Comments on: Can You Have Two Service Dogs?

By: Kerrieann shearman

Kerrieann shearman — Sat, 14 May 2022 15:03:32 +0000

Im not a professional trainer, but I’m currently training 2 saymoyed puppies at one time and honestly no one can believe this pups are on 14 and 21 weeks old. I got thebolder one at 10 weeks and after a 15 hr flight she came off the plane miiss social and completely built for service. No barking, very social, tracks whats going on, calm. She is my migraine alert dog and with in two weeks was alerting me and I was working her in pediatrician offices. In addition I have short term memory and when I was taking out loud where is the car she took me straight to it. She can literally find my car from a mile away and is only 21 weeks. In addirtion the second pup is being scented for migraines for my child on the spectrum. If we dont breed he will also be an autism dog. But honestly he is bot as built for service but the female is teaching him
He learning not to bark from her and commands. Hospitals and everyone are completely amazed. Both will also be therapy dogs because they are awesome with kids and everyone loves their fluffy coats. In addition the older one I can tell her to find my son or other kids and she can locate them at places we have never been so she may also become a search and rescue. The goal, if we breed these guys will help train their pups that are suited for service since they are one ofnthe top 5 dogs for autism. But people are shocked to see me working to dogs. But then again, I have 5 boys

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 07:37:10 +0000

In reply to Colby. I heard this when we were getting a service dog! I refused to go with that company to train one for me bc I knew if I was going to spend every waking moment with my SD then I would be so attached that there would be NO WAY I could give it up. But thats just me. Nothing against anyone else. Please no haters! Lol

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 07:29:48 +0000

I have two only bc I was planning on using the younger one when my first one isn’t up to the task bc he’s getting older now and tires out easier. Just bc he has an off day doesn’t mean my bloodwork isn’t going to get done. So its nice to have a second. BUT… she didn’t work out like my first. She’s smart. Does her job! But way to over protective when it comes to me. Ive tried to train her to ‘leave it’. But she’s not a ppl person. Ppl think if a dog is being trained its just going to work! Not all dogs make it inthe SD world! In fact I read 70% won’t make it. So if the dog u loved so much isn’t up to the task. It just means he or she will make the perfect lovable couch partner!

By: Colby

Colby — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 16:32:06 +0000

In reply to Lindsay.

I don’t know anyone personally with two service dogs, but yes I do think it would depend on the dogs.

When Dublin was working his family had two pet dogs and Dublin. Now that Dublin is retired they have three pet dogs and a new guide dog at their house. I think it depends a lot on the guide dog handlers and they’re family. I know a lot of times when a handler lives only with their guide dog then they often only have the one dog. When the guide dog retires they usually do not keep the dog and it goes back to the puppy raiser.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Sun, 04 Oct 2020 14:40:58 +0000

I bet a lot depends on the actual dogs too. Some dogs might not share their handler well, perhaps. Not necessarily that they’d become possessive but they might shut down and just not work as well. Or they just can’t do their job as well with another working dog around.

But I bet most dogs that are trained as guide or service dogs are pretty adaptable. When there are two working dogs both understand their clear role.

I’m not sure if you covered this. Do most people who have a guide or service dog also have a family pet dog in the home? Or is that rare?

By: Colby

Colby — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 20:38:43 +0000

In reply to Joel Jacklich. Thank you for volunteering! That's amazing that all 12 of your dogs made it as guide dogs. One of our coordinators had only 1 out of 10 of her dogs make it as guides. That's great GDD was training for multiple disabilities. I know GDA recently merged with TLCAD, a service dog school and will be offering dogs for different disabilities other than the blind. Although I'm not sure if they will train individual dogs to mitigate multiple disabilities. Thanks for sharing!

By: Joel Jacklich

Joel Jacklich — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 14:48:58 +0000

I volunteered as a regional puppy coordinator for Guide Dogs of the Desert in Palm Springs, CA, for 12 years (the 90’s and touching on both ends) and during that time I raised 12 guide dogs myself, all of whom (miraculously in at least two cases) made it to become guide dogs. I helped to interview potential guide dogs raisers and place young puppies-in-training in raiser homes (often with 4-H students) who would raise and train the pups in basic obedience and socialize them to sights, sounds, surfaces, smells, and situations. I would schedule weekly obedience and socialization training sessions, e.g., going to a local McDonalds to have dinner, with the pups on down-stays under the tables and with strategically placed French fries and/or bits of hamburger on the floor near them to teach them to ignore floor food. At the time I was volunteering at GDD, they were often training dogs for persons with multiple disabilities (and at that time, I believe they were the only guide dog (for the blind) school specializing in doing that, although Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, CA, was individually modifying the training for every single individual dog (since they were dealing with a variety of disabilities other than blindness).

By: Colby

Colby — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 22:57:52 +0000

In reply to Amanda. This is excellent! Thank you for sharing. I know there are a lot of situations that may require 2 or more service dogs and this is one I didn't not know about or think of. Thank you again for sharing your experience.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 16:26:35 +0000

I have known people who have had multiple disabilities and their dogs were crosstrained to perform tasks to mitigate all of those disabilities. However if the dog was forced to retire from public work early due to a dog attack but could still work inside the home and needed to still feel useful it would work inside and the person would have a dog in training or fully trained to work outside in public to mitigate all of their disabilities. The benefit of this as it gives each of the dogs a break as the person in mind had multiple complex disabilities and the dogs were tasked to do very challenging jobs all day. Both dogs are still considered active service dogs.

By: Colby

Colby — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 04:46:44 +0000

In reply to Allison. Dogs can learn many different tasks. According to Dr. Stanley Coren dogs can understand up to 165 words.