I'm back, again!

[AlysianneO]

Hey all, took your advice and got myself straightened out, and then looked again at this. So I have a list of things, and wondered if you'd look at it. I'd have to get with my dog trainer and find a large dog for it, but that's ok.
It would mostly be technically for psychiatric tasks.

Balance assist, my meds make me really dizzy, and i was before.
Assist me in rising and steady me
balance support, I tend to get dizzy randomly and lose my balance and fall. Especially if there's any sort of smoke around.
medication reminder ( i know it's not a public task, but it's something i struggle with, even if i set alarms it doesn't help.)
assist in leaving area by finding exit when I command because I am getting close to a panic episode.
Crowd control/panic prevention
I got all of these off of iaapd, or whatever the site is.

[Roxie]

If an alarm does not help to remind you to take your meds - how will a dog help you remember? Your dog will have to have a clue when to alert you.... so you will have to be responsible to faithfully set an alarm to signal the dog to signal you to turn off the alarm and take your meds. I don't think you have thought this through very thoroughly.

Balance work would fall under mobility  not psychiatric - right?

You can use anything to control your panic. (a coin, a visual focal point, something with texture or smooth, worry stone, arrowhead, mind and breath control, etc) I would focus on .learning to manage your panic first.... and have the dog as a back up for the rare times you are not ableto manage the symptoms of a panic attack independently.

If medications are causing such complications, should you not let your prescribing Dr. know? How do you get around? Like shop and stuff? If your meds make you that vulnerable to falling and being injured, maybe you need 24/7 human supervision to protect you.

What is crowd control for you?

Roxie

So: you are  reading through an article and saying to yourself "Yeah!That's what my SD needs to do!"

You need to look at just what you can not possibly do independently (even with help from therapists and Dr's) and then what a dog could do to help you with your specific needs.

[AlysianneO]

If an alarm does not help to remind you to take your meds - how will a dog help you remember? Your dog will have to have a clue when to alert you.... so you will have to be responsible to faithfully set an alarm to signal the dog to signal you to turn off the alarm and take your meds. I don't think you have thought this through very thoroughly.

Balance work would fall under mobility  not psychiatric - right?

You can use anything to control your panic. (a coin, a visual focal point, something with texture or smooth, worry stone, arrowhead, mind and breath control, etc) I would focus on .learning to manage your panic first.... and have the dog as a back up for the rare times you are not ableto manage the symptoms of a panic attack independently.

If medications are causing such complications, should you not let your prescribing Dr. know? How do you get around? Like shop and stuff? If your meds make you that vulnerable to falling and being injured, maybe you need 24/7 human supervision to protect you.

What is crowd control for you?

Roxie

So: you are  reading through an article and saying to yourself "Yeah!That's what my SD needs to do!"

You need to look at just what you can not possibly do independently (even with help from therapists and Dr's) and then what a dog could do to help you with your specific needs.

I have to shop with someone, and I don't shop unless I know they have carts, since I can't make it without them. I only walk if my husband is with me because he provides support, he'd have to do the med thing with the dog, cos he can reliably do it, but when I'm at a friends, or out, then I can't remember.
It was listed under both, since it's the meds that cause some of it. I had issues before that with the dizziness, and have been walking with a cane for a while, but it doesn't always work like I need it to.
What I meant by the assisting in finding an exit, was when I start freaking out, I can't always find the exit, I have pills for it, but they take awhile to kick in, and my response time with them isn't that great.
I have very limited freedom since my husband works, and I can't find anyone willing to go with me other than him, and I'd like some of my freedom back.
Crowd control is just getting the people to back off, telling the dog to get behind me and give me some space, or whatever. I panic if I get hemmed in too much, which happens when I shop sometimes.
No, I didn't read thru an article and say yeah, thats what it can do, I've had problems for a while, and some, yes, I did read thru to find out if they are tasks, and what they are precisely, but I already had an idea as to what I needed, I did the list more for my dr than anything else.

Oh yeah, picking targeted items off the shelves would help too, since bending down isn't always an option.

[Roxie]

I don't think you answered my questions. I find you pretty evasive. I still don't think you have thought through using a SD very thoroughly.

They are not a magic wand like I sense you think they are.

If you use an electric cart and are seated, why can't you get your own stuff off all but the tallest shelves?

Just how will you get your SD to MAKE people back off?

Roxie

[AshertoAsher]

I think that "reminding to take medication" can be a legitimate task, if done right.

I have a medication (just Xanax really) that I'm supposed to take on the onset of an anxiety attack. The Xanax will reduce the severity of the anxiety attack and make it easier for me to go on with my day. For whatever reason, my doctor does now want me on Xanax all day and instead told me to take it "only when you need it".

I also know I have physical tells that I'm getting anxious. I stomp my feet, play with my hair, and most often, wring my hands. However, most of the time, the anxiety and obsessive thoughts cloud my thoughts and I "forget" to take my medication.

A dog could be trained to be privy to these signs of anxiety and to alert when I should take the Xanax or even be trained to retrieve it for me.

However, I don't think this is a legitimate task when it's a medication that you should take at, say, 2:00pm every day. That, you could just set an alarm to.

As for the "crowd control", there is a member here who has a "cover me" command where the dog simply places itself between the handler and a crowd of people in order to give the handler an extra two feet of space. This is the only legitimate way of "crowd control" as it only involves the dog moving to a certain area.

I get dizzy from medication, too and I am going to have a dog trained for mobility work with me but because I only use a cane at my discretion, the dog won't be a "mobility" dog.

My view of your situation is that you're borderline, like me. If I were you, I'd sit down with several qualified medical professionals and see what they say. Bring a copy of the ADA with you and discuss each individual issue along the lines of the ADA. Go over the definition of "substantially limits" and "major life activity". I even brought it to a lawyer-friend and went over the tasks I had planned and whether they would hold up in court. In essence, because you're not obviously disabled, do your homework.

After you've done all that, it doesn't matter what any random person on the internet says.

[AshertoAsher]

P.S. Roxie, that last line wasn't a shot at you. I was just concerned because it seemed like AlysianneO was asking for permission by posting here instead of just discussing it. I hope you understand.

 

[cazza03]

Horse does 'behind' to stand behind me at ATMs and to make people notice when they're behind my chair, an accidental bump will send me into panic mode in those situations, and when I'm in panic mode, he will push down on my lap to make me stay sat down so I can't fall out of the chair and hurt myself.
After much practice, he's now bringing his ball back and not just acorns. We're practicing on the give it to my hand bit now.
He does bracing in public toilets too, I have a habit of headbutting the wall above the rail when I only have the rail to hold onto.