Take Home A Certified Therapy Dog After Passing The Advanced Training Program
The advanced training program available at Pride and Prejudoodles offers a therapy dog certification test so you can welcome home a certified therapy dog. We invite you to view our puppy gallery, showing our trained Goldendoodles and trained Labradoodles for sale, but be warned they have a habit of stealing hearts when you meet them for the first time! If youre interested in finding out more about how to buy a trained puppy to complete your family,contact us today.
What Ailments Or Disabilities Can Qualify You For Getting An Emotional Support Dog
To qualify for an ESA, your condition or disability must be listed under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition .
People with the following mental health disorders or impairments can qualify for an ESA:
- Anxiety disorders
- PTSD
- Schizophrenia
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Keep in mind that your family doctor or any other general practitioner is NOT qualified to give this assessment. Only licensed mental health professionals like psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists can give you an ESA letter! This is important since landowners and airline companies will reject your letter otherwise. If your ESA letter is invalid, you will not be protected under the law.
German Shepherd Dogs Are Known For Their Versatility
If you need any job done, just ask your dog. GSD owners understand their dogs were developed as working dogs. In fact, the ideal German Shepherd has a body and gait suited to the hard work that is considered its primary purpose. This means your dog can excel at almost anything. From dog sports like rally, agility, scent work, therapy work, to service dog work, German Shepherds can do it all. The only thing holding your dog back is the time and energy you can commit to training. Its no wonder people always think your dog is a service or police dog.
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Male Vs Female German Shepherds
What makes a female German Shepherd Dog different from a male German Shepherd Dog? As you will soon discover, there are many ways to examine and attempt to answer this important question!
For some people, aside from simple size, weight, and height considerations, there really is no important or measurable difference between a male and a female German shepherd. But for other people, even the subtle differences between a male and a female German shepherd can be sufficiently important to make one gender a preferable choice to the other in certain specific situations.
Traits Of Good Service Animals
There are a few requirements for all service dogs. To make it a service animal, they require certain traits.
Plenty of dogs may seem like great service dogs at first but then fail their training later. For this reason, all dogs are subjected to a temperament test at the beginning of their training. If they dont pass, they wont be allowed to continue the training.
Here are some of the necessary temperament traits for service animals:
- Energetic
- Anxious
- Focused
During the temperament test, the dog will be exposed to various potentially scary sounds and situations. Umbrellas are a standard inclusion, for instance. Loud noises are often made while the dog is playing to determine if they will cower around louder noises.
Trainers will often check the dogs response to pain. Dogs are often jostled and accidentally stepped on in public. Therefore, they mustnt automatically snap when injured.
Dogs that make good service animals may yelp if they are hurt but wont run away or bite.
Often, the dogs are also tested to see if they will play fetch. This makes it much easier for dogs to learn to find things for their owners, which is often crucial for service work.
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Can German Shepherd Husky Mix Eat Spicy Food
Here we will discuss another important and interesting topic. Will we take a deep review of either German Shepherd Husky mix-eat food spicy food?
According to this topic, the first and foremost question that came to our mind is, Spice is nice but is not it good for his health? As we all know, spicy food is always be the top priority in our food.
How German Shepherd Husky Mix Taste Buds Works?
Normally all dogs, including, have sensitive but strong noses. When it comes to taste buds, they have 1700 taste buds in their mouth. This number seems very high, but he has very low compared to human taste buds. Talking about human taste buds, they have around 9000 taste buds.
The more taste buds, the more taste sensitivity they have. One place wherein puppies do have a higher flavor than people: water! Dog tongues have unique water-particular taste buds at the tip of their tongue.
Expert research shows that dogs normally have four major taste types: bitter, salty, sour, and sweet.
Can They Taste Spicy Food?
Eventually, dogs can taste spicy food because they do not feel much difference between normal and spicy. But spicy food can be the cause of health issues for your Dog.
Which Spicy Food does GSD eat?
Factors To Consider When Getting A German Shepherd
German Shepherds are very large dogs, and their big size also means bigger responsibilities for the owner.
If youre looking to this breed as your first dog, there are factors that you should think about before finally committing to this breed.
Trainability, attitude with other kids and pets, viability for living in your space, grooming requirements, cost, and health issues are some of the things you should consider.
Many German Shepherds are handed over to shelters because pet owners realize they cannot handle them anymore. Some of the reasons the dogs are given up for adoption could have easily been avoided if the owners had put forth the time and energy to train them properly.
Therefore, it is very important that you take your time in deciding this, and whether you can deal with the responsibilities that owning a German Shepherd entails.
