We’ve all seen dogs at stores, restaurants, hospitals, etc. But can all dogs go to all these places? Not really. Most dogs can go to stores like Lowes, Tractor Supplies, and Home Depot. But in order to go to hospitals, they need to be service dogs.
”Service dogs? What’s that?’’ You might ask. Well, here’s what I found on Wikipedia: “A service dog is a type of assistance dog specifically trained to help people who have disabilities, such as visual impairment, hearing impairments, mental disorders (such as post-traumatic stress disorder), seizures, mobility impairment, and diabetes.”
A friend of mine asked me if German Shepherds are good service dogs. So, this weekend, when I took Mia to train at Keystone German Shepherds and Kennels, I decided to have a quick interview with Patty who has a German Shepherd for her service dog. Here are my questions and here are her answers.
Me: AreGerman Shepherds good service dogs?
Patty: Yes. They are great service dogs.
Me: Why do you say that?
Patty: Because they are very smart and intelligent. Also, I own and sell the breed so I may be a bit partial to the breed.
Me: Is it hard to train a German Shepherd?
Patty: All dogs are trainable. However, German Shepherds are very smart and hence easily trainable.
Me: How does Kodi help you as a service dog?
Patty: G.Ch. Kodi is an awesome dog. He travels with me everywhere.. Even on airplanes. He alerts me to my blood sugar levels.
Me: Thatsneat… But how does he alert you?
Patty: First, he nudges me. If I ignore that, he nibbles my hand. If I ignore that, then he jumps on me.
From my short interview, I understood that training a service dog is not an easy job. To be a service dog they need to be calm and quiet under any circumstances. If they go by an airport and hear the loud airplane engines then they need to be quiet and not get scared. Or if they walk into a hospital and see lots of people they then need to stay calm and relaxed and stay right with their handlers. In my opinion, I think that German Shepherds would make great service dogs because they are easily trainable, very intelligent and most of all they love being with their owner or their handler. I would like to appreciate my uncle Surish for asking me this question and letting me do research about this awesome topic. I also want to appreciate Patty H. for all the information that she gave me, but most of all for taking the time from her busy schedule to sit down with me and explain how her dog Kodi helps her.