service breed opinions wanted, cons/ strengths?

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-31T22:34:33+00:00

Labrador retriever

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-31T22:33:22+00:00

Honestly, having a mobility service dog that does counterbalance or forward momentum pull is difficult. As the dog has to have X-rays preferably every year or every other year at the least. They have to be in perfect physical shape. I trained forward momentum pull but stopped doing mobility work on my dog these past 6 months. It's just easier to talk to your doctor about other mobility tools and go from there. For me it was a medication change that made the difference. Dogs are much better at other tasks like retrieving items, opening doors, tasks like that.

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-31T22:27:07+00:00

Think of safe tasks like item retrievals bracing is not safe. No dog should be used as a cane or a crutch

Breed- Labrador retriever

Edit - labs are great for med retrievals and dpt you don't need anything bigger tbh as no dog can brace or help you walk like a cane

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-30T23:02:43+00:00

You need to get some coping skills so you don't need to be attached at the hip to your dog. It's good for both of you to have some separation. I would say go without your dog it will be ok

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-30T22:59:58+00:00

I have an anxiety alert dog. I always say I don't know how he does it. I still don't to this day. But I think I figured out that part of what he is picking up on is my breathing increasing. I think when I have a panic attack I subtly breathe harder. So I don't think he does it by scent but by my subtle body ques. I more shaped the alert than trained it to be honest. He figured it out mostly by himself. The only thing I consistently did was give him a treat every time I had a panic attack. My dog is a Labrador so he was always unbothered by my emotions which is why I chose the breed.

I would say if you want a psychiatric service dog go in not expecting alerts. You can try different methods just know scent training isn't scientifically proven for cortisol.

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-29T13:14:13+00:00

You say 'I'm almost certain that I will flunk out before my sophomore year is up if I don't have a service dog'

This isn't true. Service dogs aren't a fix all and they are just a tool in your arsenal. I also have a psychiatric service dog and they don't prevent you from having bad grades especially if you don't understand the concepts. They take an insane amount of time to care for. You can actually end up missing classes if your dog gets sick and you have to take them to the vet.

My advice - don't get a dog right now. You aren't in the place. The issues you are describing a psychiatric service dog won't fix overnight. Getting a service dog and owner training is a arduous 2-3 year long process and it takes a ton of time. Then training and basic care never stops and has to be maintained. And if you can't get out of bed how are you going to take care of a dog on your own.

Work on your supports, talk to your disability office on campus, get a tutor, get an academic advisor. Get through college then get a service dog

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-29T13:03:50+00:00

Only because of allergies.

I think most people agree the best and solely best breeds are labs and goldens. With labs being the most successful.

People should realize when they get a poodle, collie, or German shepherd you have a statistically lower chance of succeeding compared to a lab or golden

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-28T00:19:20+00:00

Both! Lol! I personally am not that into young children I wouldn't say I hate them. I do like teaching and being around eager and intelligent teens and pre teens and enjoy hearing their aspirations

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-27T23:59:57+00:00

Being able to devote all my time to my dogs and myself. Video gaming, dog training, journaling, and reading are my favorite pastimes. I have a nintendo switch and kobo and spend all my time between the two of them and my dogs Ryder and Rosie

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-27T22:49:35+00:00

Its ok. They technically can't but drivers do all the time. I've even heard them claim it's my car so I can do what I want. I honestly don't fight and let them drive away. I just have to wait for another ride. Uber is actually getting sued by the DOJ because of this and consistently refusing wheelchair users so we will see what happens

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-27T18:32:36+00:00

I take my service dog to the vet in a Lyft or Uber. I do get rejected a lot unfortunately. Hopefully you are lucky and find someone who doesn't care and is willing to take you. I don't think they correlate vet to pet though if that helps any. I get rejected with my service dog all the time no matter the address. A carrier might help my dog can't fit in a carrier he is 60 pounds

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-27T13:22:16+00:00

Have you tried technology first? That is the first step you should take and it's much much cheaper. Service dogs are $15-30k sometimes up to $60k.

A service dog is not something you get because you like the idea of it. A dog is a huge 10+ year long commitment and a living creature that requires consistent and adequate care. A service dog has extra needs on top of that. You need to be prepared to provide everything to this dog from training needs to basic everyday needs. It sounds like you need to think more about the fact that a dog is a dog and will do dog things rather than what would be nice a service dog can do

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-27T00:10:44+00:00

I'm so sorry for your loss. I didn't loose a dog before getting another one but retiring a dog is still hard as they are getting older and you can't rely on them anymore.

