Service Dogs in Church - Training Your Dog to Assist You in Houses of Worship

If you're training your own service dog, through an owner-training program or on your own, there are many good resources available, including books, videos, and websites, to assist you in the task. However, these resources rarely speak to training your service dog to work with you in your church or place of worship. If having your service dog with you while attending religious services is important to you, this may frustrate you greatly. Church is not very much like any other environment at all. In a shopping excursion, your service dog will encounter a variety of food smells, people walking in all directions, aisles and product displays to navigate, and a checkout counter. At work or school, your service dog will need to sit patiently near your desk and tune out the office noises or instructor lecturing. But in a place of worship, your dog will have to cope with music, sometimes loud music, people standing in front of their seats, perhaps kneeling or clapping, ushers walking up and down the aisles midway through service, the worship leader's weekly teaching, and the chaos of adults chatting and children of all ages running around afterwards.

How do you train your service dog to cope with all of this, with manuals and instructions that, in their need to be inoffensive to people of any belief system, leave out those service dog owners who attend religious services regularly? We wondered the same thing when we began training our child's service dog. This is the method we developed, for training a dog to go to church. For simplicity's sake, this article will refer to all houses of worship as "church," and all leaders as "pastor," even though the names used in your particular congregation may differ.

First, remember that under United States law, houses of worship are exempt from the requirement to permit service animals. Approach your church pastor, and let him or her know of your intent to begin using a service dog, and to have the dog with you in church. It will help to be prepared to answer the common question of what service the animal provides. Also, talk to the leaders of any Sunday School or small groups you participate in. These people can be great allies in helping the congregation understand and be prepared for having a dog join them in church. Your leaders will probably also be concerned about your service dog disturbing you or others. Be prepared to answer that concern with understanding. Ask what you can do to help the leaders feel comfortable with the idea of a service dog, especially a service dog in training, who will not disturb the worship service. If needed invite the leaders to meet you and your service dog at a fast-food restaurant, for a light lunch and a chat about the matter. Avoid the temptation to meet at a coffee shop. It may be the environment best suited to an informal meeting, but it's not much of a credential that a dog doesn't beg the other patrons for a sip of their coffee! You need to show your church leaders that your service dog in training can sit quietly and ignore cheeseburgers and fried chicken.

Second, check your church's mid-week offerings. Many churches offer a short sermon or class during the week, that is not as well-attended as the main Saturday or Sunday services. Notify the leader of this particular meeting, before you bring your service dog. Ask the leader if there will be food served at the following meeting. Just as in regular service dog training, you must think ahead and take care not to put your dog into a situation that he is liable to fail in. If the group is planning to have a pizza party next week, it may not be the best night to start taking your service dog to church! Plan your answer to the inevitable question of what your service dog does for you. If your disability is of a more personal nature, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, also take the time to plan an age-appropriate answer to give to younger children who may be in attendance.

Once you've cleared those things, consider the environment that your dog will encounter during weekly services. Will he be going to a high school room, with couches that he ought not sit on? Does your church play its music loud, or have lots of clapping? Do people kneel, or dance in the aisles? Do you walk to the altar for communion? Do young children sit through the service, and occasionally make noise? Is there a meet-and-greet time? Will people set coffee or donuts under their chairs? Just like any other environment, your service dog needs to practice before the big day.

Play church music at home. Try to match the volume your dog will experience during the services. Watch movies, or listen to talk radio while sitting down for about the length of time your pastor spends on teaching. Go to the movies, and practice sitting in the aisles. Expect to be watching the dog, not the movie. Choose a movie you've seen before, and attend a cheap theater, so you're not missing much if you have to leave early. Children's films on a Saturday afternoon may be a wise choice, if your church has a lot of young children.

Talk to your church leaders, and arrange a time when you can bring the dog in to see the places you go. Take him to your small group room and practice sitting in the chairs. Walk him into the bathroom. If he cannot go into the stall with you, teach him to sit in the most convenient place possible. Our service dog is trained to sit under the sink, for example. Walk into the sanctuary, down the aisles, between the aisles. If you take communion at the altar, walk him through that routine as best you can. If you can, have somebody in your family skip church one week, and bring the dog after church. Take him through the building again while about half of the attendees are still milling about. Most often, it's the core group of members who hang around longest, so not only will your service dog get familiar with all the people, but the people most involved in church will get to meet your dog. They can help you with educating others, because this core group of members often is the most outspoken in sharing information, and most visible for those who may not direct their questions to you.

Stop and consider, again, your own individual church. Training a service dog is never a one-size-fits-all situation, and you must come up with your own how-to guide as you go along. Is there anything else your dog will encounter, that you haven't yet prepared him for? Have you had somebody dance around your house, like they do in church? Does your family sing and clap with music? Do people kneel in prayer, or leave coffee cups on the floor under your living room furniture? Have you thought of the different experiences that haven't been mentioned here, and have you made a plan to expose your service dog to those situations? Once you have, you're ready to go on.

Finally, talk again with your church leadership, this time about the best way to educate the congregation at large about proper etiquette around a service dog. There are many service animals at work every day in the United States, but many people never see one. As a result, proper behavior is not something that comes up in the conversations that many parents have with their children. Your church may suggest putting the information in the bulletin, or distributing a notice to all Sunday School teachers, or even having you visit each class, especially the children's classes, sharing information about your service dog with each group, in an age-appropriate manner. Take the leaders up on whatever they have to offer. If the information is being distributed in writing, limit the information to the dog's name, and the basic rules about how to behave around your service dog, including the petting issue. If you sometimes allow your dog to be petted, don't forget to inform people that if you say no to petting, it's because your dog needs a break, but that it's all right to ask again another day. Don't share your disability in writing. Let people come to you, so that you can answer them in an age-appropriate manner.

Now, after several weeks, or even months, of preparation, your service dog is ready to go to church. But wait! Before choosing the day, check your church's calendar of events. If your church is having a picnic after church service, maybe avoid that day. Your service dog will be a novelty, and everybody will want to feed him and mess with him. Pick a day that you and your leaders expect to be fairly average. Sit near the back and be prepared to make an early exit if need be. Have plenty of treats, to get his attention when the chaos of the situation makes it hard for him to focus on your voice. Be prepared to answer the same three or four questions, over and over. Be prepared in the event of people leaning over to whisper during the pastor's teaching, to graciously respond that you'll be happy to talk about your service dog after church. If you've been attending your church for quite some time, be prepared for people who need more information about your particular disability, to understand what may appear to be an unneeded change.

And, be prepared for compliments about how well you've trained your service dog.