SDTI Monthly Newsletter
November 2025 Edition
Get future newsletters in your RSS reader Psychiatric Month: Anxiety, PTSD and Related Conditions
Mini Quiz Challenge
What is the main purpose of a PTSD or anxiety service dog (aka Psychiatric Service Dog)?
A) To replace medication completely
B) To perform mobility tasks like picking up dropped items
C) To provide trained support for managing symptoms of PTSD or anxiety
D) To help the handler feel safer in stressful situations
Featured Resource This Month
Anxiety/PTSD Task Class
Part of our Advanced Training courses, for Public Access.
Learn step by step how to teach a variety of tasks to interrupt and mitigate anxiety.
- nose nudge
- chin rest
- light and deep pressure therapy (variety of positions)
- blocking in a variety of positions
- wearing a harness
- pulling forward in a harness
- finding an exit
ACCESS
24/7 for 2 years
FORMAT
Self-study
Regular Price: $50
Special Price: CA$37.50
Use this coupon code when registering:Â
Did You Know?
Roughly one-in-three U.S. adults (about 31 %) (2005) will experience some type of anxiety disorder at some point in their life? For Canadians, it is about 1 in 4. About 11% (2019)Â of US children 3-11 years have current, diagnosed anxiety and 9% in Canada (2019).
US women are more affected with anxiety than men (2005): 23.4% of women had an anxiety disorder in the past year compared with 14.3% of men. Canadian counterparts experience about half the rate at 11.6% in females and 6.3% in men (2013).
 Lifetime prevalence of PTSD (U.S. adults) is about 6.8% (2003). Almost twice as many women as men suffer from it. In Canada 6.9% (2021) of adults screened positive for moderate-to-severe PTSD symptoms. Canadian women are also twice as likely to develop PTSD.
A 2017 U.C. Davis study indicated that psychiatric service dogs (for PTSD/anxiety) are the fourth most common type of service dogs in North America (from program providers). It is also the fastest growing segment of types of service dog. There are no statistics for self-trained dogs.
that in the past month, Bruce has been diligently reformatting the video, audio and QA Chat files so they are searchable and the information easier to find in our library? Â
Featured Resources
This game teaches your dog to use distractions as a way to “point them out to you” so you can tell him how you want to respond to them. Â It is a very valuable skill especially during a fear period or if your dog is very sight-oriented. A great way to eliminate “sticky” staring behaviors too. It also gives you a way to point out sudden changes to prevent your dog from being startled.
Free Blog Post: Finding the Perfect Owner-Trained Service Dog for PTSD, Anxiety, and Autism
Whether you are starting with a puppy or an adult dog, here is the rough order for behaviors you can use to prepare for public access for a psychiatric, ptsd, anxiety or even an autism service dog.
Paid Blog Post: Concerns About Training Your Own Anxiety Assistance Puppy
Whether you are starting with a puppy or an adult dog, here is the rough order for behaviors you can use to prepare for public access for a psychiatric, ptsd, anxiety or even an autism service dog.
Free Blog Post: Train a Psychiatric Service Dog for Public Access: Month-by-Month Roadmap
Whether you are starting with a puppy or an adult dog, here is the rough order for behaviors you can use to prepare for public access for a psychiatric, ptsd, anxiety or even an autism service dog.
Paid Blog Post: PTSD and Anxiety Alert Tasks for Assistance Dogs
Whether you are starting with a puppy or an adult dog, here is the rough order for behaviors you can use to prepare for public access for a psychiatric, ptsd, anxiety or even an autism service dog.
Paid Blog Post: Opening Up Without Pressure: Helping Students Share About Anxiety and PTSD
When working with students who live with anxiety, PTSD, or other stress-related conditions, trainers often face a quiet challenge: getting accurate, honest information during initial interviews.Â
It’s not that students are intentionally withholding—it’s that trust takes time, and many have learned to protect themselves by keeping things vague or downplaying struggles. But those hidden details can greatly affect a training plan.
Training Tips
Choose a dog with the right temperament
Start with a dog that has a stable, resilient temperament and is not emotionally dependent on the handler. Dogs that offer many appeasement signs to people or dogs or are emotionally or physically sensitive are rarely successful as Psychiatric Dogs. Avoid asking the dog to performing emotional tasks until at least 18 months of age, or later if the dog matures slowly.
Train task chaining
Combine simple behaviors into longer sequences. Example: “alert → lead to chair → apply deep pressure → stay calm.” This builds functional skills that mimic professional service dog tasks.
Self-check and dog welfare
Always watch your dog for signs of stress, fatigue, or boredom. Learn to read specific body language cues—like yawning, lip licking, lowered tail, or tense posture—as early indicators of discomfort. Rotate training sessions, provide mental breaks, and reinforce tasks consistently to keep your dog confident, happy, and effective in real-world support roles.
Events This Month
FREE QA Chat
Date: Sat. Nov 8 at 1pm Pacific
Topic: Teetering on the Edge: Stress Signs at Your Dog’s Threshold & Vagus Nerve Discussion
Have you ever wondered how to tell how close your dog is to “blowing up” or responding to distraction in training or real life? Just like people, dogs can react as well. Bring video footage, questions, observations of your own dog and ideas to share!
The QA Chat will be recorded and added to the library so if you cannot attend, it will be available. At just CA$11 per month (~US$8.25), it’s a great way to support us. Sign up for a day, get access for the month. Cancel anytime!