List of Service Dog Tasks: Mix n Match for Your Best Combo

When my girl first started researching service dogs, she struggled to find out how a Service Dog could help her.  While she could find resources citing that a Service Dog could be used for Disability X, Y, or Z, those resources often failed to fully explain how a Service Dog could help that disability, particularly as far as what tasks the dog could learn to perform to mitigate the effects of the disability.  Even now, a year after adopting me and over a year and a half after doing her initial research, my girl still learns new service dog tasks that she can teach me to help her.

So, I thought I would help new teams, those interested in owner-training and those considering if a Service Dog is the right choice for them, by posting a comprehensive list of every SD task I encounter.  Listed with each task is a brief description of the task (if necessary) and how it can help certain disabilities, although the disabilities listed are by no means all the disabilities that a given task can alleviate.

Note that not all tasks are appropriate for all dogs.  Mobility-related tasks, for example, requires a healthy dog that is within a certain height and weight ratio to its handler.  The general rule of thumb for mobility tasks is:
- light mobility (e.g. counterbalancing) typically requires a dog 30% of your weight and height
- heavy mobility (e.g. bracing) typically requires a dog 40% of your height and 50% of your weight
- a dog should be a minimum of 55 lbs. for wheelchair work
Please note that these numbers are by no means the absolute standard for any given dog: the ability to do mobility work depends on the individual dog itself.  Mobility work should not be done before growth plates are closed (typically 18-24 months) and before hips and elbows are X-rayed and evaluated by a qualified veterinarian.  Please consult your veterinarian to see if your individual dog is a good candidate for mobility work.

Feel free to use this as a resource, and check back frequently, since I'll be updating this as I keep finding new tasks!

• Medical Alert
• Disability examples/what dogs can alert to: seizures, blood sugar rise/drop (e.g. T1 diabetes), rise/drop in blood pressure, elevation in heart rate, changes in breathing (e.g. oncoming panic attack), migraines, anxiety/rising cortisol levels, narcolepsy (onset of REM sleep attacks)
• Description: dog alerts the handler to a medical situation.  Alerts can include pawing, nudging the handler, whining, barking, licking the handler, jumping on the handler, bringing the handler a designated item, and other behaviours.
• Medical Response
• Seizures Response: licking to bring handler back to consciousness
• Call 911 (via K-9 rescue phone)
• Retrieve Emergency Medication (e.g. insulin, epipen, etc.)
• Bark for Help
• Finding Help/Finding a Specific Person
• Lead First Responders to Handler (inc. answering the door)
• Picking Up Dropped Items
• Disability examples/what this can help with: use of a wheelchair, paralysis, dizzy spells/risk of syncope
• Deep Pressure Therapy
• Disability examples: panic attacks (grounding effect), chronic pain
• Description: dog lies on the handler in a way that places pressure (and body heat) on a specific part of the handler's body
• Light Pressure Therapy
• Wheelchair Assistance
• Block/Cover
• Interruption/Redirection
• Disability examples: trichotillomania, dermatillomania, etc.
• Description: dog interrupts the handler's behaviour and redirects their attention to something else
• Bracing
• Transfer from Wheelchair
• Opening/Closing Doors
• Momentum Pull
• Guidework
• Disability examples: blindness (total or legal), dissociation, photophobia (from migraines)
• Navigating: around moving and stationary obstacles, potholes, low-hanging obstacles
• Intelligent disobedience: refuse a command to go forward in a potentially dangerous situation (e.g. oncoming traffic, sudden drop-off, etc.)
• Indicate changes in the environment: curbs, steps, edges, barriers, etc
• Find certain locations: entrances/exits, elevators, empty seat/bench/area, specified destination (e.g. hotel room), etc.
• Follow a designated person (e.g. a waitress to a restaurant table)
• Hearing Alert/Alerting to Sounds
• Retrieval of a Named or Indicated Item
• Bring a beverage from a refrigerator/cupboard
• Balance Assistance
• Counterbalance
• Medication Reminder
• "Alarm Clock"
• Tactile Stimulation
• "Who's There?"
• Disability examples: PTSD
• Turning On/Off Lights
• Undressing the Handler
• Carry a Message (to a spouse, friend, stranger, etc.)
• Load/Unload Laundry
• Fetch Walker/Crutches/Cane/Wheelchair
• Carry an Item
• Task application examples: disposal of trash, bringing groceries into the house, carry mail inside the house
• Pay for Purchases
• Alert to Sounds
• Disability examples: deafness or hearing impairment
• Examples of sounds to alert to: doorbell/knock on the front door, smoke alarm/fire alarm, someone calling the handler's name, warning of an approaching vehicle (e.g. from behind the handler), alarm clock ringing, arrival of a bus, phone rings/beeps, sirens, vehicle honking, etc.

If you see any tasks missing that I should add or want to suggest some information that I should include, feel free to reach out and let me know!  My goal is to make this as useful as a resource as possible for anyone looking into how a Service Dog might improve his or her life.

Best of luck on your Service Dog journey,

Kelsie Iris

Last PUPdated: 19 August 2016

(post continually under construction)

Check out these other posts of mine:
SD team etiquette
Don't distract SDs
Spoon Theory
Confused? See my terms and abbreviations