Service Pokemon of the Day

Before I get into the meat of this post, disclaimer! This is a topic I’m not well educated on besides the baseline! If you or a loved one are interested in getting an Emotional Support Pokemon or a Service Pokemon, please research what you need! I’m by no means a gospel on the roles that these Pokemon can fulfill, and everyone has different needs. 

With that out of the way, I wanted to talk about the Pokemon that go above and beyond and serve a more personal role with humans. Service Pokemon and Emotional Support Pokemon. SPs are Pokemon that are specially trained to perform a specialized task for their human companions that goes beyond exclusively emotional support. If they are providing comfort only, they would be an Emotional Support Pokemon, and thus not entirely subject to the distinctions.

Pokemon are incredibly special and varied, and so are the tasks that ESPs can perform. Whether it’s simply retrieving medication or basic necessities for their companions, alerting them to an oncoming medical episode, or even guiding companions that have trouble seeing or hearing, ESPs are very capable of doing these tasks under the right conditions and with proper training.

There are quite a few popular options for Service Pokemon, including but not limited to…

Dog Pokemon, such as Growlithe and Arcanine, Houndour and Houndoom, and the Lillipup line. These Pokemon are all very easily trainable and loyal, making them very common and beloved choices. 

Psychic Pokemon, like the Gothita Line, Flittle and Espathra, and Indeedee. Arguably the best choice one could make for many roles, their ability to interact with humans on an enhanced level makes them ideal to serve in these roles. 

Electric Rodents, like Pikachu, Dedenne and my personal favorite of Togedemaru. Not only very friendly, but great choices for cardiac and seizure alerters.

Eevee and its subsequent evolutions. Very similar to the Dog Pokemon class here, but when trained as an Eevee and later evolved, they become some of the best options available.

Medical Pokemon, like the Chansey line, Indeedee (again), and Audino. All of these serve common roles within Pokemon Centers and hospitals already, and are excellent at providing that in a more personal setting. Special mentions to the Togepi line, which are incredible at providing emotional support and comfort and find jobs in hospitals for morale.

Bird Pokemon, notably ones with Keen Eye like Wingull and the Pidgey Line. Great seeing-eye Pokemon options, so long as you don't mind Wingulls wanting to steal the occasional french fry.

These are only scratching the surface of it, as well. There are many Pokemon that still lend to these roles outside of the norm, and so long as they’re given proper training they too can become these roles. Personally speaking, Smelly is registered as a mobility Service Pokemon and has frequently offered to help when my hypermobility flares up. It’s part of the reason he doesn’t go into his Pokeball unless it’s an extreme circumstance.

I should also note here that it’s important to not disturb SPs while they’re working. While it might be very tempting to go up to a friendly Growlithe and give them a loving scratch behind the ears, they are on the job and they can prevent disasters. Regardless of anything, please ask their human if it is okay to pet them before just doing it, and respect if it’s not okay.

I would have loved to talk about Emotional Support Pokemon in this post, but unfortunately they come with a really bad reputation of people using the ESP label to let their crusty and cranky Fidough cause mayhem at the museum. I have met quite a fair few delightful ESps, like the one Squawkabilly that was looking with his owner at the soup aisle alongside me, but the few bad eggs I’ve met spoiled the bunch. 

That’s the post for today. Happy husbandry everyone!

-PB

Many reptilian Pokémon would be a great match with you! As exothermic creatures, they always appreciate downtime and aren’t bothered by extended periods of inactivity. A Turtwig would be a good companion, as they have a very calm disposition and after they evolve are easily capable of physically supporting someone.

“I think a good Pokémon that could help you would be Meowth! These felines are comparably low-maintenance to other standard support Pokémon. They are also very friendly and even wild ones will help out humans if they need aid. They are also capable of learning Dream Eater, which can prove beneficial when they can tell if you’re having nightmares. Their fur is known to be quite soft and is said to even relax you a bit.

If you’re not a fan of Meowth, I would also recommend Clefairy, but only if you’re willing to pay a bit extra due to their rarity.”

Absolutely! Many Pokémon can easily be trained to respond to hand signs, and even hearing and non-mute (please forgive me if that isn’t the right term!) trainers love to incorporate hand signals into training. It has tons of benefits: it’s quiet and not disruptive, commands can be conveyed in loud places, and it can also be used discreetly during competitive battle so as to not alert the opposing trainer of your tactics. 

The Fennekin line is quite popular among deaf trainers, as they are naturally inclined to using visual cues for communication as they evolve and use their wand branches more and more. What surprises most is that their large ears are predominantly for thermoregulation and do not correspond to particularly good hearing. 

Shuppets.

They eat bad feelings right? So imagine going to therapy and theres a shuppet there to help you with the hard parts.

Like your therapist has a shuppet as a partner to help.

Or even better

“Sir that’s my emotional support Pokemon.”

