# How are poodles as service dogs?



## Passingthrough (Sep 28, 2012)

Hello!

I am researching dogs for my brother who has MS. He is very private so I'm going to call him Mark. Mark is an older gentleman who is looking for a possible service animal to assist him with retrieving items that may be dropped from a wheelchair, fetch someone if he falls, hear the doorbell, and provide companionship and a feeling of safety when he is alone.

He is partially wheelchair bound and mostly blind due to his illness. He was at a support forum and met someone else who had an Australian Shepherd as a service animal. That dog was amazing! This person, though, had a larger yard and was more mobile than Mark. I have learned those dogs need a lot of exercise to keep them happy.

Mark has always had a soft spot for dogs but because he has been learning to just care for himself he hasn't felt confident in his abilities to take care of one. He is finally feeling more secure and would like to explore different breeds to determine what might be the best for him.

He has a large open house with his wife. She is in and out a lot. They have a large side yard that could be fenced. The weather in their area is cold to mild. They do get snow in the winter and the summers are usually in the 80's. 

I'm not familiar with dogs, so I'm going to ask a series of questions that may seem very basic to most of you. I thank you in advance for your help in our quest.

1. Mark has some animal allergies. He'd heard that poodles don't seem to affect people as bad as other dogs. Is this true? Do they shed much?

2. We had heard that standard poodles can make good service dogs and are quick to learn. What kind of temperament do they have to this type of work?

3. What type of care do these dogs need routinely? How "high maintenance" are they?

4. In looking at other breeds of dogs, we've found some to have inherent health issues that would be a problem if they showed up. Example, German Shepherds have been found to have a high risk of hip dysplasia. Given that we are looking for a dog that would be helping a sick person, we need to find one that would, hopefully, stay healthy. Are standard poodles a naturally robust, healthy breed?

5. What is the average lifespan of a standard poodle?

I realize my list of questions seems rather clinical, but we would like to provide the best match of dog to human in a trying circumstance. There will be times when Mark will have an exacerbation that will debilitate him greatly. We'd like to find a companion that can be with him calmly and help him, especially, through those awful periods. 

Again, thank you for any help!


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## Pluto (Jul 8, 2012)

I will answer the one's I can, but I'm sure others will have additional input.


Passingthrough said:


> 1. Mark has some animal allergies. He'd heard that poodles don't seem to affect people as bad as other dogs. Is this true? Do they shed much? *He should try to spend a bit of time with a poodle before he makes the leap. They do trigger less allergies, but there is still some dander associated with any dog. A local service dog/therapy dog organization may be able to hook him up with a home visit so he can get a bit more comfortable with the idea and spend some time around one. They do not shed, but they do lose some hair, mostly on the brush during the frequent grooming they require.*
> 
> 2. We had heard that standard poodles can make good service dogs and are quick to learn. What kind of temperament do they have to this type of work?
> *I think this is really variable as well. A seazure dog for a 12 yo boy will not have the same requirements as an assistance dog for someone with limited mobility. Given his limited mobililty I would encourage him to actually find a group that trains service dogs as they will have a lot of exeriance what personality would work the best for him and be able to provide training etc. I'm sure others on here can give you tons more info...*
> ...


While a standard poodle may be a good option if he has the money and resources to get help with grooming, vet services, and training I encourage you to hook him up with a therapy dog group first and get him a bit more exposure. I fear that adding a dog to this situation on a full time basis may end up being more stressful to him and more costly than other support options, but if he finds that he really wants a dog for companionship in addition to assistance it may end up being the right fit!


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I used to train service dogs before I became disabled. I now have a miniature poodle for my own service dog.

Poodles have origins as hunting dogs (like Labs and Golden Retrievers that and commonly used for servce dogs). They are usually willing retrievers with good work ethic. 

Poodles are not often used because most people that are disabled are unable to physically or financially care for the coat. I've read that the goldendoodle was originally developed by a service dog trainer to being non-shedding / lower allergy qualities into a working dog. Didn't work out as planned since these mixes often require more coat maintenance than a poodle and some of them do shed!

There is another forum member "Sookster" who helps raise/train standard poodles for service dogs. She can probably help more with how they maintain these dogs coats.

I am physically able to groom my dog, and I only worked with people with short haired service dogs, so she is probably a better source of info on this than I am.


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## Poodlelvr (Mar 13, 2010)

On another forum that I belong to one of the members has MS and had a silver standard as a service dog. He was amazing. He has gone to the Rainbow Bridge now. I believe the organization that trained him was Canine Partners for Life--may not be totally correct. Her groomer was willing to give a reduced rate for service dogs. Fennec lived about 12 years.


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## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

I'm responding to your questions as someone who is pretty involved in the service dog community. Feel free to private message me if you have any specific questions for me. 



