Well, service dogs are not my full zone of expertise. One of the reasons that we are focusing on therapy dogs and not service dogs is that it is a little confusing about the regulations going across....
There needs to be a standard. We are requesting on our end to have a special standard for therapy dogs. When it comes to service dogs, it's a little different because they are trained to perform tasks that are unusual dog behaviour. For example, a service dog could be trained to flick on a switch so the light turns on, or they could go into a room that is dark, check out the room, and let their new handler know that it is safe to go in.
With therapy dogs, we will not be teaching unusual dog tasks. However, each veteran who comes to us, or any individual for that matter, will be offered specific training that they will be able to perform at home if they choose to teach a specific task that otherwise would only be taught to a service dog.
It is quite confusing what is going on across Canada with regard to service dogs and the regulations. Here in British Columbia, the province has started an assessment, which I believe is absolutely fantastic, to make sure that all of these service dogs go through the right assessment and that we eliminate any fraud or any issues that can come along with not having a properly trained service dog.