r/service_dogs

33K archived posts · Sep 2012 – Sep 2026

Service Dogs, Miniature Horses, and Emotional Support Animals

r/service_dogs

This is a community for real working dogs. These are jobs or tasks a dog is specifically trained to perform such as Guide Dog, Service Dog, Herding Dog, Police Dog, Sled Dog, etc. Silly/Fake jobs are NOT allowed in our sub. Read the full rules in the sidebar before posting.

Created Sep 11, 2012

52KMembers (last snapshot)

33KArchived posts

Thanks for joining us at r/service_dogs. We are here to answer your questions about service dogs and emotional support animals, whether you're a curious onlooker, looking to get one for yourself, in the process of training, or an established team. We are not lawyers or professional trainers but we will do our best to try to help you with questions about access or training. If you are new to service dogs, please start with the FAQ in r/dogs linked in the pinned post.

Rules

Please be civil; no personal attacks.
We advocate compliance with all relevant laws, including the ADA/ADAA, FHA/FHAA, and ACAA for U.S. posters. Posts encouraging illegal behavior or "stretching" the rules will be removed.
The moderators will do our best to help you understand the relevant laws in your area but we are not lawyers.
Posts with bad advice or misinformation will be removed with a comment as to the issue. This is to prevent bad information from continuing to spread. If the post is corrected, it will be approved/undeleted. This includes all links to "certification" sites or sites affiliated with such organizations.
The moderators may, at their discretion, remove comments that promote unethical but technically legal handling practices.
We do not allow fundraisers for any purpose. Discussions/sharing of ideas for fundraising efforts is permitted, links or requests for funds are not.

Certification?

In the US, there is no certification for service dogs. All sites promoting IDs and vests that immediately make your dog a service dog (or ESA) are scams. What makes a service dog a service dog are the tasks that it is trained to do to mitigate your disability.

US Dept of Justice Publications:

Training Resources

Foundations: Sue Ailsby's Training Levels
Selection, Task Training, and More: Donna Hill's Service Dog Training Institute has a blog, extensive Youtube videos, and affordable online classes or individual instruction via Skype.
Denise Fenzi's blog - not SD specific but lots of wisdom to be found on positive dog training and building a working relationship
kikopup's Youtube channel: in case you need more help with basic obedience and tricks

Other Resources:

Questions to ask when considering a program
Is a service dog the right tool for you?
Various FB groups - OTSD - Owner Trained Service Dogs, Force Free Service Dogs, etc.
International Assoc. of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP) - organization with sponsors who provide some free stuff
FAQs and Forum - www.servicedogcentral.org
For pics and gifs of service dogs and other working dogs check out r/DogsWithJobs!
If you're thinking about therapy dogs (dogs that visit schools, nursing homes, hospitals, libraries, etc. with their handlers), please visit r/therapydogs!

Other communities

Reddit Rebuilt is an independent, non-commercial archive and is not affiliated with Reddit, Inc. Content belongs to its original authors.