There is no requirement that an SD be trained by any group or anything. Pepper is technically an OTSD (owner trained service dog) but in reality, he is more like a SD trained SD as he was actually trained by my last hearing dog Joe. Joe was ill and needed to be retired so I got Pepper as a pup and had planned to begin training him when he was old enough..starting with basic obedience, but since puppies have a natural tendency to imitate older dogs, before I even knew it was happening, Joe had pretty much started Pepper's training, lol.
The law only requires that you have a legally recognized medical need and that the dog be trained to meet those needs. That is ADA, Federal law and it will trump any state law to the contrary. There are states that require an SD to be certified but a practice case has never come up yet for the matter to be argued. It would take time, but the ADA would prevail because states can't make the law harder than the federal law does. Marsha https://www.fundable.org/groupactions/groupaction.2007-06-19.1021935217/groupaction_view ----- Original Message ----- From: *Kim* To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 10:12 PM Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] silly chis! So, as an SD... do they have to be professionally trained (in order to be recognized as an SD) or is it something you can do on your own? This totally interests me as I have an aunt and uncle who are blind. I have also always had an interest in having a dog trained for search and rescue and I know what is involved with that. It takes a special kind of dog for either. Maybe one day I will be able to have one for search and rescue. I have heard some Chi's have been used for that but I am sure they are few and far between. Thanks for telling me about Pepper! Kim On 7/8/07, marsha <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: I am Deaf, so Pepper is my hearing dog. As an SD, he has legal access rights to accompany me any where I go. However, he has 5 bad disk in his back (3 slipped and two ruptured) . This happened a few years ago and he had been doing pretty well....he has his good days and his bad. Normally he has to take medicine about 8 days out of the month. But for the last 6 months or so, he has been in pain more often than not and is taking meds at least every other day to control the pain. What to look for.....that is kind hard to describe. One, it is the connection. A clicking between the handler and the SD. Depending on the purpose of the SD, you have to look at the body ect as well, but for a hearing dog, I don't need him to be big enough to support me, fetch my meds or anything like that. I need a keen sense of hearing of course. But it has to be a dog that can be attentive and not too shy to bark and alert. But not aggressive at all. a balance between independence, and dependence as a SD is a mutual dependency.....sighhh I am not doing a good job explaing what to look for....it is hard to explain, but I can tell when I interact with them is all I can say, lol Marsha https://www.fundable.org/groupactions/groupaction.2007-06-19.1021935217/groupaction_view ----- Original Message ----- From: *Kim* To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 12:02 AM Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] silly chis! Marsha, I really enjoyed reading the stories about your Chi's! They have such personality. I have spent lots of time with many many different breeds of dogs, I rescued for about 15 years and I have to say the Chi's (at least Fendi any way) are the only dogs I have seen with such human like personalities! When I had to clean her ears out she would whimper just like a baby. Me DH even commented how she sounded like a baby. I tell ya, it broke my heart! She gets such expressions on her face! I am totally interested in Pepper. I hadnt heard his story before, I am pretty new to this list but I think service dogs are fascinating! What traits would you look for in a service dog? On 7/7/07, marsha Taylor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Aint chis just the best! I tell you, sometimes I can be so down in the dumps and it seems that just sitting back and just watching my chis just being themselves can make me feel so much better! Ginger's pup is one week old today and now weighs a whopping 12 oz!!! And he is already so spoilt! It is obvious he is already use to having his way., lol. If Ginger even moves he lets her know he is not happy about it...and that is pretty easy to do when he almost as big as she is! lol. I have never seen her so whipped as she is when it comes to him...he has her wrapped around his little paw! lol Cayenne and Taz cracked me up last night. Cayenne is now 8 months old and she can be a bit annoying to the others. She will get right up under their faces, lay on her back (in a very submissive pose) and take her little paws and hit them. They, of course, growl at her. I allow this as long as no one hurts the others. I let them establish their pecking order and she knows that as the baby of the family she is near the bottom but like most kids, she still keeps picking. Anyhow, last night she was aggravating Taz. Now Taz is a lover, not a fighter, lol, so when she rolled over and pawed him, he growled, but when she kept it up he decided to put her in her place by licking her into submission!! lol. He licked her and if she moved, he growled, put his paw on her head to hold her down and continued to lick. This went on for 15 minutes!! She moved, he growled, held down and licked some more. She finally figured out that if she just laid real still and let him lick her he would eventually tire. She knows who the king licker is in this house!! lol Pepper is having a lot of trouble. He has not been able to go with me lately when I go places because of his bad back. Remember, he is a service dog. But I don't want him to get out of practice, so tonight he went to wal-mart with me. He was so pitiful. He could barely get around and the employees at wal mart who know him were commenting with "poor puppy" ect. I know I am gonna have to retire him before much longer. He simple is not able to do his job anymore. I need to get another chi to train to take his place. I had actually hoped Cayenne would be a possibility, as she showed great promise in the beginning, but as she has gotten older, it is clear she is not up to par as a service dog...it takes a special dog to be a service animal. Barley continues to be the sweetest thing you ever did meet. He can bring a smile to the saddest face with his loving personality. Dinah takes spells she wants to wrestle with me and I still can not figure out how to wrestle with a three pound chi! lol. And Lucky is so independent!! I have never seen a chi that can occupy itself for hours on end the way she can. She too is only 8 months old (she and Cayenne are litter mates) and she will keep her self busy till she is bone tired, then just go get in her bed for a nap till she is ready to get up and play by her self some more. Ok...this was long and had absolutely no purpose, lol....I just felt like sharing what Joys these little fellows can bring to ones life!!! Marsha and the chi gang! https://www.fundable.org/groupactions/groupaction.2007-06-19.1021935217/groupaction_view
