“psychiatric” service dogs
i don’t really understand psychiatric service dogs, and i say this as someone who would qualify for one of these dogs. a lot of the tasks i see for autism/anxiety/ptsd/etc are just DPT, “blocking,” or crowd control. all of these seem like things that can be accomplished very easily without a dog (weighted blanket and therapy.) getting a dog to circle around you or stand between you and a stranger in line won’t get people to leave you alone, especially if you’re slapping a bunch of excessive, colorful gear on it. i also see the most owner trained/off breeds being used for this work. it just seems like a really complicated and expensive solution to a problem that has a BUNCH of other fixes. i feel similarly about POTS or diabetes service dogs because there are SO many technological advancements made recently that eliminate the need for a service dog for these disabilities. i feel like a majority of the fakers i see use psychiatric service dogs in place of therapy or meds and i just don’t see how they’re at all helpful?