Service Dog Observation Essay

In a study published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy three wheelchair bound women and their service dogs were examined doing everyday tasks. The participants were 23, 47, and 67 years old and suffered from cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and a spinal cord injury, respectively. All of the service dogs had been trained by Assistance Dogs of the West, and all of the participants were cognitively advanced enough that it would not cause a hindrance in performance. Two sectors were created to assess performance: functional performance and social interaction. The functional performance assessed how long it took a person to complete a given task by herself, and then how long it took for her to complete it with the assistance

However, the perceived difficulty, which was determined by the participant as well as the researcher, was less five out of the six tasks if the service dog was aiding in the specific task. The results for social interaction included that each participant’s average perceived satisfaction level with the service dog was at least 2.3 points higher, but ranging to 6.5 points higher when shopping with their service dog as opposed to being alone. In addition, all of the participants felt that “having the dog present would have made a difference in social interaction 100% of the time” (Crowe et al., 2014,

For those who are limited to a wheelchair and suffer from a disease that makes it hard to control his/ her muscles, or someone who is frail, a service dog would be very beneficial. By going through all the right processes a person like this could receive a service dog is capable of pulling that person while in the wheelchair. This would allow the person to be more relaxed and not always have to stress about someone else being responsible for pushing them around. If an individual was required to use a walker to be able to independently walk around, a service dog would also be beneficial. If the person needed to retrieve something from a crowded room the service dog could retrieve it instead- that way the person would not have to worry about weaving through various things. Also when the person needed to go through doors, the service dog could run ahead and open the door so that the person did not have to worry about having to open the door by themselves and could instead just focus on the task at