Bereavement for Service Dogs
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We all know how grievous the loss of a beloved companion animal can be for most devoted pet owners. But for a person with a disability, who both uses the assistance of and loves the animal, this can be a double loss.
The APLB has formed a Service Dog Committee for service animal loss and bereavement. Our committee focuses towards support for loss of guide dogs and service dogs, however this site also provides support for loss of any and all kinds of assistance animals, including Search and Rescue and K-9 dogs.
If you or anyone you know has lost a beloved service animal - or is about to lose one - please contact us with the necessary information so we can get back to that individual. We can assist the person in finding expert counseling sensitive to these dual loss issues. We are also available to help connect those with similar needs, questions or concerns with each other in the hope of building a supportive network. If you have any ideas how the APLB may do this more effectively please don't hesitate to contact us. We are all here for each other.
aplb@aplb.org
(718) 382-0690
Service Dogs Committee Mission Statement
Our goal is to create and inspire a global awareness of the need for specialized grief counseling and our mission is two-fold:
- To educate counseling professionals and assist those networking with service animal and disability organizations.
- To offer a forum of support by providing empathy, insight, advocacy and direction with resource information and referrals for those grieving or anticipating the loss of the unique partnership with a service/guide dog or assistance animal.
Letter To Bereaved Service Dog Owner
Dear Service Dog Owner,
We of the APLB Service Dog Committee are so sorry to hear of the loss of your service dog. Those of us on the committee, especially we who are service dog users, wish to reach out to you at this time because we have been where you are. No two kinds of grief are the same, of course, but we understand personally the bonds of love and interdependence you and your service dog shared. You may feel it is a closeness that is sometimes hard for able-bodied friends and family to imagine. If you are feeling that you lost your best friend and maybe even part of yourself, we want you to know it is not crazy thinking but a normal reaction. As C.S. Lewis said, “Grief is a winding valley”. Time goes on and your grief may change but you will always remember the wonderful difference in your life that dog made. Your heart may be big enough to love another service dog someday, maybe even soon. But as you struggle now through your grief and do what you have to do to live your life, please allow your friends, your family, our counselors, the APLB chat room folks and others try to comfort you. Your dog would not want you to go through this alone. They are no longer here to take care of you, but surely would want the rest of us humans to fill in for them, no matter how ineptly this may seem. Carry their legacy and memory in your heart and let us help. Please don’t hesitate to contact us through our chair, Cheryl Nahas.
Sincerely,
APLB Service Dog Committee
Letter To Organizations
There is always a need for supporters to work with us on this special committee. If you are interested in supporting our efforts or wish to share your insights or experience, whether as a professional or a service animal owner, kindly contact us by email @ www.aplb.org or cheryltxst@aol.com.
Below is a copy of a letter we send out to organizations. Please feel free to copy and direct it to individuals or institutions who may wish to work with us to help those bereaving the loss of a service animal.
To whom it may concern:
We are a committee of pet loss bereavement counselors and service animal users, concerned with the needs of individuals with disabilities who must ultimately grieve the loss or passing of their service animal companion. As you know there is a unique bond between owners and their service animal companions. When that special connection is severed, the grief experienced by the owner is very intense. If left untreated, this trauma may become critical for the survivor.
The loss of a faithful and dedicated companion is complicated by having to reenter society with a new service animal. Readjustments around issues of trust, independence, socialization and care-taking need to be made. For others, waiting to be paired with a new service animal can leave a void. This can complicate the bereavement process.
It is for this reason that we are striving to identify individuals at risk, and wish to research what supports are available, if any, for those who have already lost a service animal. We do however need and are requesting your help in accomplishing this task. We are a committee of the Association for Pet Loss Bereavement (APLB) - an internationally recognized nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting all who must learn to cope with the loss of a beloved companion animal. We accomplish this through a network of experienced counselors and authors on this subject, as well as a host of bereaved pet owners. The APLB holds four chat rooms every week, and are also helping implement widespread support groups, lead by experienced counselors, veterinarians and other support staff. The APLB offers an array of resources, which include, among other things, specially developed directories and a highly acclaimed quarterly newsletter. Do take a moment to examine our website and see how extensive our coverage is.
