SERVICES

What Service Animals Can Do

A service animal is a dog, of any breed or size, trained to perform a task directly related to a person’s disability. For example:

• If the person is blind, the service animal guides the person.

• If the person is deaf, the service animal will warn if someone or something approaches from behind.

• If the person is in a wheelchair, the service animal can either lead the wheelchair via a tether or retrieve items for the person.

• If the person suffers from depression, the service animal can remind the person to take medicine.

• If the person has PTSD, the service animal can lick the person’s hand if a panic attack appears to be coming, a reminder to take medicine or extricate oneself from a tough situation.

• If the person has epilepsy, the service animal can detect the onset of a seizure.

• If the person is a child on the autism spectrum, the service animal can keep the child from walking away.

• If the person has Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, diabetes, or certain cancers, the service animal can alert the person to harmful conditions, retrieve medicines, and even dial a phone with big buttons to summon help.

What Animals Can Be Service Animals

The simplest answer is “dogs.” In rarer cases, a miniature horse can qualify. SASH works with dogs. The best service animals are alert, high energy, highly focused, desensitized to distractions, and highly trained to reliably perform specified tasks. They are not the same as emotional support animals. They are not the same as therapy animals that you see at hospitals, assisted living residences, schools, airports, and courthouses calming people by showing affection, interacting, and letting them be petted. They definitely are not “pets.”

It costs about $25,000 to train a dog to become a service animal. Some dogs need even more training–tens of thousands of dollars of training to perform their valued tasks. SASH often must provide training for nearly two years and the drop-out rate is between 50-70%, depending on what type of skills the service animal needs. The dogs that do not make it are “released” and fostered by SASH volunteers until we can place them in loving homes. We place the dogs that earn their sashes with handlers who, upon their successful training to work with the service animals, become owners.

That is why we need your help if we are to serve the many Hawaiians living with disabilities, including the many heroes whose service in the Armed Forces has left them in need of assistance.