(gentle music) - Hi, kids, my name is Kathie Ball, and I'm a service dog trainer.

These are my two service dogs.

This is Reese, and Reese is nine years old.

She's at the end of her, she's going to retire soon.

And Reese will notify me if I'm going to have a seizure.

She will knock me, hit me on my knees right here, and she will let me know, and she will keep it up, even up to the time I have the seizure.

If I don't pay attention to her, she will continue to do that.

And then, this is Parker.

She's three years old, and Parker is learning how to notify me of my seizures.

She's not doing it yet, but she's helping to train a lot of service dogs.

The reason that we like to use poodles and doodles is because of the coat.

Because if you run your hand through it, it's just something calming about her coat and her ears.

It's just wonderful.

Service dogs can do a lot of things that regular dogs can't.

Of course, they can shake hands, and wave, or something like that, but they also do things like retrieving, and your dog may can retrieve, but can they retrieve your keys or pick up his leash or get something off the table for you?

And not every dog can become a service dog.

And we do an assessment when they're eight weeks old.

And that will tell you basically how they are.

Are they calm around new things?

Can they recover quickly from something that is excitable?

Usually, one of the things I do is I open an umbrella.

Like, I push the button and it opens.

And what I want from the dog is the dog go, (gasps) "What is that?"

And come up and step in the umbrella.

That's just the way it is.

And we do the assessment to find out what type of dog or what type of person he's going to be when he grows up.

And I started training service dogs for veterans with A Veteran's Best Friend here in Cabot.

And I trained them for four years.

Down.

Excellent.

What I do now is I train them for people with PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder.

And that's usually when you have something traumatic happen in your life and it affects you very much.

So, it affects you to the point where you can't go out, you can't go anywhere or do anything.

And when you put these dogs to people so that they can go out and do.

Kids, if you approach someone with a service dog, don't be looking at their service dog.

Then, what you need to do is speak to the person and talk to them because the dog is a piece of medical equipment, and the dog really it's like, it's not there.

But if you want to pet the dog, you can ask the person, "Can I pet your dog?"

And they will tell you either yes or no.

So, if they tell you no, don't be offended because the dog is working for that person.

And if you're petting the dog and distracting the dog, the dog can't work.

(gentle music continues) I train dogs for schools.

Educational assistance dogs is what they're called.

The school dogs are trained in that they do puppy class.

We start with a puppy because we want the dog raised in the school.

That way they don't know any different.

So, we start them in puppy class, and that's usually six weeks.

And then we do Canine Good Citizen, which is, it's a American Kennel Club title.

And it goes on the end of their name.

And then, we do our service dog and our educational assistance dog training.

And that usually takes about two years.

And they learn everything in the world from, I don't know.

They can get up on a table.

They can pick things up, retrieve things, and that way they're able to deal with every situation in school.

If you come to school, you're not feeling good.

If things aren't going right at home, then you can spend some time with the dog and make you feel better.

I'm trying to think if you're taking a test and you're not a good test taker, then maybe you can have the dog with you.

Anyway, the dogs will go into special education classes and work with the kids in there.

And they work with kids in wheelchairs and autistic children.

(gentle music continues) They do things like they'll pull their wheelchairs.

They can hug them.

To certify a service dog, they're in training up to the time that they take the test.

The test takes about 30 minutes, but they have to do things like you have to be able to heel properly.

You have to be able to shop, and the dog has to stay with you.

The dog has to be greeted by children.

They have to be able to lie down and kids come up to them.

They have to be handled by a stranger where you leave the dog with them and you walk off and then you come back.

We eat at a restaurant usually, and they have to be able to go under the table and be quiet and do their thing and not bother you while you're eating.

Let me think.

Oh yeah.

The most important thing, I think, is you have to have the dog seated, and you have to put a plate of food down next to them, and they have to leave it alone.

You have to tell them "Leave it."

And you put the food down.

- Leave it.

Okay, get it.

- They will either look at it or not.

It just depends on the dog.

And if they pass the test, they can be certified.

(gentle music continues) I train service dogs because I love it.

Then, practice your commands you've learned this past week.

Settle, sit, down, walk on the leash, wait, recall, leave it, and watch me.

There is nothing better in the world than to see somebody broken and unable to do things for themselves, to be able to grow with their dog, and they can do things then.

(gentle music)