How to Train a Service Dog for Anxiety

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If you struggle with depression, panic attacks, or other forms of anxiety, you might have noticed that being around your dog helps you feel more calm. Just spending time with a friend's canine companion—or volunteering at a local shelter or rescue—can have an impact on your mental state. A wide range of people report the soothing effects of petting, playing, or simply sitting in the same room as their pets!

Maybe you’ve wondered what it would take to get an official service dog to help treat your anxiety. (You're in good company: Over 610,000 individuals with disabilities are teamed up with a service dog who helps them navigate public spaces.)

How do you decide if you need a service dog—or if other medical equipment and interventions will fit your lifestyle best? What should you look for in your assistance animal’s temperament? And what's the process to train specific psychiatric tasks to help your anxiety?

Below we break down everything you need to know to get started.

First things first: Do you need a service dog for anxiety?

Anyone with a disability can get a service dog

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), anyone in the United States with a diagnosed disability is eligible for a service dog. The organization defines an individual with a disability as “a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.”

Service dogs can change their handlers’ lives

Training and caring for a service dog can come with a variety of financial, logistical, and emotional costs. Because of this, not everyone who lives with a psychiatric or physical disability is the right fit for an assistance animal—but many people are!

Service dogs have helped millions of people with disabilities manage their medical conditions to achieve greater health, confidence, and freedom in their daily lives.

If you:

1. have a psychiatric or mental health condition like post traumatic stress disorder or depression, and are
2. able to invest the necessary time and energy into caring for a canine

you might be a great candidate for a task-trained service dog.

What is an anxiety service dog?

A service animal is defined as a dog (or, fun fact of the day, miniature horse) that has been individually trained to help their handler navigate the world. They're called "service" animals because they provide services—specific tasks—for their disabled owners as part of larger treatment plans.

Psychiatric service dogs are officially considered “medical equipment." The tasks a service dog performs must be directly related to their handler’s disability in order for them to be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Because of these stipulations, not all dogs who improve their owners’ quality of life by helping with anxiety symptoms can be considered legal service dogs.

Emotional support animals aren’t service dogs

The ADA says “[we] make a distinction between psychiatric service animals and emotional support animals. If the dog has been trained to sense that an anxiety attack is about to happen and take a specific action to help avoid the attack or lessen its impact, that would qualify as a service animal. However, if the dog’s mere presence provides comfort, that would not be considered a service animal under the ADA.”

What this means is that emotional support, therapy, and companion animals are not protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. That doesn’t mean they’re not wonderful—they absolutely are! But ESAs and therapy dogs do not have public access rights to visit non-pet-friendly places with their owners, like indoor restaurants and grocery stores. (The only exception is housing: Emotional support animals are allowed to live with their handlers regardless of dog or breed restrictions.)

Emotional support dogs and therapy dogs can become legal service animals if they go through designated task training to help one specific handler, who then becomes a service dog owner. Once their training is complete, they will be welcome in public spaces.

What psychiatric conditions and anxieties can a service dog help with?

Service dogs work alongside individuals living with a huge range of disabilities. There is no single diagnosis or experience they're best for! That said, some common conditions you might train a service animal for are:

• Depression
• Panic attacks
• Generalized anxiety
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Does your dog have the right temperament to be a service dog for anxiety?

This might seem counterintuitive, but it’s actually best if your service dog isn’t naturally worried about your anxiety.

While it can be sweet to watch an animal sense your unease and try to make things better, it can also be a sign that they’re uncomfortable! Your service dog will spend hours each day working for you in a range of environments. You want their tasks to be fun and rewarding—not driven by their own worry.

The best service dog candidates are emotionally stable and nonreactive. They shouldn’t be overwhelmed by your panic attacks—they don't see you as a vulnerable person—and are instead able to eagerly work through a range of situations.

What are common anxiety service dog breeds?

Any dog breed can be a psychiatric service dog. Since these assistance animals provide tasks to help with mental rather than physical health, there are no stipulations about their size (like there might be for service dogs helping with mobility issues—larger breeds are better able to keep their handlers steady on their feet).

Many individuals with disabilities and professional service dog organizations gravitate towards one of the "Fab Four" breeds: Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, Standard Poodles, and Collies. Others love their German Shepherds (they're known as one of the most versatile dogs for good reason). You should focus more on your service dog candidate's overall temperament than their breed alone. Whether a Bernese Mountain Dog or a Bichon Frise, the right canine companion will be confident, alert, and eager to work with you.

Make sure your dog is prepared for public access rights

Before training your dog to be an anxiety service animal, you need to make sure they’ll be able to handle a variety of public environments in your everyday lives while paying attention to you. While this article dives into task training (how to teach your dog the specific services they’ll need to perform to mitigate your disability) it’s important to build strong public access skills, too.

Service dogs need to be able to:

• Have strong basic obedience skills to set the foundation for proper behavior in public
• Settle for long periods of time in distracting environments
• Walk on a loose leash or in a tight heel, at your side, through crowds
• Ignore other dogs (even when confronted with excessive barking, lunging, or other instigative behavior)
• Leave dropped food, prey, and other temptations alone
• Be so confident they aren’t bothered by things like sirens and machinery (or at bare minimum recover quickly from startling, potentially traumatic events)
• Keep their attention on you, their handler, at all times

You can train these behaviors on your own or reach out to a professional service dog trainer for expert guidance. (Alternatively, you can apply for a facility dog who has been raised and trained by a service dog organization.)

