Service dog upgrades add additional service tasks to your program service dog, or self-trained service dog to make your dog even more useful.
Many people have program service dogs because they are cheaper than professionally trained service dogs, customized to your specific needs. Program service dogs are a starter alternative but have many limitations. By definition, the taskings with program service dogs are generic. Program service dogs were not trained specifically for you but with a smaller, general task set. Hopefully, that will be good enough. But what if it isn’t?
Why Consider Upgrading?
You can compare the difference between a custom, task-trained service dog and a generically, task-trained service dog to the difference between a group workout at your fitness studio and a personal trainer. Who will have better results? Naturally, custom task training is always going to be better. We offer service dog upgrades to improve your service dog further.
In addition, once you have a program service dog and begin to enjoy the benefits it provides, you will also quickly realize what additional tasks would be beneficial for you. We can help you by upgrading your service dog. Take a look at The Giant List of Service Dog Tasks we train. Check what other services you may benefit from. We can test your current program service dog for any service dog upgrades you are interested in. If your dog has the potential for your desired task upgrades, we can get to work.
Service Dog Upgrade Examples
For example, you have a seizure alert service dog who gives you a heads-up to take medication. Hopefully, that prevents an onsetting seizure; a life-altering service. But some seizures may be inescapable. We can upgrade your seizure alert dog with additional tasks on how to respond should you have a seizure after all. The response can even be custom, based on where you are when your seizure happens. Maybe at home, you install a dog-friendly phone and your service dog calls 911. Maybe in public, your service dog goes to get help. Your service dog could even learn to clean out your mouth, so you don’t suffocate from vomit if that is common with your type of seizure. These are just a few small possible service dog upgrade examples.
Or, you may have a dog tasked with picking things up for you because of mobility issues. In addition, your service dog could learn to help with related home chores. It could be getting laundry in and out of washers and dryers. It could be retrieving things from drawers or the refrigerator, and so on.
The possibilities to improve the value of your program dog through service dog upgrades are limitless. If your dog is capable of learning it, we can teach it.