Passingthrough said:


> Hello!
> 
> I am researching dogs for my brother who has MS. He is very private so I'm going to call him Mark. Mark is an older gentleman who is looking for a possible service animal to assist him with retrieving items that may be dropped from a wheelchair, fetch someone if he falls, hear the doorbell, and provide companionship and a feeling of safety when he is alone.
> 
> ...


Based on your brother's limited mobility, I would strongly suggest looking into programs that train service dogs for you. This way, he will end up matched with a dog that WILL work rather than wasting resources on a puppy that MIGHT work. I also worry that he will struggle with training a dog if he doesn't have a lot of knowledge or background on training. Some of the tasks you mentioned can be complex to teach.


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## Taryn (Jun 5, 2012)

My son's dog is a service dog. We got a poodle specifically for their trainability, temperment, size, and the fact that he doesn't shed. He does seizure alert work technically, but for fun more or less we've trained him as a mobility assistance dog as well. He can perform many tasks. He picks up dropped items, can open handicap doors, support a person to a standing position, turn off and on lights, open and close doors, ect. All that training was because he was bored and needed something fun to do, lol! I have pictures of him on my blog at one-two-six.blogspot.com if you're interested.


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

Taryn said:


> My son's dog is a service dog. We got a poodle specifically for their trainability, temperment, size, and the fact that he doesn't shed. He does seizure alert work technically, but for fun more or less we've trained him as a mobility assistance dog as well. He can perform many tasks. He picks up dropped items, can open handicap doors, support a person to a standing position, turn off and on lights, open and close doors, ect. All that training was because he was bored and needed something fun to do, lol! I have pictures of him on my blog at one-two-six.blogspot.com if you're interested.


Just read your incredibly moving blog. You, your precious son Ethan and wonderful spoo Mr. Jet are all absolutely amazing! Please know there's now one more person on this earth wishing the very best for your brave and deserving family. I'm so glad Mr. Jet is there with Ethan! I hope his recovery post-surgery continues to surpass all expectations. I hope too the future holds more good days and good news for your son. I so appreciate hearing how helpful, and dearly loved, Mr. Jet is. Thank you for posting!


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## Kitykat (Feb 15, 2011)

Taryn said:


> My son's dog is a service dog. We got a poodle specifically for their trainability, temperment, size, and the fact that he doesn't shed. He does seizure alert work technically, but for fun more or less we've trained him as a mobility assistance dog as well. He can perform many tasks. He picks up dropped items, can open handicap doors, support a person to a standing position, turn off and on lights, open and close doors, ect. All that training was because he was bored and needed something fun to do, lol! I have pictures of him on my blog at one-two-six.blogspot.com if you're interested.


Taryn: How did you train your son's dog for seizure alert?


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## Kitykat (Feb 15, 2011)

I'm very involved in the SD community and would be happy to answer any questions you have. Please message me when you can. A link to my brief SD info page regarding the use of poodles as SD's can be found on my website here: chamonixpoodles.com - Service Work


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## Taryn (Jun 5, 2012)

Well you can't actually train a dog for "seizure alert", only seizure response and then cross your fingers that they learn to pick them up early. There are no shortage of seizures in our house, so we would get him excited and barking in the beginning, then taught him to lay down with him and lick him, ect. We also did quite a bit of scent work with clothes of his after he had a seizure. He can pick up on seizure before they happen about half the time now. Here's a video of him doing scent work, he's great at it!


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## TammyQ (Feb 10, 2012)

I am very involved in the service dog industry and will tell you that we train and place standard poodles as appropriate. They are not right for everyone, but they do make awesome service dogs. I would also connect up with a therapy dog group and spend some time with different dogs and see what feels right for Mark. You might also contact a local service dog training organization and just talk with them about all the different options that are available when it comes to service dogs. Feel free to PM me if you would like specific information.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Taryn said:


> Well you can't actually train a dog for "seizure alert", only seizure response and then cross your fingers that they learn to pick them up early. There are no shortage of seizures in our house, so we would get him excited and barking in the beginning, then taught him to lay down with him and lick him, ect. We also did quite a bit of scent work with clothes of his after he had a seizure. He can pick up on seizure before they happen about half the time now. Here's a video of him doing scent work, he's great at it!
> Jet Searching - 5-22-12 - YouTube


Whether or not dogs can be trained to alert is surprisingly contentious amoung service dog trainers.

Dog don't predict the future, but respond to (unknown) cues that are not apparent to people. The alerts for some disabilities can be trained with "higher order conditioning", beginning with a known behavior or scent and conditioning the cues that comes before that may be inperceptible to humans.

If we knew what dogs were responding to to alert to an oncoming seizure, we could train it. But until we have the knowledge an technology, the only predictable outcome for seizure alert is a dog that has the natural alerting ability.

Scent work with clothing worn during seizure is excellent work to develop a dog. Good luck in developing your dog, I hope he becomes to be even more trustworthy.


