What Conditions Can Service Animals Help With?

Impaired Hearing

Service dogs can be trained to help individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired. These dogs are colloquially called hearing dogs. Many accommodations exist to help those who are deaf or hard of hearing navigate the world to begin with. For example, there are oven timers with lights and alarm clocks that vibrate to shake the bed. However, service dogs can still help alert deaf and hearing-impaired individuals to sounds of danger. Some of the most common sounds service dogs are trained to respond to include a child's cry, telephone ringing, alarm clock, doorbell, or smoke alarm. When hearing dogs hear noises they've been trained to respond to, they will nudge or paw their handler to alert them about the sound. Then they will lead the person to the source of the sound. Individuals who are nonverbal can train their dog to respond to American Sign Language instead of verbal commands. If the person has additional medical conditions or disabilities, the dog can also be trained to help with these.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Service animals can help post-traumatic stress disorder patients manage the symptoms of their condition. One problem that sometimes arises, however, is a service animal for PTSD being mislabeled as an emotional support animal. Emotional support animals, while they are beneficial to many, don't have protections under the ADA and can't be brought into certain public spaces like licensed service animals. The difference between a service dog and an emotional support dog is an emotional support dog only provides emotional support, while service dogs are specifically trained in the mitigation of disability. Psychiatric service dogs are just as legitimate and protected as any other service dog. Service dogs for post-traumatic stress disorder patients can perform a variety of different tasks. They may retrieve necessary medication, use tactile intervention when their handler is experiencing sensory overload, ground their handler during a flashback, guide their handler safely home when they have a dissociative episode, search the home for dangers to alleviate feelings of fear, and waking up the handler or turning on the lights if their handler is having a night terror or nightmare.