#cardiac alert service dog

[tuptastic]

STOP RISKING SERVICE DOGS AND THEIR HANDLERS.

Yesteday, while trying to access a non-pet friendly location with my seizure and cardiac alert SDiT, we were charged by a pet dog. The owners had no control over their dog, allowed it the full six feet of the leash it was on, allowed it to rush up towards my service dog, and when I was shouting "back up, back up" and moving away they laughed at the situation and at us. They gave no apologies - only a "oh guess we have to go this way" as they dragged their dog away from my service animal.

I got inside and collapsed against the check in kiosk. I avoided a medical episode by actual slivers. My service dog behaved phenomenally for this being the SECOND TIME she has been charged and or lunged at by a dog on duty this year, but i could hardly talk or think for the entire time I was at the location, trying to get something important fixed.

It might not seem like a big deal to you to bring your dog out with you. But untrained, uncontrolled pets can cause serious harm and damage not only to service dogs but to their HANDLERS. My closest medical alert contact is an hour away. If I had had a seizure that required an ambulance (anything over a minute unresponsive as per my seizure plan), it would have taken an hour until one of my people could have gotten to the hospital to collect my dog and to help me, someone with severe and extreme medical trauma. MY HEALTH AND MY DOGS SAFETY MATTERS MORE THAN YOUR WANT TO HAVE YOUR PET.

Please. PLEASE. Stop bringing your pets places they don't need to be. It is stressful for them, stressful for us, and not fun for anyone except for you. It is selfish and cruel and terrifying for the service dog handlers who leave every day wondering if today their dog is going to be hurt. ours dogs are our best friends.

Do not take her from me.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

To the guy who spent 15 minutes criticizing my rate of reinforcement while Mandana & I waited in line at the post office…

I barely slept at all last night and have had a piercing earache for two days. My service dog was a bit more distracted than usual on our short trip to the post office. Instead of taking my frustration out on her and demanding her attention, I spent a few minutes outside connecting with her and increased my rate of reinforcement when we went inside.

All you saw was a girl giving her dog treats. You couldn’t see how flawless she was performing. You couldn’t see how she stayed close and engaged with me. How she held the positions I asked without a second thought. How she offered good public access behaviors like tucking out of the way and ignoring the jack ass staring at her. How she performed her medical alerts consistently despite having a stranger hovering around and interjecting himself into a situation he had no business being a part of.

You ended your one-sided conversation by saying you wish you could get BonBons for doing nothing. Sir. That is entirely the point. While you’re grumbling about a service dog getting too many treats, she is by my side making sure I catch her medical alerts. If that doesn’t deserve a treat I don’t know what does.

[poodle-gutz]

It finally happened! Today I got a diagnosis for my pots!! I went to see a new cardiologist almost 2 hours away and he diagnosed me with pots! I'm so happy someone finally heard me and sees my struggles. 🥹 Attached are some photos from my day at the appointment and in the town!

[cripplecharacters]

I feel super embarrassed to admit I need advice on how to write a character for a discord rp for rain world where everyone role plays as iterators. I was thinking of having a character who was blind and has a Slugcat (which are basically the characters in the game you play as and have the intelligence of a non human primate) who serves as kind of like a seeing eye dog, but I worry that since Slugcats are so intelligent they might end up taking on so many tasks that the character I rp as would become overly reliant on the slugcat. any advice to prevent this?

Hello!

The biggest and most obvious solution here is to simply... not let that happen? As the writer, you're the one who chooses what tasks your character's Slugcat does.

There's also the fact that a lot of people with service animals won't have the animal do a task that they themselves can do without issue. If somebody only needs a service dog to detect allergens in food, the dog wouldn't also be going around and opening doors for the person or guiding them.

Service animals aren't "one size fits all", they're trained in a very specific way to assist their handler with very specific tasks. Even if a service animal is able to open doors or guide somebody, they won't be trained for that if it's not what's needed from them.

In short: Just because the animal is capable of performing the task, it doesn't mean it has to.

If this is something you want to involve with your character, however, I'd suggest looking into intelligent disobedience in service animals, which is when a service animal goes against the handler's instructions to make a better decision. The obvious example here would be something like a guide dog refusing to cross the street if there's oncoming traffic but it can also occur in cardiac alert dogs, allergen detection dogs, and really any other type of service animal.

Something else that may be interesting to explore because of Slugcats' high intelligence is just simple disobedience or behaving in a way that doesn't directly benefit their handler. For example, a guide dog knows that she gets treats whenever she successfully leads her handler across a street so, when guiding her handler to the bank, she takes the longer way that crosses more streets to get more treats.

It isn't necessarily harmful to the handler but it does show how smart service animals are and it could be something to explore with your character and their Slugcat.

