FAQS
Our Answers
Below you’ll find a list of some of the common questions that we receive. Whether your question is about a specific training session, our experience, or the benefits of pet obedience, we’re sure we can help you get the answers you need.
WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO PET TRAINING?
At Laeknir K9, we primarily use Positive Reinforcement methods utilizing a reward system (treats, praise, toys, anything the dog finds rewarding) to achieve a desired behavior. Because the reward makes them more likely to repeat the behavior, positive reinforcement is one of your most powerful tools for shaping or changing your dog's habits and behavior. We also implement a healthy, fear-free balance of mixed conditioning techniques specific to the individual canine and its needs and personality.
WHICH OF YOUR TRAINING SERVICES IS RIGHT FOR ME?
We provide free consultations to discuss your dog’s current potential as well as your goals as a canine owner, enabling us to provide you with a customized training plan.
DO YOU TRAIN DOGS OF ANY BREED, AGE, AND SIZE?
Yes. We also train people of any breed, age, and size.
WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF TRAINING MY DOG IN MY OWN HOME?
Private training is customized to you and your home environment. It fits your schedule. We have better control of distractions so you and your dog can concentrate on the task at hand. We work at your family’s pace and provide more personalized instruction according to you and your dog’s typical environment.
IS THE TRAINING GUARANTEED TO STICK?
If you are consistent, follow your trainer’s instructions, and demonstrate patience in training your dog, we guarantee you will see a change in behavior.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN A PSYCHIATRIC SERVICE DOG AND AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL?
Emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals are regulated by different laws and have different privileges. A PSD has broad public access rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), while ESAs do not. A PSD, for the most part, can go anywhere members of the public can go. That means a PSD can accompany their handler at a store, library, arena, hotel, or beach that prohibits dogs, but an ESA owner doesn’t have that same right.
Both PSDs and ESA owners have rights under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), which allows them to live with their animals in most housing types, even in buildings that prohibit pets.
PSDs also have special rights when it comes to flying on planes. You may have heard that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently overhauled the policies regarding assistance animals on planes. As of January 11th, 2021, airlines are no longer required to accommodate emotional support animals, although they may continue to do so voluntarily. However, psychiatric service dogs will continue to be able to board flights free of charge, subject to new documentation requirements.
A PSD must be trained to perform tasks related to the owner’s disability. By contrast, ESAs do not require any specialized training. ESAs provide comfort for their owners just by being present during times of difficulty. ESAs can also be a wide range of animals.
Unlike ESAs, psychiatric service animals can only be trained dogs. A PSD must be fully trained to perform tasks specifically relating to the owner’s disability. PSDs are used for an incredible variety of work, including the following:
Reminding their handler to take medication
Interrupting episodes such as crying, dissociation, flashbacks, and nightmares
Interrupting harmful actions, such as scratching, picking, and self-harm
Providing pressure and tactile stimulation to calm
Grounding and orienting the handler during panic attacks
Lying on the handler during psychotic episodes
Applying gentle pressure with teeth or nuzzling to disrupt psychiatric episodes
Interrupting repetitive behaviors
Helping the handler maintain a stable routine
Preventing the handler from oversleeping
To further understand the difference between an ESA and a PSD, the ADA gives the following example: If a dog has been trained to sense an imminent anxiety attack and takes specific action to help avoid or mitigate the attack, then it would be a psychiatric service dog. However, if the dog is used to comfort a person’s anxiety just through its presence, it would not be considered an ADA service dog and is more likely an emotional support animal.
HOW DO I QUALIFY FOR A PSYCHIATRIC SERVICE DOG?
In essence, to qualify for a psychiatric service dog, the owner must have a diagnosis that limits their function in a major life activity such as working, sleeping, typical daily functions, or learning. The standard to qualify for an emotional support animal is similar. PSD and ESA owners use their assistance animals to help them deal with conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, autism, learning disabilities, and phobias.
CAN MY ESA BECOME A PSD?
If you have an ESA that is a dog, it is possible to train your ESA to become a psychiatric service dog if certain conditions are met:
If your psychiatric disability doesn’t require your dog to perform any tasks to provide the support you need, then it is an emotional support animal, and you do not need a PSD.
If you need your assistance dog to perform a task that helps with your disability, such as the ones we previously discussed, then your ESA may qualify as a PSD. Note that a PSD has to be fully trained to perform its task—a service dog in training is not yet considered an official service dog with all of the attendant legal rights.
Psychiatric service dogs must also be trained to behave in public. Unlike emotional support animals, PSDs can be taken wherever the public is allowed to go. A psychiatric service dog has to perform its tasks anywhere the handler goes, including crowded, busy environments with lots of distractions.
A PSD that is not behaving in public, for example by running around, barking or growling, acting aggressively, or jumping on others, can be asked to leave an establishment. Under the DOT’s air travel rules, a psychiatric service dog that demonstrates these traits has not been properly trained and can be asked to leave the airport or plane. If your assistance animal is not capable of being composed and focused on its tasks in spaces with other people and animals, it is not suited to be a psychiatric service dog.
HOW DOES SOMEONE VERIFY WHETHER YOU HAVE A PSD OR AN ESA?
How a third party is able to verify whether you have a PSD or ESA depends on the circumstances. If you own a PSD and enter a public space such as a store, the staff members are allowed to ask you two questions:
Is the psychiatric service dog required because of a disability?
What work or task has the PSD been trained to perform?
The staff members cannot demand any written documentation, insist on the PSD to demonstrate its task, or ask intrusive questions about the owner’s disability.
Psychiatric service dogs are not required to wear vests, ID tags, specific harnesses, and owners do not need to carry around ID cards or certifications. Many PSD owners use these items voluntarily to help them manage interactions in public. The DOT has also stated that airlines can weigh the presence of things like harnesses, vests, and tags to determine whether a dog is a PSD.
If you’re flying with a psychiatric service dog, starting on January 11th, 2021, airlines can require that you submit a form created by the DOT prior to your flight. The form requires PSD owners to certify various statements, including the following:
The PSD has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the owner.
The PSD has been trained to behave in public.
The PSD will be under the handler’s control at all times.
If the PSD misbehaves, the airlines can elect not to treat the PSD as a service animal.
The handler is liable for damages caused by their PSD.
The handler must also certify that the PSD is vaccinated. The form is self-certifying, meaning that the handler must sign the document and make all of the certifications themselves. Lying on the form can result in fines and other penalties under Federal law.
DO YOU FIX MAJOR BEHAVIORAL ISSUES LIKE AGGRESSION, FEAR BITING, ETC?
Although we have done rehabilitation in the past, we do not offer those services at this time. However, feel free to reach out for a consultation, and we can assess just how serious the behaviors are and if they can be easily redirected in a positive way.