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## Huxtable (Feb 19, 2012)

great video Taryn thanks for sharing, Jet is clearly doing an excellent job. 

I've heard poodles make for wonderful service jobs in fact I randomly saw a video and news report about a poodle who would "know" when his owners blood sugar level was spiking... I forget the whole story. But I know that now whenever the owners blood sugar is getting too low or too high the dog just "knows", sits really close starts licking a lot as well as barking maybe... something like that I wish I knew the details

it's good to see that so many members are able to give advice and tips on what to do, as well as answer questions


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## Passingthrough (Sep 28, 2012)

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. We've tried to find a SD group near Mark but he is in a rather remote part of the state and the nearest organization is 3 hours away and are not very large. They deal mostly with dogs for the blind. I've been traveling and will go through the videos and things when I've got some spare moments... haha.


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## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

Passingthrough said:


> Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. We've tried to find a SD group near Mark but he is in a rather remote part of the state and the nearest organization is 3 hours away and are not very large. They deal mostly with dogs for the blind. I've been traveling and will go through the videos and things when I've got some spare moments... haha.


Many schools will place dogs out of area, but not all schools use poodles. I would find schools that do use poodles and call or email them asking about their policies on placing dogs out of area.


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## ssgrader (Mar 16, 2020)

Passingthrough said:


> Hello!
> 
> I am researching dogs for my brother who has MS. He is very private so I'm going to call him Mark. Mark is an older gentleman who is looking for a possible service animal to assist him with retrieving items that may be dropped from a wheelchair, fetch someone if he falls, hear the doorbell, and provide companionship and a feeling of safety when he is alone.
> 
> ...


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## ssgrader (Mar 16, 2020)

Passingthrough said:


> Hello!
> 
> I am researching dogs for my brother who has MS. He is very private so I'm going to call him Mark. Mark is an older gentleman who is looking for a possible service animal to assist him with retrieving items that may be dropped from a wheelchair, fetch someone if he falls, hear the doorbell, and provide companionship and a feeling of safety when he is alone.
> 
> ...


I am a disabled combat veteran I have both, PTSD and TBI. I have a Standard Poodle as a service dog . Charlie is amazing but when i am in distress he can be very protective of me when other dogs are also around . ( his one downfall) as for poodles for epilepsy With no training Charlie at age 18 months told a woman in a mall to lay down ( she had a grandma the moment she laid down) Poodles can sense changes in ones brain. ( the movement of energy is my guess) they are well knowen for that.. as for choosing a Standard I need to talk to people Charlie will take me up to someone if he thinks i haven't tried being social enough... .. back in 2011 a standard saved my life


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Hi and Welcome! 

You've landed in an older dormant thread but the info seems still relevant. so thank you for bringing this topic back. 
It's not uncommon for folks to join to ask about poodles as service dogs. Your experience with them will be a big help. 
Thank you!
(We'd love to see some photos of your SD )


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## ssgrader (Mar 16, 2020)

Rose n Poos said:


> Hi and Welcome!
> 
> You've landed in an older dormant thread but the info seems still relevant. so thank you for bringing this topic back.
> It's not uncommon for folks to join to ask about poodles as service dogs. Your experience with them will be a big help.
> ...


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Smart and handsome!


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## Fenris-wolf (Apr 17, 2018)

Hi, and Welcome to Poodle Forum!


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

What a handsome boy! A blessing on you and Charlie both! May you be happy and healthy for many years to come.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Since people are bringing this thread back to life I will say that I have a standard poodle for a service dog. He has saved my life. The reason I chose a standard poodle was that I needed a dog large enough to help me get up if I fell, and because of allergies.. The only time I have a problem with him with allergies is if he has been playing with other non-poodle dogs, or visiting a home of another dog, then I need to bathe him.

He is a wonderful service dog for me, an awesome retriever of things I can't find, or get down to pick up. After a couple of years he started teaching himself to do things to help me! One time I was leaving a Doctors office and he refused to come with me, highly unusual. I went to see what he was looking at and I had dropped my gloves in a crack behind the chair! Good thing, it was the last appointment of the day, the office was closing and it was winter.

I have a strange condition that causes me to pass out with no warning and he jumps on my chest to bring me to, and then brings me my phone. His absolute favorite thing to do is take the laundry and put it in the basket in the laundry room. He turns on lights, and many other things I can't even think of all of them now. 

I spent 9 months though looking for him. Just because a dog is a poodle does not mean he will be a good service dog! I checked health back 3 generations, temperament tests for him, temperament of the parents and grandparents, what other dogs in his lineage had been able to do in shows, sports, obedience, etc, etc. So many poodles flunked. I have seen some of them as adults and am so grateful I did not take them as puppies.

I have been so spoiled by him I would do the same again. Of course I spoil him too! And both he and I have had tons of training.


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