In general, the main thing to keep in mind is that you are the writer. The Slugcat taking over too many tasks is only an issue if you decide to make it one.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[felixsxfreckles]

Do you guys like… wanna meet my dogs?? I feel like I could definitely introduce them now because whenever I post about them I get a lot of notes sooo I guess you guys want to meet them!

Rocky is older than time, a true angry-about-everything relic. He’s a 15-year-old Shiba Inu mix who bites everyone but me, including my husband.

Cleopatra is a staffordshire bull terrier. She’s nearly 8, and she was a fully trained cardiac alert service dog in her youth. She knows everything and will absolutely use it against you.

Remington is still under two and acts like it. He’s my first Doberman Pinscher and literally could not be any sweeter or gentle. He is good with animals, children, men, and especially women.

That’s the gang!

[bitchfitch]

does anyone have tips/advice for someone who's like. Neutral on dogs but needs a service dog? I don't dislike them, I'm definitely more of a cat or fish person, but I've never had a dog that weighed more than 15lbs and he was more my parents dog than anything else and so I'm. A bit out of my depth when it comes to evaluating breeders and puppies and trainers and what to get and what to not get etc etc etc

(I'm specifically looking for a mobility and cardiac alert dog, so a Bernese Mountain Dog, Newfoundland (the ideal tbh), saint bernard etc)

[briarpatch-kids]

There's this weird thing I've seen about service dogs where people with like... minor conditions will be like "ohhhhh I wonder if that person's cardiac alert dog will alert to my slightly too fast heart beat!"

And it just kinda rubs me the wrong way. That's someone else's medical equipment. This isn't like trying on your buddy's glasses in 3rd grade and going "woah you're blind hahaha!" Get your own service dog if you want one to alert to you.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

How many service dogs does Honey have and what are each of their dogs?

He has three service dogs!

A black female labrador named Mary Puppins, trained to recognize panic attacks and acts as an emotional support for his anxiety.

A male golden retriever mix named Sherlock Bones, trained as a cardiac alert dog to prevent fainting.

And Chewbarka, a female American staff, retired due to old age but used to be trained for both anxiety and as a cardiac alert dog.

[purplesaline]

Morning cuddles with the boys.

Also just a reminder that Parker is an exceptional service dog candidate who doesn't have his forever home yet. Since we hadn't found him a placement at 8 weeks my plan was to raise him until he was one year and do some foundation training on him. For the right person he can go home any time between 6 months and a year.

We also ship anywhere in the world.

His cost will be

the initial purchase price ($1900 CAD) which was cost recovery only and includes his first set of shots.

Vet fees for his second and third round of shots ($365 CAD)

Food ($50-$100/mth. He gets the good stuff and he deserves it, so between $500-$1000 CAD by April)

Training: I'm not charging anything at all for my time but we do have a trainer helping us out because of my physical limitations. She charges $80/hr for 1-2 hours a week. By April we'd likely be looking at $2000 CAD

Any incidental costs that pop up between now and then, fingers crossed we won't see any

This would put the total for a 1 year old service dog candidate, specifically bred for service work (5th generation), with foundation training at approximately $5000 CAD, not including shipping. Which is so ridiculously cheap it should raise red flags as to whether you would actually be getting what you're being promised. You would be and I can prove it. The price is that low because everyone involved is more concerned with helping disabled folks get access to service dog candidates that are set up for success than we are with making money.

In fact we're so concerned that the right person gets Parker and Parker gets the right person that cost doesn't even need to be paid all at once! We know that it can be harder for disabled folks to save but it can be a lot easier to manage a monthly payment, so payment plans are an option we can talk about. And if that's still out of the budget the trainer is willing to negotiate on her pricing as well, despite also being disabled and on a limited budget.

Basically we'd be giving this pups away if we could afford to.

Parker's brother, Bentley, was also a service dog candidate from this litter and is living in North Carolina with his handler learning to be a cardiac alert and mobility dog. He's doing SUCH a good job and is already consistently alerting to two different types of scent during training sessions.

Parker has the potential to be an amazing servuce dog doing mobility, psych/PTSD, diabetes alert, allergy alert, or cardiac/POTS alert. If it's not on the list here he'd probably still be good at it, I'm just less familiar with the training that goes into the other types.

He is a soft, sensitive little lad who likes to test boundaries to see just how much he's allowed to get away with so he'll need someone who is a soft handler but consistent with enforcing the rules because this boy will find every single loophole that exists and exploit it fully otherwise.

He's gonna be a BIG boy. 65-75lbs at least. Genetically one of the healthiest dogs you'll ever see, his mom is completely clear for all genetic issues common to collies and his dad has also been DNA tested for health. Parker was DNA tested as well, though not as completely as his mom or dad as he won't be breeding. You can see Merry's (mom) test at LestWeForget Collies and Levi's (dad) test at High Country Collies

And if Parker isn't right for you but you're still interested in a service dog candidate puppy from us don't worry! We'll be having more litters and even plan to do a repeat of this last litter with Merry and Levi. I can't guarantee we'll have any older pups available but if you can't start with a puppy but are able to cover the costs of raising we can definitely work something out.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns!

