Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe any disease that results in the progressive decline of one’s intellectual faculties, especially in relation to memory and abstract thinking. Alzheimer’s is the most common disease associated with dementia.
Anyone who has experienced a family member struggling with dementia knows just how heartbreaking it can be. It is common for people with dementia to be easily confused, overly suspicious, paranoid, lonely, and forgetful.
A service dog can be beneficial to people experiencing dementia. Not only can these dogs help dementia patients follow a schedule, but they can also relieve loneliness and other mental distress through companionship.
In this article, we will explain what dementia dogs are and how they can help, where to get one, alternative options, and important considerations to make before bringing home a service dog.
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What Is a Dementia Dog?
As the name suggests, a dementia dog is a service dog that assists people suffering from degenerative intellectual diseases such as Alzheimer’s. There are several ways in which a dementia dog can help dementia patients.
One of the most important is reminders for necessary daily activities such as eating, exercising, and taking medication. Dementia dogs can provide a sense of independence and security as they can accompany their handlers on walks, shopping trips, or other outings.
By outfitting the dog with a GPS collar, family members and law enforcement can more easily find the dementia patient should they get lost. In some cases, a dementia dog can be taught to lead their user home, to safety, or to someone who can help. Dementia dogs can also provide mobility support and retrieve objects.
Finally, dementia dogs do a lot for their user’s mental health. They can redirect a dementia patient’s negative behaviors by kissing them, cuddling them, or otherwise refocusing the patient’s behavior onto them.
Having the unconditional love and companionship of a dog also helps reduce feelings of loneliness and other distress dementia patients may experience. Even while not actively working, dementia dogs do a lot for dementia patients just by offering their friendship.
Where to Get a Dementia Service Dog
Now that you understand how beneficial dementia dogs can be for patients with Alzheimer’s and other such diseases, you may be wondering how to get one of these dogs. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of organizations in the USA that offer dementia dogs.
Some organizations that do include 4 Paws for Ability, Wilderwood Service Dogs in Tennessee, and Service Dogs International. To get a dementia service dog from one of these organizations, you will have to fill out an application on behalf of the individual who needs the dog. If there are many applications for dogs, you may be put on a waitlist even if you are approved.
Another option would be to train a dementia service dog yourself. However, it may be difficult to find a trainer with the experience necessary to help you in this endeavor as dementia dogs are not as common as other types of service dogs.
Psychiatric Service Dogs
If getting a dementia dog is too difficult or otherwise unrealistic, a good alternative could be a psychiatric service dog (PSD). While psychiatric service dogs are typically used by people with mental health disabilities such as PTSD or anxiety, someone with dementia could still benefit greatly from this kind of service dog.
Psychiatric service dogs are often trained to give medication reminders and fetch medications, guide disoriented handlers, get help for their handlers, interrupt and redirect negative behaviors, assist with balance, and more.
As you can see, there’s a fair bit of overlap between what a dementia dog does and what a PSD does. Psychiatric service dogs are much more common than dementia dogs, too, so it’s easier to get one from an organization or to find a professional who can help you train one yourself.
Dementia Dogs Aren’t for Everyone
Clearly, both dementia dogs and psychiatric service dogs can be amazing for people suffering from dementia. However, it’s important to understand that dogs require a lot of care. Many dementia patients are unable to offer that care and may even unknowingly sabotage the dog’s well-being.
Some common issues with dementia patients having dogs include overfeeding and underfeeding. Either they feed the dog multiple times not remembering they had already done so, or they forget to feed the dog at all.
The latter is preferable as it allows a caregiver to tend to the dog’s needs, but the former causes problems. Caregivers may try to prevent overfeeding by hiding the dog food, but that sometimes leads to the dementia patient offering the dog human food instead.
It is common for dementia patients to forget which foods are dog safe and which are not. They may feed their dog incredibly fatty foods like fast food, or in the worst-case scenario, foods like chocolate. This can result in serious health problems for the dog such as pancreatitis.
Even though dementia dogs are meant to help patients with routines like exercise, a young dog will need far more exercise than an elderly patient. Patients with early stages of dementia may still be able to help care for a dog, but there must always be someone else who is responsible for ensuring the dog’s needs are met and for preventing the patient from unknowingly damaging the dog’s health.
Is a Dementia Dog Right for Your Family?
Dementia dogs can help their users by reminding them to take medications, fetching objects, providing mobility support, accompanying them, and offering companionship. This type of service dog can improve a dementia patient’s quality of life.
That said, it may not be easy to get a dementia service dog as they are not very common and only a few organizations in the USA offer them. A psychiatric service dog can be a good alternative as the tasks they are trained in overlap with those of dementia dogs.
Though service dogs can provide a lot of benefits to dementia patients, they aren’t the right option for every family. If you’re considering a dementia dog, be sure that there is someone responsible for providing for the dog’s needs and keeping the dementia patient from feeding the dog dangerous foods like chocolate.