#mobility work

Prynhawn,

My service dog is not used for mobility, but I have a friend who does use hers from mobility (got the dog from a shelter) and this is what the shelter told her.

The dog needs to be large®. If it’s going to support you as you stand or brace, it needs to be able to take that weight.

Try to get a mostly grown dog, and have all the joints x rayed. You don’t want to pick out a lab puppy, only to find out a year in that it has hip issues and can’t do the needed work.

Have the dog looked at and assessed by your vet and the trainer/organization you plan on working with. They may have suggestions. 

Try to determine how easy the dog will be to train. Is it food motivated? Affection motivated? What works and what doesn’t. Does it seem to like to like the work.

hope this helps,

PS on the mobility horse question: I have been looking up what miniature house training I can find, but it's mostly for guide horses. What considerations should I make for an animal that helps with balance issues? You mention teaching a dog to brace; how do they teach that?  Any help would be appreciated!             

Sorry this took so long to answer, especially since I can’t help you very much. I’ve tried finding resources on training miniature horses for service work, but all I can find are warnings that it’s very specialized training.

Prynhawn again,

As someone who got a dog “to work” I honestly wouldn’t leave it out. I think it’s actually doing you a favor in weeding out some places right off the cuff, because then you don’t have to go through the trouble of getting the joints (or something else) looked at. 

If the place won’t talk to you after you ask about health issues, I think that chances are, they’ve had those problems. You might also look into breeders on personal websites, because I’ve had better success with that.

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