A PSD is trained specific to their owner and their needs based off the type of mental health disorder(s) they may have. They also have public access to assist their owner’s at all times, as needed.

Their primary role is to provide comfort, protection, and assistance. They may be trained to deal with scenarios that can arise due to their owner’s impairment. Some tasks a PSD can learn are: Guiding a disoriented handler, bring medication to them, fetch a phone/device, go find
help, provide tactile stimulation, creating a signal if their owner is disoriented to warn them of any danger, interrupt & redirect, block others, search a room, wake their owner up, and so much more.

The difference between a PSD, a therapy dog and an Emotional Support dog (ESP): Therapy dogs aren’t trained for specific tasks and are more for therapeutic assistance. They also don’t have public access. ESP’s are similar to therapy dogs as they are primarily used for comfort to their owners. They are meant to be supportive in mainly just their presence of continuous comfort and security. They are very useful for people with disabilities or for emotional support during hardships.

I’ve decided to create a space to open up about my (mum’s) struggles with mental health. Sharing what getting a puppy and teaching her to support me with the never ending battle I face everyday is like.

I’ve always wanted to do something meaningful to help others & I’ve found that information about Service Animals can be tough to find or is just confusing on where to start. Trying to figure out if you can/should do the training yourself (where do you start?) or even getting the training done professionally (what company? Is it affordable? Is the unaffordable option actually worth the price?)

I want to be able to show the training process & progress, and the actual struggle I face on a daily basis. I want to be able to create a safe community for all to be a part of where you can genuinely see it all. The struggle is just getting the courage to do it, the energy/motivation to post. But I’m here and I’m working on it and even if I’m inconsistent, I hope I am able to help at least one person in the process.