My name is Steven and my service dog in training is Kaeley, an 8-month-old golden retriever. I am rather new to the service dog world, having been diagnosed with PTSD only in 2013. I have been symptomatic for the majority of my life, but getting this new diagnosis changed many things. Probably the best thing that came out of this was learning that I could get a psychiatric service dog, as I was a virtual hermit for the past seven years. The prospect of getting back out in the world again was both exciting and scary!
In my early researching, I ran across a woman in your PSDP group and she suggested that I contact you to become a member. I was ecstatic that there was an organization that was not only for service dogs and their disabled partners, but that concentrated on psychiatric service dogs and their partners with psychiatric disabilities. That is a pretty specialized area.
Through PSDP’s website and listserv, I was able to learn a lot from people, both veterans and newbies like myself, about all of the things that are involved in training a service dog and even issues about dog health, the laws, and so much more. PSDP is a wealth of knowledge and it is truly a great organization filled with people who are caring and passionate about service dogs and their partners.
There is a lot that has gone into the making of PSDP. I love the fact that they are not biased like so many other groups are and that they provide accurate and up-to-date information. They also deal with other issues that naturally arise because it seems that psychological and physiological issues go hand in hand and usually one affects the other. Having a group with such diversity is great because you can get (or give) information about all levels of service dogs and their partners. I wish the very best to PSDP and its community!