Know that service dogs are expected to handle a lot—and it's normal for some canines to struggle with the pressure. Atlas Assistance Dogs reports that more than half of service dog candidates do not complete their training

Choose what tasks you want your dog to perform

You’ve decided you’re a good fit for a service dog. You understand the importance of your working animal having a stable, solid temperament. Now for the details: Let’s take a look at how to choose the tasks you want your dog to perform and what methods you can use to teach them! Here's to the start of your training journey.

Prioritize what you most need

It’s important to prioritize the services that will have the greatest impact on your life. Everyone’s disability, surrounding environment, and personal preferences differ.

Some common anxiety service dog tasks include:

• Alerting you to an oncoming anxiety attack before it happens by nudging your body, barking, or lying in a specific position
• Preventing self-harm behaviors by pawing or nudging at your own hands
• Providing deep pressure therapy by lying on top of you, a bit like a weighted blanket
• Retrieving objects like medication, water, or your cell phone and bringing them to your hand
• Opening doors and flipping light switches
• Interrupting repetitive behaviors caused by obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Reminding you to take a medication by nudging, pawing, barking, or another signal you’ve chosen
• Circling around you to prevent strangers from approaching ("crowd control")

If you think of something that isn’t on this list, it can still be a valid service animal task so long as it directly mitigates your psychiatric condition or disability.

Train your service dog’s tasks

Once you’ve decided what tasks you want your service dog to learn, it’s time to start teaching them. You’ll need to put in hours of training to polish their skills (or consider sending them to a designated service dog training program).

In the early stages, this process will look a lot like teaching your pet any other basic cue:

• You’ll need a reinforcer (like high value treats or a favorite toy), a reward marker (often a clicker), and some patience.
• You can lure your dog into the correct action, shape, or capture behaviors they’re already offering. For example: Pawing and nudging are great candidates for luring—while barking or retrieving objects might be better taught through shaping or capturing.
• Once your dog can reliably perform the chosen skill, you’ll associate a visual and/or verbal cue (like a hand signal or word) that lets them know it’s time to do the behavior.

Pair your service dog’s tasks with your anxiety symptoms

When your dog consistently does their tasks on your visual or verbal cue, it’s time to associate those behaviors with your anxiety symptoms! It’s great for your pet to be able to listen to what you say—simply having a “nudge” or “light switch” verbal cue can be a great help—but in the middle of a panic attack, you won’t be able to give them direction. It’s important your service dog can act on their own when needed to keep you safe.

This all might sound complicated, but don’t worry. It’s essentially the same process as adding a new verbal cue to a behavior your dog already knows! Instead of associating your dog’s task with a specific word, though, you’re now going to associate it with a certain anxiety symptom.

These symptoms might include:

• Fidgeting (like picking at your hands, face, or other objects)
• Increased heart rate
• Heavy breathing

And so on. Pick the things you struggle with most—through these daily tasks, your service dog will have the biggest impact on your life.

How to associate your anxiety signals with your service dog’s tasks

Follow these steps to pair your new learned behavior stimulus (whatever anxiety symptom you’ve chosen) with your dog’s already-known hand or verbal signal.

• Manifest your chosen anxiety symptom. Some are easy to perform on demand, like fidgeting or heavy breathing. Others, such as an increased heart rate, might require more creativity on your end.
• Pause for just a breath. Then immediately give your visual or verbal cue for the task you want your dog to perform.
• If your dog responds, mark and reward them with treats or a toy!
• Repeat this several times. Keep your sessions short and upbeat.
• Eventually your dog should start to perform their service at the onset of your anxiety symptom instead of waiting for the visual or verbal signal.

Practice and proof in a variety of environments

Dogs often struggle to generalize behaviors. This means they might be able to follow cues in a familiar environment but still struggle to perform out and about.

Since your service dog needs to work in every environment you visit, however, it’s imperative that you spend time proofing their variety of tasks. Here are some tips:

• The first time you ask your service dog to perform a task in a new context, take a few steps back in your training process to make it easier for them. Use your hand signal (or even your lure) along with your verbal cue to set them up for success.
• Make things more difficult slowly so your dog doesn’t get discouraged. You want to end your training sessions on a positive note, not with frustration!
• Make sure you always use the same visual, verbal cues, and anxiety symptom cues.
• Be aware of other subtle body movements that might confuse your dog, especially in the early stages of training.
• Video your sessions so you can evaluate your marker and reward timing.
• Make sure you aren’t asking your dog to perform in unfamiliar environments or situations before they’re ready.

When in doubt, seek professional training guidance!

Service dog training can be overwhelming, especially if you’re trying to do it all on your own. Feeling stuck? Not sure how to troubleshoot new issues that are cropping up? Don’t worry: A professional trainer can make a world of difference!

Some canine professionals and training organizations even specialize in assistance animals. Many of these coaches are also service dog owners themselves, so they understand details from both a trainer and handler perspective. That means they can provide feedback on everything from public access behavior to specific tasks!

Professional training lessons can get expensive—but it’s a worthy investment to make sure your service dog is ready to act as medical equipment out in the world. If the cost of in-person private training is prohibitive, you might consider group classes, virtual sessions, or online content as well.

Trainer Review of this Article

There is so much misinformation out there, we want to make sure we only provide the highest quality information to our community. We have all of our articles reviewed by qualified, positive-only trainers.  

This is the trainer that reviewed this article:

Brittany L. Fulton, CTC
Founder and Trainer, Dances with Dogs, Silver Spring, MD, www.dancesdogs.com - Certified in Training and Counseling (CTC), The Academy for Dog Trainers