We would like to communicate with your representatives and work out a plan to help those in immediate need of specialized help. The APLB is distributing a needs assessment questionnaire, to be distributed to service organizations and various agencies that support the needs of people with disabilities and the vital role that service animals have in their lives. We invite them to share this information with individuals with disabilities of either category - service pet owners and non-service pet owners.
To advance our work in this field we need to better understand what is already available to the disabled community, in terms of social and grief supports around these losses. We are beginning a campaign to expand the public's awareness towards agencies and organizations that are dedicated to serving the needs of service animal owners. We also hope to help service animal organizations gain further insight into this essential role and specialized need for bereavement counseling with people with disabilities.
Thank you for your assistance.
Cheryl Nahas, MA, LMHC, LSW
Service Dogs Committee Chair
Article Excerpts
The following are article excerpts on service dog loss written by our Committee members and found in the APLB quarterly Newsletters. Our APLB members can access full viewing of these newsletters. For information on joining as an APLB member, please contact us.
Excerpts:
“A Lifeline Cut Short” (Autumn, 2000)
“…consider what it must be like if an animal companion had also been one's lifeline to the outside world - and served as an extra pair of eyes, ears, or limbs, providing courage and stability, reassurance, protection and constant attention. Ironically, being dependent also ultimately provides independence, enhanced self-esteem, and restored dignity. This special kind of relationship also opens new doors of communication, acceptance and social education. For those with severe physical disabilities, it is indeed a cruel twist of fate when a bond so essential is ended as they experience a profound sense of loss. They can feel frighteningly alone, abandoned and can experience great separation anxiety as their world is turned upside down. Daily routines are broken. They may isolate and experience pangs of depleted self-confidence. They may regress to feeling more vulnerable with a lack of trust. Sadly, there is little or no formal network support designed to help the disabled. These special clients may be referred out to the community to pet loss professionals if available. But that also requires an alert and well-trained counselor, who understands the dynamics of the physical, emotional, psychological and social challenges, concerning what it means to be disabled. This kind of grief situation is uniquely personal and private, and demands special handling and care…”
By Cheryl Nahas, MA, LMHC, LSW
“Wanted:Dedicated Pioneers-Service Dog Bereavement Counselors” (Autumn, 2001)
…“There is a dire need for greater public awareness and acknowledgment of this problem. And there is a great deficiency in resources to help provide access and connect the networks of service dog organizations across the country…many are small, privately owned and nonprofit, needing generous funding just to expand or to stay afloat. Our goal is to motivate that level of awareness within service animal organizations, as well as create a specially prepared group of bereavement counselors who are dedicated to working with this population. Disabled individuals need resources to help them which in turn will also give them a voice in their own communities to teach others like them how they can be better prepared to cope with this time of devastating loss. As our project picks up momentum and doors open, we expect it will become an integral part of a new fabric of grief work in animal and people advocacy…”
By Cheryl Nahas, MA, LMHC, LSW
“Service Dogs and Loss” (Summer, 2005)
… Now it is time to say good-bye to this relationship. Perhaps the dog has burned out from the work, and can no longer perform safely or have the focus the job requires. Or perhaps the dog’s health is deteriorating. Sometimes the person’s lifestyle changes so there is no longer a need for the dog. This may happen as a result of a degenerative illness leaving the person in a condition where the dog can no longer get the care it needs and deserves. Or the person’s changing emotional and/or psychological stability may create a situation that is not conducive for a dog. Also, on occasion a person may find a mate who will not accept the animal - and then a new problem has to be dealt with. For those people who are not in a position to keep this wonderful creature, they must deal with the loss of the intense relationship with this dog, and also deal with the practical matter of finding a loving home for him/her. It is very difficult to relinquish this bond and relationship. Those who are able to keep the retired service dog, also now need to juggle their own feelings of the loss of the relationship from the way it was - as well as help the new dog adjust to the relationship. When their dog become ill and dies, the person is overwhelmed with grief, unsure how to continue the daily routines. And there is now the added anxiety of wondering about getting a new partner. One is needed, but there is that terrible feeling that the person is somehow betraying or minimizing the relationship by even thinking about a new dog. That complicates the process. Getting a successor dog takes time. How long that will be depends on the person’s needs, the size of the training facility, and the person’s own psychological readiness. If the person is not in a good frame of mind, at best, training will be more complicated. And at worst, the process will fail. This puts the person under pressure to take care of personal feelings of loss, fear, anxiety, and so on. Most trainers understand this problem, and are very supportive…”