[horsefreek151]

ESA VS PSD/SD

So just gotta vent here.... My own doc has messed up. I have a Service Dog (SD), She alerts to both cardiac (POTS) and psychiatric issues (AuADHD, CPTD). I'm getting all the documents together so that I can apply for disability so I asked my PCP who should write the letter confirming that I need a SD for my updated records (my doc and psych supported me but we never got the letter ironed out.). Hes like "Dont worry Ive got it" and normally this guy is right. He is awesome 99% of the time. I got the letter today saying I need an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) who stays with me at all times. ESA do not get public access, no training is required and they are not required to do any task to mitigate disabilities. SD (or Psychiatric SD) must be able to behave in public, and have a specific task meant to mitigate a disability. My dog was originally trained as a PSD, She wakes me. Grounds me in a flashback. Tells me Im starting to get anxious and gets me to pet her to re-regulate. Presses herself into my neck to help try to lower panic/flashback episode lengths. She also comes and sits on my chest when I am trying to deal with my anxiety. She then discovered that I had POTS. She would pull me aside before my vision went and get me to sit down. We shaped this into a legit alert (she nudges and can jump up on me and we do "check in" to tell me how bad a heart-rate spike or panic is). She then will press to my neck/lay on my chest till the dizzy spell passes. Shes a full fledged service dog at 3 years old. Shes saved my life. We spent years training her. ESA being confused for SD is a big issue and has lead to way more untrained dogs in public putting my trained SD in danger. Weve been lunged at and chased down by big dogs Ive had to knee out of the way to keep her safe. People think that ESA have public accsess but they dont, they only are at home and dont need any training. SD require legally to have some training and tasks to help mitigate disability. In Most service dogs have liberal training in a variety of situations. My girls on her way to getting the AKC CGC and UCGC titles when we can afford it and has passed Advanced Obedience with flying colors. She has a whole suit of tasks that she dose. She is under the legal definition a SD. As a result for all of that training, all of the hours and hours of work, is public access. She behaves unobtrusive and safe in public. She is able to task in public and Is the only reason I am at all able to leave the house safely. We worked really hard to get her to this point (she worked really hard to do it as well!). Its really important to be labeled properly.

[fruitless-vain]

When you’re a cardiac alert dog who just finished a very hard outing so your human becomes a service human for the evening

Fair is fair 🤷‍♀️

[camping-with-monsters]

God I absolutely love the idea of service/emotional support Pokémon but you wanna know what I really wanna see? Service Pokemon that are also not just quadruped mammal Pokemon. I wanna see some “unconventional” service pokemon that can still work. I mean think about it. Every single pokemon has its own quirks and almost all can be easily befriended. The reason service animals in the real world are usually (but not limited to) dogs is probably because they’re the most compatible animal to do so with. With Pokemon, you have a lot more options in terms of compatibility. Obviously the quadrupeds are the most logical decisions but I think with Pokemon it could logically stretch further than that.

Service animals work different jobs and like. Did you ever see that one Elgyem that just casually predicted a future disaster THAT COULD BE STOPPED in the anime? That’s like… an immediate qualification to help with people who have episodes of any kind like cardiac alert or panic attacks or seizures. Togetic is like the perfect huggable shape and can probably help ease restless minds for those who have PTSD. Idk what Tangrowth’s got going on but I think you could train a Tangrowth to help you with something, it just looks obedient and willing to listen to you. Don’t mind me, this is my seeing eye Ambipom. I hold his tail hand as he guides me through busy traffic and he can use the other to make sure there’s a path for me. My Mime Jr is in training because when she evolves into a Mr Mime she’s going to help me with basic tasks my body can’t handle. My Alolan Ratticate is large and scary looking but he can snuff out gluten in my food. My emotional support Tarountula is very soft and lets me hug her yarn when I’m having a PTSD episode and she even rubs my tears away with her tiny little hands. My Delibird keeps all of my medications in his tail when I have a flare up. My Serperior lightly coils around me and protects me when I have a seizure in public.

Y’ALL SEE THE VISION RIGHT.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Cardiology appointment was a success!

Big thanks to @doomspaniels for sharing their experience & knowledge with me. It really helped me put together a convincing presentation. My Cardiologist was happy to order an Echocardiogram + Bubble Study. Hopefully it will shed some light on why my blood oxygen has been dropping so much. He said if they don’t find a big enough hole to “justify” the low blood oxygen then he’ll send me to a lung specialist to see if it’s something else but fingers crossed we get some answers soon 🤞

Mandana was awesome and she had a blast. She has really been enjoying these appointments. My only complaint was that she was whining a little during my apt when I was talking to the doctor. I can’t really blame her for that because I was ignoring her alerts and when my Cardiologist stopped to check my heart rate sure enough she was spot on!

