Animanialmanac t1_ix8ersn wrote on November 21, 2022 at 3:25 PM

Reply to comment by anne_hollydaye in Service dog training by Papirazo

I believe you may be mistaken. Most lower income patients I see with service dogs received the dogs free through the appropriate patient advocacy group for their diagnosis. My roster is entirely Medicaid, none of my patients could afford $25,000 or more out of pocket, and then more for continuing veterinary and ongoing training for a service assistance dog. Patient advocacy groups pay for the animal and ongoing vet care. That’s why I suggested the OP check with their provider to get connected to right patient advocacy group for his/her diagnosis.

Are you thinking of emotional support pets? I’ve seen dog training places offer to certify animals as emotional support pets to allow the pets on planes, in rental apartments and other environments. This is different from a service animal. A true service assistance animal requires a medical diagnosis from the handler, costs $25,000 or more and should be trained by professionals.

anne_hollydaye t1_ix9ows5 wrote on November 21, 2022 at 8:34 PM

Most certainly not talking about ESAs. I know several individuals who had to go the self train route because they were not approved based on income. All of them need medical alert dogs for fainting disorders.

Animanialmanac t1_ixa0e7b wrote on November 21, 2022 at 9:50 PM

I don’t know those individuals, but the details don’t track with what I’ve experienced professionally as a physical therapist. Patient advocacy groups and charities are private organizations that don’t generally have income requirements or limits. Personally I’ve attended many fundraiser bull roasts, bingo nights, quarter auctions held by patient advocacy groups to raise funds for service animals, my own church donated funds for several parishioners who needed service animals. I’ve never heard of an income requirement or an income limit to owning a service dog for any diagnosis, I can’t see why a syncope diagnosis would come with an income requirement. I still suggest the op check with their provider before attempting to self-train a service dog.

Can you imagine a person with low vision being told they must train their own guide dog, or a person who experiences seizures being told to teach a dog to alert to seizures? The scenario you’re describing is implausible and discredits the hard work service animal trainers and patient advocacy groups do. That seems more a vanity project than reality.

I strongly encourage the OP to discuss the support of a service dog with their medical provider before giving money to any organization that claims to show them how to train their own dog to be a service animal for a fee. There is no cost to that conversation and it can’t hurt.