Dogs for the Physically Disabled

Dogs for the physically disabled are trained to perform tasks that their user physically can’t do. These dogs are trained to do a large number of tasks which take six months to a year to learn. The training of a dog for the deaf or blind can take half as long. The categories of tasks for the dogs working with physically disabled people are: retrieving, carrying, depositing, tugging, nose nudging, pawing, bracing, harnessing, and other tasks. Each category has a collection of tasks within it, ranging from passing money to a clerk at a high counter, to removing socks without biting foot, to using the K-9 rescue phone to call 9-11 (Froling 2001).