Otherwise, you may end up getting stressed about a dog that you cannot handle. In turn, the dog will grow up with poor manners, bored, and aggressive.
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Can I Get Involved In Volunteering If Im Dogless
You certainly can! Therapy dog volunteers are dog handlers who have experience with canines and, most of all, love interacting with and bringing the best out of them. You can spend time helping to assess them, raise awareness and carry out fundraisers to help these special dogs reach their full potential.
Please bear in mind that therapy dogs and service dogs have different levels of training. No one should claim their dog is a service dog without theproper Doodle training and documentation. Both are recognized by that state and valuable members of the community. Therapy dogs certified through our organization come with an official therapy-dog vest, ID cards, ID tag and government registration certificate.
Can A German Shepherd Get Along With My Cat
If you have an cat and youre planning to get a GSD as your first canine addition to the family, youll need to consider whether the two will get along well.
Teaching your new puppy to get along with your cat might be a bit trickier than introducing her to your kids. Most German Shepherds will get along nicely with cats, although many are still fearful and aggressive towards these furry felines.
The key here is, again, socialization.
As we often reiterate in this blog, socialization is the most important part of training that you shouldnt overlook if you want your GSD to behave well with other creatures humans and animals alike.
With cats, its important that you do not force them to interact as soon as you get your puppy home.
Take it slow, making sure that your puppy is leashed so that you can at least control the situation. And never leave the two alone unsupervised if you want to avoid scratches on your puppys face!
Introduce your GSD to other cats as well. The more frequently she is exposed she is to other animals, the more she will realize that they are not enemies.
Unfortunately, even if youve trained and socialized your dog well, theres always the chance that she and your cat will never get along.
These two animals have very different personalities that may not mesh well together. In that case, you may want to employ the help of a veterinarian or an animal trainer for expert guidance specific to your dog and cat.
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What Do Service Dogs Do
Before taking a look at German Shepherds as service dogs, you first need to understand what service dogs do.
In reality, service dogs are trained to respond to different disabilities, medical conditions, and physical or mental impairments.
Thus, service dogs will have some fundamental training in common. This could be how to behave in public areas and how to respond to certain stimuli.
Apart from these basic components, however, the dogs may be trained in different ways.
For instance, a service dog that is paired up with an individual who has mobility issues will know how to act as a physical guide.
On the other hand, if someone has been diagnosed with epilepsy, their service dog will be trained to alert their owners to oncoming seizures.
In case a person is suffering from depression, their service dog could act as a reminder to take their medication as needed.
German Shepherd Service Dog
German Shepherds are continuously one of the top dog breeds in America year after year according to the American Kennel Club . This is for a large number of reasons, such as their temperament, loyalty, size, strength, and much more, which we will get into later.
Mainly, German Shepherds loyalty is what sets them apart from other dog breeds. They are often seen in law enforcement as police dogs, or excelling in obedience classes, acting as a farm dog, being military dogs, or providing protection and search and rescue services. They are a very loyal, intelligent breed, making them perfect for being a service dog.
Service dogs must be intelligent, work-minded, well-focused and calm, all of which are traits the German Shepherd is known for. Before we delve more into the breed of German Shepherds and why they make great service dogs, lets learn more about service dogs themselves.
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Do German Shepherds Like Water
Most German shepherds enjoy the water, but some GSDs dont like it. Because German shepherds werent explicitly bred for water-based activities, how much they like water will depend on their previous experiences, especially when growing up as a puppy.
If they had bad experiences with water when they were puppies, they more than likely would grow up being fearful and refusing to swim.
Even if your dog likes to play in the water, please limit your dogs exposure to saltwater. Drinking too much salt water can lead to saltwater poisoning with symptoms ranging from mild to very severe. The most common signs of saltwater poisoning in dogs include vomiting, diarrhea, lack of appetite, and lethargy.
Can My Dog Qualify As A Service Dog
Certification of a service dog is not required in the United States. This is actually a great benefit to those who need them.
This is because it allows people to train their own dogs as service dogs as opposed to making them go through a certification program which may limit the access of many people without the financial means to acquire a service dog.
Under the ADA, there is no certification required to be presented to demonstrate that a dog is a service dog. And beware of any place that sells you a certification for a service dog. These are not recognized by the Ada as proof that the animal is a service dog.
Even though there is no required certification for service dogs in the United States, there are standards set forth by The International Association of Assistance Dog Partners .
Because there was a large number of disabled individuals in need of assistance dogs who did not have any understanding of the training or guidance to give a dog, this organization developed what is called the Minimum Set of Training Standards for Public Access.
