PSYCHIATRIC K9
There is a tremendous and growing need in our society today for a new type of Service Assistance K-9 that can provide mental/emotional balance, stability, and psychological enrichment in the life of the handler.
On a lower, basic level, this K-9 could be considered a therapy dog because of its' natural ability to sooth, calm, and show affection to the handler, and others. Therapy dogs, though not trained in a sophisticated manner, are in themselves a natural source of well being. They can be used for visitation and short temporary relief for those suffering stress and trauma.
Unfortunately, because of their specific disabilities, the specific group of disabled persons needing the K-9s has been intentionally ignored. A significant reason for this is because they demand a more professionally bred and trained dog and most trainers do not possess the education, intelligence, or ability to produce such a K-9.
However, this K-9 can be carefully trained to achieve phenomenal results with a variety of handlers affected with a number of debilitating disabilities and developmental disabilities such as seizures, a variety of nervous disorders, a variety of mental disabilities, and several varieties of Autistic type disabilities.
The most intriguing characteristic found in this K-9 is that they have been trained to become sensitive to the biological workings of their handler to the point where they can see, smell, feel, and sense the correct and incorrect mental/neural responsiveness in their handler, often to the point of recognizing and compensating for their handler's disabilities, and sometimes in doing so save their very lives. While this may seem revolting or misleading, we have witnessed this exchange over a period of 10 years with great success. While a natural dogs senses are much stronger and usable than ours, a dog that has been trained to use those same senses rationally and intelligently to understand and assist its handler can mean the difference between life and death for that handler.
These K-9s who do not pick up pencils or open doors are more focused on assisting their handlers in being able to live normal lives, and in saving their handlers from the affects of their disabilities. I can take a blind man away from his guide dog and guide him around myself, but I can't smell his blood, hear his body working, feel his body react to the metabolic rate his brain is feeding it, or be aware of how his nervous system is working. Our Psychiatric K-9s do. Their jobs and responsibilities are a far more serious and affect total mental health of their clients on a much more intense level than the normal K-9.
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