[poodle-gutz]

Today I got an echo cardiogram and a heart monitor placed. If my horrible cardiologist did anything she at least did this for me. Molly was such a good girl for the whole procedure! She laid quietly the whole time, only moving to alert or when instructed to help me sit up from the bed.

I did get approval for her to be on the bed with me during the test, as I have a hard time sitting up and need assistance with almost any position changes. The tech said as long as she didn't get in the way, it would be fine, and Molly's a great dog and stayed completely out of the way.

I also brought 2 of my stuffed dogs with me, the golden retriever was a gift from my Pgf, kiki, and comforted me so much, especially when they put my IV in.

Overall the appointment went great an I was so impressed with Molly!

[dantesthighs]

Hey, I don't usually make posts like this because I don't like begging for money from people, but a friend of mine really needs help right now.

Her cardiac alert service dog ate something it shouldn't have, and needs emergency surgery that she cannot afford.

Anything you can give would be lovely, but if you can't donate then a reblog would be appreciated!

[specialagentlokitty]

Mr Evershed x Student!reader - step by step

Hello, what if a student visits the school with an assistance dog. An assistance dog, because it has an illness, for example. EvershedxStudent!Reader would be great if you can please write about a dog who is allowed to follow into the school. - Anon 💜

Standing in the headteachers office, you had one hand on your dogs harness as he sat there patiently waiting.

“I’m sorry (Y/N), but this school has a strict no animals rule.”

“Did they not tell you when you got this job sir?” You asked confused.

“Excuse me?”

Laughing a little, you walked over and sat down in a chair, letting go of the harness you turned to the dog.

“Loki lay down.”

The dog did as you sat and looked up at you before resting his head on your foot at you turned back to your head teacher.

“He’s a medical alert dog sir, or a service dog either one works he’s classified as both. I have a cardiac problem, Loki alerts to this as it caused a lot of issues.”

“Cardiac problem?”

You sighed a little and slumped down in your chair, grabbing you bag you pulled out your timetable and handed it over to him.

“cardiomyopathy.”

“There’s nothing in your notes about this (Y/N).”

“Well my mum told the trust, so that’s not my issue.”

He looked at you then looked at your timetable and he held up his hand, picking up his phone.

You had to sit there and listen to him talk to your mum in the phone, explaining how he’d recently become the headteacher and he just wanted confirmation.

They spoke for a few moments before he ended the call and turned his attention back to you.

“Is there anything you could tell me? I just want to know as much as possible so I know how to help if needed.”

“Gladly, I’ll explain whatever you need me to.”

This started a long conversation between the pair of you, Mr Evershed asking you questions relating to your condition.

You sneered everything, giving him all the information he asked for.

It was a long conversation and you noticed Loki tapping your leg repeatedly with his nose and you looked down.

“Uhm… yeah can we put pause on this?”

You got up and laid carefully on the floor while Loki put himself on your chest and you placed your hand on his back, running your fingers through his fur as you waited for what was coming.

“(Y/N) are you okay?” Mr Evershed asked worried.

He walked over and crouched next to you and you turned to him.

“Usually I wake up after a few minutes, if I don’t wake up after five you need to call an ambulance and my mum. Everything you need is in my bag, and some papers in Loki’s vest.”

“You’re going to faint?”

You nodded and he took his blazer off, folding it he placed it under your head and sat down, his phone on the floor next to him waiting to start the timer.

He watched you try to fight passing out, and eventually you did, and he quickly started the timer.

He didn’t feel right just watching, so he gently took your hand and pressed his fingers to your wrist, feeling for your heartbeat just to put his mind at ease.

He flicked his eyes to see a few minutes had past and before he got ready to call an ambulance you started to stir.

“Hey, are you alright? Do you need anything?”

You shook your head weakly, running your hand over Loki’s fur as he wagged his tail happily.

You stared up at the ceiling, and you slowly sat up with the help of Mr Evershed.

He kept his hand on your back and looked at you.

“Can you stand?”

“I.. I Uhm think so.”

You carefully stood up, and he stayed close by to make sure you were okay and walked you over to the chair so you could sit down.

He put his blazer back in and sat down.

“We’ll have to fill in some papers to put this in your file to make it official, is that okay?”

“Yeah, yeah sure.”

He smiled and you guys got to work.

The trust loved throwing obstacles at not just the school and it’s teachers, but it’s students as well.

After seeing first hand what happens on account for your condition he knew you needed to keep your dog loki by your side.

So he was going to make sure there was absolutely no way for them to stop this, and he was going to put all the information, links and contacts you could give him so if they did try anything, he could take it a step further.

You weren’t going to be failed by a corrupt system who only cared about getting money he was going to make sure of it