Quote:
Originally Posted by PurpleFlyingMonkeys
Thanks for the info, it was very informative. How would you go about training your own dog? I have a lhasa Apso poodle mix right now. He seems as if he would be easy to train but I may want a larger dog for support when I'm dizzy and faint. But my dog now, I noticed a couple weeks ago, I started spacing big time. I was sitting in bed doing paperwork and somehow came back to the world with him barking staring at me and I was somehow laying down. Everything was foggy and I couldn't move at first, it took a minute for me to feel connected enough to do anything at all. But at that time my dog was at the foot of the bed staring at me and barking at me, that's what I believe caused me to snap out of the dissociation. I didn't even know last week that dogs could pick up on it until mine did. He seems to want to do tricks though, he's really fast at learning them and enjoys it so maybe I should work with a trainer for him or would a large dog be beneficial for someone who gets very dizzy? I don't have a t as of yet. I am at a low paying job that is still refusing me medical insurance even though I have been here 1 year 6 months. I have a free primary care doc but I can only see him once every three months and my next appointment isn't until January 25th and I was hoping to get info from him at the appointment for t's in the area that I may be able to afford but I've got a while to go just before I can see him. I will bring this all up with him, I just want to make sure I'm well educated on the matter...
Sorry, not trying to take over the thread but you asked good questions and it just made more questions arise from me 
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It largely depends on where you live. BUT the ADA allows owners to train there own service dogs but they have to be trained to tasks that THEY list here:
http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html
My city accepted my training because I have a background in training working dogs, combined with the fact my doctor signed off that he was trained to the tasks.
It is more common to have them professionally trained. You could potentially train your dog but MY biggest concern is the age. They may be trainable to the task, but it is almost impossible to get dogs accustomed to the life of being a SD at a later age. They have to be able to avoid everything around them, and be perfectly sociable and non aggressive/territorial toward anyone or anything. These dogs are generally starting this training at 12 weeks.