Lilly Harrison with Link, spoke to the club about assistant animals.
Assistance Dogs are trained to help their human who is living with a disability. They respond to needs that are specific to their human’s disability by using their advanced skills. This allows their human to engage in activities that may otherwise have been too difficult or challenging.
Dogs help with depression, anxiety, mental health, PTSD, physical disability.
These dogs carry over all the benefits of a loving pet and, with their added training, are able to provide this support both at home, and out in public spaces.
Public need to understand when a dog has a vest on, it is invisible and not to be distracted or patted.
Dogs can be any breed with the right temperament.
Lily undertook 40 hours training with Link which involved basic obedience, ability to cope with traffic and crowds then class training, learning how to interact with handler and their needs.
Legally a medical device but to handlers a member of the family.