Gear

(This post is part of the April A to Z blogging challenge.)

There's something about working with animals that leads to an accumulation of stuff. I have 3 saddles, a couple bridles, and untold odds and ends. I haven't ridden in years. The boxes of dog stuff I have gathered is almost embarrassing.

It does mean that outfitting Keeper is really easy right now. Her chest is 34 inches around. Duncan's is 33 inches. I don't have to buy harnesses or packs, I just go through Duncan's old stuff and let it out a little. Her neck's already several inches bigger than his, so collars are no longer hand-me-downs.

Before I get rolling: service dogs, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) do not need any special gear, though they should follow leash laws. Duncan's gone "naked" a couple places. Once we were visiting a friend and stayed late enough that they invited us out to eat, I found I didn't even have a vest in the glove box. We went to the restaurant in collar and leash. He maintained a proper working attitude even without his gear, and other than having a few questions, the waitstaff rolled with it. It is often easier to "look the part" when out and about, but not every task, or every team, or every outing is going to be in fully labeled gear.

Because of my disabilities, I generally find it easier to have a harness on my dog. Because I do not want to spend all my limited time and energy educating the public, I have a canine backpack with large patches that say "Service Dog" and "Do Not Pet" that can be read from across the room. Those things are my choice, not a requirement.

For comparison: Service Dog in Training vest. Patches say "in training" and "Service Dog / Do Not Pet". I think the rectangle is a 3 x 5 inch patch.

Duncan stands in front of a dresser with his blue vest on.

Service Dog backpack with the up-sized patches I made over a Bridgeport harness. I think these patches are each 3 x 11 inches.

Duncan stands in front of a door with his blue backpack on.

Same information, same wording, same white text on a dark background, much different responses. The number of drive-by pettings and people stopping me to ask questions decreased noticeably with the up-sized patches. There's also an increase in the amount of reflective material he's wearing. He's a medium-dark brown with tan points. Anything I can do to help him stand out in the dark, I do. Keeper's got a two inch reflective collar, because she's mostly black. At this rate, my fifth SD will have a reflective body suit with eye holes.

Gear can be expensive if you have to buy it all in a chunk. In my last post on gear I included links to harnesses that are in the hundreds of dollars. It also gets more expensive the bigger the dog is- Keeper's crate is the Giant size, and was a couple hundred dollars. I ended up making part of her collar because the "cheap" collars in her size were $30+.

Finding the right gear for each dog can be a quest to fit body types and keep things comfortable. The Kurgo car harness I have almost miraculously fits Duncan, Strider and Keeper. Duncan's built like a Lab or light Rottweiler, Strider's a deep but narrow chested GSD, Keeper's a bearish, barrel-chested Bernese Mountain Dog. The Kurgo can be adjusted to fit all of them properly.

Duncan's custom PawPower Y-front harness that I love so much fits Keeper well enough for now... though I have a feeling she'll need a harness of her own for work as she fills out and ends up with a deeper and broader chest than Duncan. She's a little shorter from elbow to prosternum than he is, and her neck ties into her chest a bit higher. Still, the harness works and fits well enough she's happy to see it. I may have to try to reverse engineer it. I won't be able to order one for her, the man who made it has passed away.

She's happy to see her Lupine step-in harness, as well. It's a T-front (the straight front chest strap has a strap connecting it to the girth strap.) I use a neoprene handle I found on ActiveDogs.com now, as hard handles like the Bridgeport or a standard guide handle hurt my hands.

Leashes are totally interchangeable between dogs, thankfully, as I'm picky. I love my Deer Ridge leashes from Weaver- they have all stitching, no rivets, no braiding- and I'm not sure I can find them like that any more. (Which is a bummer as I desire a 4 foot leash. I have a couple nice 6 footers I don't want to cut down and the Deer Ridge now has rivets.)

Gear for service dogs not only has to make the handler happy and fit the dog, it has to make the dog happy, and be functional. That can be a very tall order, and sometimes it's hard to tell if the dog is putting up with things because they want to work. Duncan worked in the Bridgeport for years, running to get dressed because it was what we used. After he found out that the PawPower was an option for going out, he hid from the Bridgeport. I never knew he disliked the Bridgeport, I made the change because of issues I was having.

I'm always on the lookout for better gear. I know my collection will continue to grow, but it's nice to have most of it figured out. For now.