Can stick shuppet in a vest. Now hes a service pokemon.

This comic is for anyone who suffers with chronic pain. A somewhat difficult set of symptoms to handle, with Pokémon, it can be managed well!

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Siezures can be a real trouble to a lot of people, and Pokémon can help that!

Well, aside from the usual go-to service pokémon that is togetic and togekiss, swablu and altaria are perhaps the most popular, due to their soothing feathers and equally soothing voices, coupled with their level of comfort and calmness around humans. Altaria especially are good choices, as not only can their wings double as stim toys (this doesn’t hurt them), but also, for those who suffer from anxiety and don’t mind physical contact, an altaria is rather effective in creating a sense of safety for their partners by enveloping them with its wings and humming a calming melody.

The only other pokémon often used for this purpose is jumpluff, whose cotton hands and slow, graceful movements through the air are often said to be rather calming in nature. However, it should be noted that as a pokémon that relies on spore-based techniques (and that stores such spores in its hands), jumpluff may not be effective for those who have allergies.

Absolutely. Ninetales is an extremely intelligent pokemon. They’re also smaller than Arcanine, which can have many benefits in public spaces.

The only issue is that they take longer to warm up to a trainer than Arcanine. Often they will act aloof, and many prefer to be touched sparingly even by a trusted trainer. For people raising service pokemon and then distributing them, it can be a problem if the Ninetales doesn’t warm up to its new trainer.

However, Vulpix and Ninetales absolutely have the capability to be great service pokemon, and will help their trainers well even if they aren’t as extroverted as Arcanine typically are.

It’s Kirk/Spock Day!! Aka the day Amok Time was first released! Hope yall are celebrating by watching it on repeat, over and over again..

In the Pokemon world, if you go through the right paperwork and registration and tests, you can have one of your Pokemon certified as a Service Pokemon.

Guide Furfrou and Growlithe lead their blind Trainers to the local PokeMart and back.

Trained Aipom help to grab items from high shelves for their wheelchair-bound Trainers.

Those who suffer from PTSD or anxiety disorders have their first ever Pokemon certified as Service Pokemon and their Pokeballs get modified so that they can come out easily whenever they sense their Trainer isn’t doing well and they calm their Trainer back to manageable levels.

There are a couple of things to consider, anonymous.

First, I would hate to say it, but service pokémon are typically trained for their tasks from birth. That isn’t to say your own pokémon can’t help you in their own way, but official service pokémon often need at least a year of task training and public training. You see, being a service pokémon isn’t just about knowing how to perform the tasks a human partner may need. It’s also about knowing how to be professional and calm at all times while on the job, and it’s about knowing how to focus, even in the most distracting of situations. For example, if a pet growlithe barks threateningly at a service growlithe, the service growlithe must know how to remain composed enough to focus on their work, not on attacking the other growlithe. Likewise, service pokémon must be calm and collected, even in settings jam-packed with people or in situations that are life-threatening to either their human partner or themselves (or both).

In some cases, a battle-ready pokémon may be taught to become a service pokémon, but to do so effectively, they must attend training with a specialized trainer, one who is not only capable of teaching a pokémon how to assist with their human partner’s disability but also how to heel and obey properly in any situation. This trainer must be certified for service training, and at the completion of the pokémon’s education, that pokémon must undergo thorough examination to ensure they can work reliably at all times. Only then may a pokémon be awarded the license to be a service pokémon. However, it’s also worth it to note that not every region allows for this process to happen with battle-ready pokémon, as battle-ready pokémon often react to situations with a battlefield mindset (that is to say, by attacking or preparing itself to attack), even years after retirement. Among the regions where you can train any retired battle-ready pokémon to become a service animal, you have Unova, Alola, and Kalos. For all others, it’s highly recommended that you double-check your local regulations.

That having been said, though, most species can be service pokémon. The only exceptions are cases in which the pokémon would pose a threat to surrounding humans (such as grimer, muk, and cryogonal) or are far too large to be usable (onix, steelix, wailord, gyarados, milotic, and Alolan exeggutor). Pokémon that have difficulties traveling on land (most aquatic pokémon) as well as pokémon that are made up of materials that may be detrimental to their environment (slugma and magcargo) tend to have varying regulations associated with them, depending on the region. In Hoenn and Alola, all of these pokémon are perfectly legal, but in Sinnoh, they’re barred. Of course, keep in mind that if you’re traveling to other regions, the only thing that matters if where your pokémon got its papers from, not whether or not your service pokémon is legal in the region you’re currently in. For example, if your service pokémon is a goldeen, you can travel anywhere you’d like with it. It’s just that if you live in Sinnoh, you can’t get a goldeen service pokémon. Also, you may have difficulties, as Sinnoh is a primarily mountainous region with an abundance of land routes that your goldeen may struggle with, but the point is, your service goldeen will still be legal.