This set of standards is widely used and recognized as authoritative in terms of certifying whether or not a dog is prepared to be a service dog. Under these standards, a dog should at a minimum be able to display the following social behavior skills:
IAADP also recommends:
- A minimum of 120 hours of schooling over a period of at least 6 months.
- At least 30 hours devoted specifically to working in public places.
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Program Training Vs Owner Training
Program training is when you get a professionally trained service dog assigned to you. Alternatively, you can sometimes request that your own dog is trained through the program. The benefits of this include:
- Higher success rate: Professional trainers literally do this for a living.
- Better understanding of whats needed: A professional will quickly realize if a dog is simply not suited to being a service dog. They will also better recognize when the dog is finished training or still learning .
Essentially, its easier to get a better-trained animal out of program training than it is out of owner training .
But that doesnt mean owner training is no good. If youve got the dedication and the willingness to spend a lot of time and effort not just training your dog but researching the techniques to train them well, you can get a very well trained dog out of it.
Here are some benefits of owner training:
If you arent sure which route you want to take, here are our basic recommendations:
- If you have no experience to train a dog any kind of tasks, we suggest program training if you really want to make sure you get results. Training is not easy and not everyone is suited to it. Its nothing to be ashamed of. It just means program training is probably better for you.
- If you have experience and you have the time and ability to dedicate yourself to training your own dog, we recommend doing it yourself. This lets you get the kind of customized results you want.
The Most Important Qualities That A Dog Needs Include:
- Always open to interacting with strangers
- Never jumps up or paws people
- Not sensitive to rough or clumsy petting
- Walks on a lead without pulling or getting anxious
- Doesnt display toy or food aggression
- Never demonstrates guarding behaviors
- Not afraid of unsteady or sudden movements in people
- Excellent standards of grooming
- Usually, puppies under a year old arent suitable, but therapy dog programs can certainly begin then.
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German Shepherds Are Known As A Mouthy Breed
They tend to use their mouths as an appendage thanks to their herding heritage. Its even right there in their name, ShepHERD. This mouthing behavior is natural, so expect your GSD to mouth you and chew anything that will fit inside their mouth. However, that doesnt mean you should allow it. What might be cute in your small puppy will get more powerful as your dog grows up. Training your dog not to bite your hand or the chew on the furniture is essential with this breed. Teach your German Shepherd to channel those instincts safely and appropriately.
What Are Emotional Support Animals
An emotional support animal is any pet that provides emotional support and companionship to its owner daily.
An ESA is especially helpful for people living with certain mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.
Having an emotional support animal comes with certain legal protections, although not as many as having a service dog.
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How Much Does A German Shepherd Service Dog Cost
The cost of these dogs differs and depends on how they were trained and what they were trained for. The more specialized the service, the costlier the dog. Specialized service means that more professional training went into the dog.
These dogs can cost anywhere between $5,000 and $65,000.
Some people may consider getting a dog on their own and training it themselves. Make sure you go through a professional training program with your German Shepherd to make sure hes properly trained.
Something else that goes into the cost of a dog is bloodlines. German Shepherd breeders that specialize in service dogs strive to produce outstanding dogs that will excel in that field.
A quality bloodline is a foundation for training, so its important to ask questions of the breeder about how many of their dogs have successfully become service dogs.
Buying a German Shepherd puppy from such a breeder to train yourself will cost around $2,000 $7,000.
Another thing that you need to consider before getting a service dog is the ongoing cost of dog ownership.
For starters, youll want to feed your service dog a high-quality food for GSD that will allow them to live a long, healthy life.
You also need to cover vet bills, whether its just yearly check-ups or for injuries or illnesses that could come up along the way. So, dont forget to factor this into your budget.
Owner Training Vs Program Training
If you are set on getting a German Shepherd, now its time to decide whether you are going to train it yourself or if youre going to enroll them in a program and have someone else do it for you. Both options have pros and cons to them.
If you were to train your German Shepherd yourself, you have the benefit of providing custom training to your pet. In other words, youre able to train them according to your specific tasks and needs. You also have more control with your dog, as you are making sure your dog obeys, and responds to, and works specifically with you.
While program training can have a limit as to how old your dog can be in order to take the classes, by training your dog yourself, you can start them as early as youd like and keep doing it throughout their life.
And theres one obvious upside to owner training- its free! Or, at least, it costs a lot less than enrolling them in a program. Just remember that training a dog yourself will require copious amounts of patience, dedication, and perseverance.
Enrolling your dog in a training program also has great benefits.
There is a much higher success rate if you are to have your dog trained professionally. The word professional means someone does this kind of thing with all breeds of dogs for a living.
They have experience and expertise in training German Shepherds that you dont, so your dog has a greater chance of being the kind of obedience dog that you need.
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