Our daughter has been paired with her service dog for two and one half years. The dog is extremely well trained. She (the dog) has stayed in the hospital (Cincinnati Chidren's) with us on numerous occasions, she rides the bus to/from school, attends school, and goes everywhere our daughter goes. The dogs training was incredible. When we travelled to Boston for an evaluation she rode planes, commuter trains, busses, subways, etc. And travelled through busy subway stations without any issues. She has waited patiently when surgical complication prevented her from going out for a potty break for over 12hrs. The dog is trained for mobility assistance, object retrieval, and behavior interruption. Her level of training is fantastic. 4 paws does have a fundraising requirement which our community graciously met. We had to go to Xenia for training - you need to learn how to handle a service dog. You also need to continue to work with a service dog - as has been said they are not robots. You need to ask questions of the trainers and follow up with more questions when you return home. Dogs with bad behaviors are dropped from the program and may be adopted - they are not certified as an all access dog. If you don't feel comfortable handling your dog in public - ask the trainers - they are happy to work with you. There is a large community support group in place that also offers suggestions on non training issues (always ask training questions of the trainers - they know the dog) for parents. Our dog turned one less than a month after her graduation and had been trained since she was 1 week old (See puppy training of service dogs on youtube). 4Paws gets the highest recommendation but remember it is a dog - she won't allow our daughter to see or hear but she has given her a great chance to explore!
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