other programs, they all tell me their program did not have a three task limit and that their dogs easily perform more than three tasks.

So it sounds to me like this program either just doesn't want to do much work (and the cost of a dog with this program is nearly $6000), they don't know how to train a service dog if they can't teach it to do more than three tasks, or their training methods are not good and so they stress out the dog if they try to teach it too many things.  Whatever the reason, I need a dog that can do more than three tasks (I think I had six or seven on my list) and this makes me doubt their ability to train a dog properly at all.

I know dogs will instinctively do things like come sit by you when you're sad but a service dog needs to be trained to do specific tasks for a person with a disability.  The dog also needs to be able to behave appropriately in public, which dogs don't all do instinctively.  Like, it has to not be startled by loud noises or not be distracted by other animals or by people that whistle at it and stuff like that.

Not  all dogs "instinctually" come to you when you are sad or crying or whatever.  Some breeds (Scottish Terriers, for example!) simply don't have that inclination.  Even several of our Chows, who are extremely protective of their family members, were somewhat indifferent to sadness or tears.

Lora