SOSDOG - Safe Oasis Service Dog Outreach Group

Service dogs are versatile, reliable assistants for people with disabilities. Service dogs help people overcome the limitations of their disabilities and the barriers in their environments.

They can be trained to reliably perform a wide variety of tasks, some of which are:

Hearing Alert Assistance to alert a person to the presence of specific sounds, such as: smoke/fire/clock alarms, crying baby, telephone, etc.
Help Alert Assistance to alert for help on cue.
Leading a person who has a visual impairment.

Miscellaneous Assistance ( open/close doors & drawers, help person undress/dress, carry items in backpack, etc.)
Mobility Assistance to help a person balance, pulling wheelchair, helping a person rise from sitting or fallen position.

Retrieval Assistance to help a person get items that are dropped or otherwise out of reach, carrying items by mouth.

Sense and alert owner to oncoming seizures enabling the owner to position themselves safely.

Walker/Buffer Assistance to help with walking by balancing or acting as a counter balance and acting as a physical buffer to jostling by others

Service animals are legally defined (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990) and are trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers who have disabilities. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places.

Linda & "Woof-Man", her Mobility Assistance service dog, at the mall.

The civil rights of people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service dogs in public places are provided for by the following legislation:

Federal law, the Air Carrier Access Act (1986) [final regulations issued 1990]
Federal law, the Fair Housing Amendments Act (1988)
Federal law, the Rehabilitation Act (1973)
Federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990)
Other local, state, and federal laws might also apply in specific situations
Note: When state and federal law conflict, the law which is less restrictive (i.e., gives greater protection) to the person with the disability prevails.

An important part of a service dog's training is socialization to all kinds of distracting environments, including training around unusual things like clowns and other animals.

Service Dog meeting a pig for the first time.

Service Dog meeting a Llama for the first time. Service Dog meeting a pony for the first time.

Holidays at the mall are an excellent opportunity for service dogs in training ... they might even get to meet "Santa Claus"!

December 2007