Psychiatric Service Dog Training
Training your dog to perform tasks that mitigate the symptoms of psychiatric disabilities.
What you'll learn
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What psychiatric services dogs are and how they can help.
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Commands and tasks that mitigate the symptoms of a psychiatric disability.
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Tips and techniques for training a PSD while experiencing psychiatric disability symptoms.
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Information about preparing for and taking a public access test.
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Course content
The course covers everything you need to know about what a psychiatric service dog is, what tasks they can perform, and who they can help. It also details how to train specific service tasks, as well as important information about psychiatric disabilities themselves.
Course includes
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8 lessons
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9 videos
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8 exams
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7hrs 26m time to complete
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Certificate upon completion
Requirements
- Access to a computer, phone or tablet
- Access to the internet
- Collar, harness, or head strap
- Leash
- Clicker (included)
- Treats or toys
- Treat bag
Syllabus
This course has several lessons, each with a progress exam and most with supplemental learning materials, such as videos and illustrations. Upon completion of the course, you will be asked to submit 5 videos of you and your dog performing tasks from the Public Access Test. These will need to be performed in a public setting and will be graded by our team of instructors to ensure you and your dog are in compliance with Service Dog standards.
We explain what a psychiatric disability is, what a psychiatric service dog is, and why PSDs are a good treatment option. We also cover PSDs’ access rights, common tasks they can perform, what breeds are good options, and a general overview of how PSDs are trained.
Here, we review basic training, including reviewing the clicker training technique. We also cover common foundational commands and explore how to pick up your dog regardless of their size.
In this lesson, we explore a few more advanced commands to help prepare your dog for service tasks, including helping your dog learn to avoid distractions, training them to nudge you when needed, and making sure your dog will come when called.
We explore tether training and how it can help a PSD learn to be calm and wait for commands. Also covered is how to train your dog to appropriately and safely ride in a vehicle, as well as find and retrieve important items.
In this lesson, we’ll go into more detail about what kind of service tasks a psychiatric service dog can perform. We also explore changes in mental health treatments, and why PSDs are such an important and effective treatment option. Common myths and misconceptions about PSDs are also cleared up.
In this lesson, we cover how to train your dog to perform PSD tasks, including educating them on how to recognize psychiatric disability symptoms and to know when they need to act. We also explain how to train your dog to perform “Deep Pressure Therapy, “orbiting,” engaging in face licking when required, and finding an exit.
We help prepare both you and your dog for taking a public access test, including covering the requirements for both the dog and handler, and how to cope with psychiatric disability symptoms during the test. We also explore what to do if you fail the test.
In this final lesson, we review the most important information covered so far in the course to be certain both you and your dog are as prepared and confident as possible.
Who this course is for
This course is for those with a psychiatric disability who feel that a psychiatric service dog would be a good treatment option for them. Whether you’re an experienced dog handler with previous training experience, or you’re new to having a canine companion, this course will help you train your dog to perform tasks that minimize your symptoms and help you live a more independent life.
Course reviewed and certified
This course has been reviewed and certified by Dr. Meyer, Psy.D. He certifies that the PSD tasks taught in this class can help effectively mitigate the symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks, schizophrenia, OCD, social phobias and more.
Visit Dr Meyers’ LinkedIn