I’m not sure why you want me to help you learn more about service dogs. Your answers clearly show you’re pretty service dog savvy. Some dogs, medical alert dogs that are trained to help with epilepsy or diabetes may be trained to find help if their human needs it. (1) https://twitter.com/mustlovedon/status/1326262786930962432

(2) This can be done by pushing a button to alert authorities, barking to signal help and in some cases, to find another human. Depending where the dog is trained and depending on the needs of the owner, depends on how the dog reacts when his human needs help.

(3) Pushing a button is handy when the handler is home alone with his dog. Barking or looking for another human is handy for alerting parents or caregivers to a sick child or client. Don wasn’t trained by school to do any of the above. As he wasn’t a medical alert dog.

(4) Following posts on social media suggesting what you should do if approached by a service dog, I asked our trainer if any of their dogs were trained to look for help from a human. They choose not to, as it can cause safety issues for the dog if he’s in a busy place.

(5) i later learned that other schools do train to look for human help and those who train their own service dogs also have that choice. Because i don’t have epilepsy or type 1 diabetes we never really worked on button pushing. I had however trained Don to bark on command.

(6) Initially because I wanted him to stop obsessively barking at the doorbell, but I knew I could also use the command to get Jessica’s attention if I needed help. I also taught commands ‘Find Jessy’ and ‘Find Angela’. (My other sister). With the same intention, to get help.

(7) Angela has severe hearing loss. I can’t just shout help from another room if I’m stuck on the floor. Don loves hide and seek type games. So we ‘played’ often. I never had to use these commands in a real situation. Though Don did bark when I had an asthma attack.

(8) If you’re approached by a service dog, it’s likely to happen on the street, in a busy shopping area or a restaurant. If you said you’d locate it’s owner, you’re very sensible. Though there’s a chance he’s lost, his human probably needs your help. (End)