When you see service dogs, it's typically a well known and popular breed: Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Poodles, and German Shepherds. They came from reputable breeders, and usually from a long line of litters that were also service dogs. A lot of money goes into purchasing these dogs, too, because you know what you're getting when it comes to temperament, bloodlines, health, and traits.
None of this can be guaranteed when you rescue a dog. That's not to say that a shelter dog with an unknown past, and unknown breeds and bloodlines, isn't capable of rescuing their human by learning life-saving tasks and performing them just as well as any purebred that is born to do this important job. Having trained one shelter dog at the ancient age of 11 years old to be my Gluten Detection Service Dog, I can attest that this is entirely possible. It's also magical and rewarding in ways only a rescue parent could understand.
||Read more about the magical mutts Maggie and Elliot, and their journey to becoming service dogs below||
Our interview with Gluten Free Living magazine!
My article "From Shelter Dogs to Service Dogs" published with the Odyssey Online: