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Support Animals

BraidedPony said:
What kind of support will you want your support animal to provide?
Click to expand...

Well I personally think about a support dog to alleviate my anxiety, help me out during the meltdowns and to hopefully reduce therapy sessions and med intake as a result. But I'm not familiar with how support animals differ from non-support animals (I know they are especially trained, but don't know how exactly), so I was wondering whether I would need a pet dog or consider a trained support dog. In short: for controlling anxiety and meltdowns mostly at home.
 
A larger dog can be trained to help a person that hits themselves during a meltdown. There is a Youtube video of a dog doing this!
My ESA is just a rescue dog that i chose because she is people oriented and a breed that bonds with one person. She has only basic obedience training...sit, up, off, quiet, come, etc. I take her everywhere with me, doctor and dentist appointments, my lawyer, Starbucks, bank, etc.
I have agoraphobia and a little social anxiety, GAD, and chronic depression. With my Samantha, I am able to leave the apartment and talk to strangers.
How does she help? Just by being herself. I can focus on her when I am stressed, I can give the command to get into my lap so i can pet her (i use non verbal commands so people dont know i need her at that moment) I can use her as an excuse to leave a room or conversation without a reason, I just say she has to pee.
BUT, there are also times when she makes things more difficult. People will make unkind comments, give us dirty looks, sometimes Samantha gets overwhelmed herself and disobeys and gets hyper and barks.
But I would not have been able to leave a bad relationship and live on my own without her. We rescued each other.
 
I don't know much about support animals, but a non support animals, there are things you need to consider. I love my dogs, but they can be a bit of a pain sometimes. :) Cubby (90 pound husky pit) has this game he likes to play - pretending to want in, but not coming in. He's picky with treats, also - I have to go through and find the one he wants at that time. He does jump up on me to hug me, which I love, but he has these bear claws. He's definitely a handful. The little one barks at anything. Small dogs are harder to house train completely. He's the boss over the big one. He did go through a period of time that he was a bit food aggressive, but I managed to stop that. Anyway, my point is that you never know what you're getting with a regular dog. Oh - the big one likes to wander, too - if he gets out without being tied he will take off and be gone for hours and we live on a main highway.
 
I don’t know if emotional support animals are trained not to bother you. My non-ESA cats are great for emotional support, but have a habit of pouncing on me or meowing in the middle of the night.
 
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