By Kim Samco, LPC
“The Winding Valley of Grief; When A Service Dog Retires or Dies” (Summer, 2005)
“…There are three different goodbyes in the loss of a service dog: the decision-making goodbye, the working relationship goodbye and the goodbye of death. As a service dog ages, the owner begins to notice changes in work: the walking pace slows down; the service dog needs more encouragement and may indicate she doesn’t want to leap over that next snowdrift or do other difficult jobs. Then the owner may begin to second-guess herself: how bad is it? Do two good days in a row mean she doesn’t really need to retire her dog, yet? Eventually there’s a sign that moves the owner into the when and how questions - a close crossing, a reluctance to do something formerly enjoyed. At this point the focus needs to be on what is best for the service dog. Most of her life has been focused on the owner’s needs. Susan Cohen of New York’s Animal Medical Center has pointed out nine themes which place people at risk for difficult grief experiences when a human animal bond ceases to exist. Several of these may be particularly salient for service dog owners. The themes are: other recent losses; spending fourteen hours or more a day with the animal; rescuing the animal; blame/guilt about the animal’s loss; living alone; first service dog or last service dog; sharing a significant life event with the dog; dog tied to another person; and identification with the animal. In assisting service dog owners, some other points to consider include: when the relocated retired service dog dies, or needs to be euthanized, the owner may grieve again. If a service dog dies or has to retire before many years of work, normal grief reactions are often be complicated by guilt, shock and anger… When the owner is between service dogs, her self esteem, sense of safety and comfort moving around and joy in facing a new day may be markedly decreased. Good healing grief is possible. The more actively one lets oneself grieve, the less likely one is to take out on the next dog in some “Second Dog Syndrome” comparison. The human heart is big, and there is room for each dog to have his/her place in it. Each one is unique, and a favorite in his/her own way…”
By Katherine Schneider, PhD
This excerpt has been adapted with permission from a forthcoming article in the
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, published by
American Foundation for the Blind,. All rights are reserved.
What Are Service Animals?
Below is a partial listing and description of service animals that are trained to help the human race.
“Service-Type Dogs”
- “Mobility/Service Dogs”- assist the mobility impaired, physically disabled, paralyzed/in wheelchairs with neurological disorders such as with muscular dystrophy, spina-bifida, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries or with bone and arthritic conditions.
- “Seeing Eye” or “Guide Dogs” - assist the visually impaired.
- “Hearing/Signal Dogs”- assist the hearing impaired.
- “Walking Dogs”- assist those that need counter-balancing stability and are prone to falls-e.g.., Parkinson’s Disease, spasms.
- “Seizure Response/ Alert Dogs”- assist those who detect and protect those with oncoming seizures.
- “Medical Dogs”- assist by responding to hypoglycemia, narcolepsy, cardiac and cancerous conditions.
- “Multi-Career Specialty Dogs” - are cross trained for several of the above types of services.
- “Assistance/Therapy Dogs” - assist with social therapy -for the elderly, children, etc.-in residential, nursing home, rehabilitation or psychiatric settings.
- “Emotional Support/Companion Dogs” - assist for psychosocial support for those with HIV, the elderly, autism, mental health issues, etc.
Other service animals trained may include monkeys (Capuchin), horses, birds (parrots), ferrets, cats, etc.
“Puppy Raisers” and Trainers, Breeders and Handlers all experience service animal loss.
“SEARCH AND RESCUE WORKING DOGS” (For Disaster (Natural and Terrorist) Relief)
- Search dogs to find missing, lost or disoriented people/children
- Cadaver dogs
- Avalanche dogs
- Earthquake/hurricane/tornado rescue dogs
- Mountain rescue dogs
- Water rescue dogs
- Bomb-sniffing dogs
- Fire rescue dogs
- Accelerant sniffing dogs
- Border patrol/immigration dogs for sniffing out drugs/illegal foods
- K-9 Police dogs
- Messenger dogs-(Used in war-time support)