# People on Scooters with Service Dogs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 3, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456 "2007-03-03T20:03:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/1 "2007-03-03T20:03:20Z")
I’ve occasionally seen people with a physical disabilty on a scooter, with a service dog. What function would a service dog play? The individuals that I’ve seen aren’t blind or deaf - their disabilty is more a mobility issue. Can anyone fill me in?
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/2 "2007-03-03T20:21:06Z")
There are [mobility assistance dogs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobility_assistance_dog) in addition to seeing-eye and hearing-ear dogs. They are usually trained to open doors (which generally have a pull-rope around the handle for them to grab), turn lights off and on, fetch objects, and sometimes to pull a wheelchair. One of **supervenusfreak’s** former clients had a trained mobility service dog.
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/3 "2007-03-03T22:16:09Z")
A friend of mine has a service dog do to mobility issues. Her condition is slowly taking away her ability to walk/stand up and move her arms effectively. She has a service dog to that fetches things for her or opens doors and such. The dog is very smart and very cool. It can take orders like get the dictionary from the book case. I’ve tried commands like make us chicken parmigiana on ziti to little effect though.
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### Author:  [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/4 "2007-03-04T01:33:25Z")
Could it be so they can use an [ATM](http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=39317&in_page_id=2)
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### Author:  [@Adoptamom\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adoptamom_II)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/5 "2007-03-04T03:04:52Z")
One of the children at the therapy center where I work will be getting a service dog very soon. The boy is about 7 years old and permanently in a wheelchair. His dog will be able to turn on/off lights, open doors, retrieve his school books, alert adults when he needs assistance and all sorts of cool things. The little boy is very, very excited about getting his service dog as it will help him be less dependent.
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### Author:  [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/6 "2007-03-04T03:52:26Z")
I have no first hand knowledge of this, but have heard of service dogs that can sense an epileptic episode about to happen in the near future, allowing the person to seek a safe haven in advance. Again, it is hearsay, I got nothing to back this up.
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### Author:  [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/7 "2007-03-04T03:53:55Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper]
I’ve occasionally seen people with a physical disabilty on a scooter, with a service dog. What function would a service dog play? The individuals that I’ve seen aren’t blind or deaf - their disabilty is more a mobility issue. Can anyone fill me in?
[/QUOTE]
I used to work for a quadriplegic with a service dog. The dog was trained to open doors, pick up objects, and also served as a companion for the man. He was a beautiful and smart golden retriever, who served his client very well, before passing away a couple of years ago.
There are service dogs for all sorts of physical needs. They are specially trained companions for the disabled. I remember reading about service dogs that have been trained to help epilepsy patients, who may have problems with grand mal seizures.
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### Author:  [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/8 "2007-03-04T04:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=seenidog]
I have no first hand knowledge of this, but have heard of service dogs that can sense an epileptic episode about to happen in the near future, allowing the person to seek a safe haven in advance. Again, it is hearsay, I got nothing to back this up.
[/QUOTE]
You heard right. No one’s sure how this works, but my WAG: upcoming epileptic fit changes skin and/or lung secretions that the dog can smell (a dog’s sense of smell is _much_ more acute than a human’s). Saw a study a couple of month’s ago in which dogs were trained to smell a human’s breath and indicate to their handlers through some signal _whether or not the person had lung or breast cancer_. No kidding. And the dogs were quite accurate, even though many of the lung cancer patients were heavy smokers (and thus smelled like smoke).
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### Author:  [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/9 "2007-03-04T06:28:30Z")
[QUOTE=Malienation]
You heard right. No one’s sure how this works, but my WAG: upcoming epileptic fit changes skin and/or lung secretions that the dog can smell (a dog’s sense of smell is _much_ more acute than a human’s). Saw a study a couple of month’s ago in which dogs were trained to smell a human’s breath and indicate to their handlers through some signal _whether or not the person had lung or breast cancer_. No kidding. And the dogs were quite accurate, even though many of the lung cancer patients were heavy smokers (and thus smelled like smoke).
[/QUOTE]
Also there’s Dogs4Diabetics, who do the same kind of thing, but they can tell when someone is in danger of diabetic coma or something.
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### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/10 "2007-03-04T13:24:09Z")
[QUOTE=supervenusfreak]
I used to work for a quadriplegic with a service dog. The dog was trained to open doors, pick up objects, and also served as a companion for the man. He was a beautiful and smart golden retriever, who served his client very well, before passing away a couple of years ago.
[/QUOTE]
My BIL Tim has a service dog, a big black Lab named Angus. In addition to the things **supervenusfreak** mentions, if Tim should fall out of his wheelchair, Angus has been trained to take that as his cue to _stay with Tim and bark like crazy._ That tells anyone within earshot that Tim needs help.
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### Author:  [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-on-scooters-with-service-dogs/394456/11 "2007-03-04T14:50:24Z")
I have an acquaintance that is unstable on her feet and her service dog has been trained to sense an imbalance and either pull or brace as needed to help keep her upright, among other things.