Service Dogs

 

Tags: Needs based

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Service Dog

 

 Catahoulas can make fantastic service dogs for the right owner.

 

Teaching her the tasks to help me out was fairly easy, but teaching her that she couldn't chase squirrels while pulling my wheelchair, that she couldn't bark at every stranger that came within 5 feet of me and that other dogs are allowed in visual distance, those things came a bit harder. Catahoulas are certainly not the right service dog for everybody. A catahoula can make a fantastic service dog because they seem to have the capability to think out of the box. With the help of my two catahoula service dogs, I believe that I am equal to any challenge

 

Details

Catahoula Service Dogs

 Catahoulas can make fantastic service dogs for the right owner.  I am confined to a wheelchair by a disease called RSD and both of my service dogs have been catahoulas.  We discovered their potential by accident.  My disease had taken a huge turn for the worse and my husband was nervous about leaving me alone in the house every day while he went to work.  We thought that have a service dog around might make the difference, but we already had three dogs and really didn't want to add a fourth to the mix.  So we decided to train our lab to see if he would work out, but he had been abused before we adopted him and he just wasn't up to the task.  My husband's dog is a beagle and not large enough, so that left Katya, my catahoula.  She had been attending obedience classes since she was a puppy  so we had a good foundation in training between the two of us.  We began to socialize her first and that ended up being the most difficult part of the training.  Teaching her the tasks to help me out was fairly easy, but teaching her that she couldn't chase squirrels while pulling my wheelchair, that she couldn't bark at every stranger that came within 5 feet of me and that other dogs are allowed in visual distance, those things came a bit harder.  With a LOT of patience and even more work, she came to understand her new tasks and became an amazing service dog who even saved my life twice.  She worked out at her new job so well that I will never use another breed of dog as my service dog.  I was quite a bit nervous when it came time to train her replacement that she would be very jealous and try to take it out on him, but in fact, she has been very graceful about the whole thing.  I didn't have to do a whole lot of training with him, he has just imitated Katya's role and now is an amazing assistance dog in is own right.

Catahoulas are certainly not the right service dog for everybody.  In my opinion, you must enjoy dog training and be able to reinforce the dog's training regularly.  You must also have a certain amount of upper body strength as every once in a while their hunting instinct can kick back in and that urge to chase a squirrel or other prey can take over.  You must enjoy getting outside and doing other tasks with your dog as they need a lot of exercise.  I've found that catahoulas like nothing better than to have a job, and it doesn't seem to matter what that job is, as long as they understand the tasks that they are to perform.  When that job is service work, they will do it until they drop and you have to monitor their physical and mental capabilities.  My husband and I went on a delayed honeymoon during Katya's initial service dog training and decided to board her for two nights while we were gone.  This was a huge mistake on our part.  Katya had decided that her job was to assist me 24/7 and if she couldn't be with me, she couldn't do her job.  She made herself extremely ill stressing over this and ended up in ICU, if we hadn't have boarded her at the vet's we might have lost her, in that short a time period.  Catahoulas take their job VERY seriously and this is something that you must understand and accept to deal with before considering a catahoula service dog.  I have not found a way to be able to get her to understand taking time off.  I also haven't found a way to really retire her.  Having a catahoula assistance dog is lifetime commitment on your part.  You will probably not be able to re-home the dog without extreme difficulties when the dog can no longer work.    You must be prepared to keep their mind and body exercised after retirement and above all, make sure that they still feel useful. 
 

 A catahoula can make a fantastic service dog because they seem to have the capability to think out of the box.  When Katya saved my life, it was performing a task that I had never taught her to do.  She saw that I was in trouble and figured out how she needed to help me.  For me, this is an invaluable resource.  They are very strong physically and mentally.  They can be more stubborn that any dog I've every seen, independent, protective and loyal to a fault.  I believe that if you are interested in having a dog trained for you, a catahoula might not work out.  I am guessing that they might bond so tightly with their trainer, that switching their loyalty over to the new owner, might be rather difficult.  But, like a lot of animals, they seem to be able to sense disability and need, so it is certainly possible that they could pick up on their new role.  Katya's replacement, Alexei, seemed to sense my need from the time we picked him up at the airport, and hasn't really ever left my side since.  And this was at 8 weeks old.  I am a photographer, and spend a lot of time in parks and other outdoor areas in Colorado.  I've been stalked by coyotes and strange people, but never once have I been afraid.  There is no doubt in my mind that my catahoulas are equal to any task, whether its protecting me from wild animals, picking me up off the ground when I fall out of the chair, helping to pull me out of the mud, or just being a shoulder to cry on when I'm having a bad day.  If I had to sit at home all day and be a couch potato, I believe that physically and mentally I'd wither away to nothing.  With the help of my two catahoula service dogs, I believe that I am equal to any challenge and am anxious to get out there and prove it.