Anxiety is a psychiatric condition that affects millions of individuals in the US alone. Service animals can ease anxiety symptoms and improve their handler’s quality of life by performing various tasks and providing peace of mind.
However, these highly trained service animals require a hefty investment. The initial cost of acquiring a fully trained service dog for anxiety can be up to $30,000. While service dogs typically require a hefty investment, you don’t need a lot of money to get one.
Our article will cover how to get a free service dog for anxiety. Continue reading to find out where you should be looking to get a free psychiatric service animal.
What Service Dogs Can Do for People With Anxiety
Service dogs for anxiety are psychiatric service animals. These dogs can uphold various duties to assist their handler with anxiety. Here are some of the tasks service dogs can do for people with anxiety:
● Deep Pressure Therapy: Service animals trained to assist individuals with anxiety can identify the onset of an anxiety attack and perform deep pressure therapy to comfort the handler.
● Guide the Handler: Anxiety can be disorienting and cause the handler to become unable to find their way. Service dogs for anxiety can guide the handler to a safe location during or after an anxiety attack.
● Fetch Medication or Tools: Psychiatric service dogs can fetch medication or tools the handler may need for grounding themselves during an episode.
● Block Others: Service dogs for anxiety, particularly social anxiety, can be trained to stand between the handler and others to prevent them from getting too close.
● Wake Up the Handler: Psychiatric service dogs can wake up the handler if they faint during an episode by barking, licking their face, or putting pressure on their body.
How to Get a Free Service Dog for Anxiety
Service dogs for anxiety are expensive as insurance policies typically don’t cover the cost of acquiring, maintaining, or training a service animal. Nonetheless, it is possible to get a service dog for anxiety without spending tens of thousands of dollars.
Below, you’ll discover how to get a free service dog for anxiety. We’ll also cover training your dog to become a psychiatric service animal as an option.
Non-Profit Organizations
There are numerous non-profit organizations that help individuals with various disabilities, including psychiatric disabilities, get a service animal. There should be at least a few of these non-profits that can provide you with a free service animal for anxiety. Here’s a quick list of
non-profit organizations with a proven track of providing service animals to individuals with disabilities.
● Paws With a Cause
● Canines for Disabled Kids
● Paws 4 People Foundation
● Canine Companions
● Assistance Dogs International
● Medical Mutts
While these non-profit organizations will happily help you adopt a service animal for anxiety,
there’s often a waiting list. When contacting non-profit organizations in your area, make sure to
ask about their availability and waiting list to get a realistic expectation on how soon you can get a service dog for anxiety.
Veteran Organizations
If you’re a veteran, you may be able to get a free service animal for anxiety or other psychiatric conditions much sooner than others. There are several non-profit organizations dedicated to providing veterans with service dogs.
Some of these veteran organizations are Pups4Patriots, Paws Assisting Wounded Warriors,
Battle Buddy Foundation, American Humane, and America’s VetDogs. The same as other non-profits mentioned, note that there might be a waiting list to acquire a free service dog.
Train Your Dog to Become a Service Dog
Another cost-effective way to get a service dog for anxiety is by training your dog to become one. There are countless free resources that teach you how to train your dog to become a service dog, with YouTube being an excellent place to start.
There are also affordable online courses you can enroll in to teach your dog the psychiatric service animal tasks to help with your anxiety. For example, USServiceAnimals has a six-module online course that’s 95% more cost-effective than traditional service dog training.
The training includes all the materials and resources you need, plus registration similar to ESA certification and an optional service dog vest, collar, leash, and other equipment.
Lastly, you can contact free service dog training facilities. These can be the same non-profit organizations that help people acquire service dogs or dog training companies that train a number of service animals for free as part of their charity work.
Getting a Free Service Dog for Anxiety
Service dogs for anxiety are remarkable assistance animals that can improve the life quality of someone with anxiety and other psychiatric disabilities. Although these dogs typically require a big investment, there are many organizations that will happily help you get a free service dog for anxiety.
It may take some time to acquire a service dog from non-profit organizations (or effort if you plan on training your dog yourself), but it certainly is possible to get a free service dog for anxiety.