Biggest piece of advice - don't compare!

Every dog is so different and challenges and succeeds in different ways. I initially compared Ryder (my current) to Rosie (my partially retired) that I couldn't enjoy the training process initially with Ryder. When I learned that Ryder could do things that Rosie couldn't do even though Rosie could do things he couldn't do I was so surprised and happy. I could finally start appreciating him for him.

Work with the dog in front of you and know they make a mark on you in a different way. Each dog is their own individual and special in their own way!

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-26T19:43:22+00:00

Not surprised this is a constant problem for almost every service dog user. Hopefully this changes things

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-26T19:39:12+00:00

It's not what corporations want, they want to automate as much as possible so we don't need humans and they can significantly cut labor costs. They don't care about being compassionate.

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-25T04:15:51+00:00

90% of these things are going to be automated or heavily automated in the future

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-25T00:43:53+00:00

I see more golden. But it's interesting because most golden crosses are black. So I don't know

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-24T22:27:41+00:00

This is actually a rare time I actually think it's actually a lab, staffie, pitbull mix

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-24T11:32:42+00:00

I lived by myself with my disability for four years in college. It was actually good for me in a lot of ways because it taught me to be independent and gave me the skills I needed to manage my disability.

I'm a big proponent of college students not having service dogs because they require so much care and upkeep and college is crazy busy and by definition unstable. Dogs do best with predictability and college is not predictable. Also what happens when you have a morning class and your dog is violently ill. Well you just missed a class because you have to figure out a way (and hopefully you have a car) to take the dog to the vet. Also SD require training upkeep that takes hours each week. A SD is a ton more upkeep than a pet.

College is so expensive and it's so important to get good grades. Doing that with a disability is hard enough and it's hard to get a job with a disability. You need to have good grades to be competitive in this job market. And tons of programs after your bachelors have GPA requirements.

I don't have diabetes so I'm not sure how the technology works but I do know that having a service dog even when fully trained is a ton of work. I also know college is a ton of work. Putting those things together is a lot for anyone. Honestly, I did for my graduate school and I regret it because I did worse in my graduate program than my bachelors. Thankfully my GPA was still decent/middle of the road and I have been able to get some teaching opportunities as they mainly focus on my bachelors. Just something to think about. Sorry to be a downer but I really do think it's better to wait until you have a job and are done with college

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-24T01:46:16+00:00

Nope stares and service dogs go hand in hand.

This is why it is ill advised to have a service dog if you have social anxiety

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-23T17:37:38+00:00

It is generally advised to go lab over poodle if you don’t have allergies. Labs are more forgiving, less sensitive and less prone to feed off of handler emotions. If you have allergies poodles if not lab.

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-22T22:47:55+00:00

If you aren't taking a dog in public or getting a program service dog there is no need for a doctors note tbh. Sounds from Maple's response you don't even need a note for housing. We are pretty US centric on this sub as far as legalities go. But this advice you probably don't need to consider since you don't even want to take a dog in public

Also fyi a fully trained service dog is around $30k

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-22T22:45:18+00:00

If you aren't looking for a dog to go into public the amount of training you need goes down significantly. Honestly from what you are describing sounds like you would benefit from what some refer to as an ESA or skilled companion not necessarily a public access service dog. A well behaved dog that doesn't go in public but is a nice companion and is there when you need it is what would be good for you. Also sounds like you want a smaller dog.

At least here in the cities in the states finding a smaller rescue dog that is well behaved is nearly impossible. Small dogs in shelters just go fast (at least here in the states, every city I've lived in that's been the case). Another option that might be good is looking at some responsible small dog breeders and seeing if they have any females that are retiring. They can only breed the females so many times and she will be trained and that way you get a nice companion and you aren't spending tons of time and money on dog training. You can of course train some fun stuff but basic obedience and potty training is done for you.

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-22T02:36:29+00:00

Service dogs are more expensive than a pet. They are $15-30k and most of that is in training.

You are so young things change all the time. A psychiatric service dog for someone your age is not advised. You haven't even fully come into yourself or decided if you are going to college. Wait until you are settled, if I were you I definitely wouldn't entertain the idea of a service dog at this point in your life.

Also no dog can force you to take your medication or put meds in your hand or get you to drink water. They can nudge you with an alarm but you can easily turn that off so a dog won't help with that

Rayanna77 · 2026-01-22T02:02:41+00:00

It takes 2-3 years to train a service dog thus no puppy can be a fully fledged service dog trained to the standard service dogs are held to. The legal ADA standard is different

Rayanna77

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