Online Dog Training Courses from a Certified Trainer
Take our 2-minute assessment
Answer a few questions to determine the best Pettable Academy training program for your dog.
Access your online dog training courses
Immediately begin training your pet with video modules led by Lisa Gallegos, CPDT-KA.
Strengthen your relationship
American ESA Academy will help you reach a new level of satisfaction with your dog and its behavior.
Tips On How To Train Your Dog
To get you started with American ESA Academy, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind when beginning online dog training.
1. Your pet’s health is key
Dog training relies on your understanding of your dog’s body language, which may be impacted if your pet is struggling with a sickness, injury or disease. To ensure your dog can fully grasp and complete its training, bring your pet to the vet for a full check-up before enrolling in Pettable Academy
2. Go slowly
Just like the rest of us, it takes time, repetition and a few mistakes along the way for your pet to get used to the new skills you are teaching it. Dog training can vary in length based on your schedule, your preferred pace, your dog’s ability not to get overwhelmed and your pet’s level of obedience when beginning training. Be sure you are patient with both yourself and your pup to get the best results.
3. Your dog is always learning
Whether your dog is a psychiatric service dog or just a pet, it is always learning. Paying close attention to both your dog’s actions and your actions when around your dog to ensure you are reinforcing positive behavior is key to your dog’s willingness to engage in psychiatric service dog training tasks. Remember, treats are key!
What our pet parents are saying
American ESA is a treasure trove of information for anyone who adores animals. From insightful articles on behavior to heartwarming stories of animal rescue, it's a must-visit for those passionate about our furry friends. Easy to navigate and filled with engaging content, this platform has become my go-to for all things animal-related. Highly recommended!
I stumbled upon American ESA while searching for guidance on caring for my beloved companions, and I'm so grateful I did. The articles are not only informative but also infused with a deep sense of empathy and understanding for animals. Whether you're a seasoned pet owner or considering welcoming a new furry friend into your life, this website offers invaluable insights that will enrich your bond.
American ESA goes beyond being just an informational hub; it's a vibrant community of animal lovers united by their passion for our four-legged companions. I've found solace and support here, whether seeking advice on pet-related issues or simply sharing heartwarming stories. The articles are engaging, the community is welcoming, and the overall experience is enriching.
Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll need a licensed medical professional to diagnose you with a qualifying condition and provide you with a valid ESA Letter to protect those rights. Unlike psychiatric service dogs (PSDs) and other service animals, airlines and businesses are not required to allow you to keep your ESA with you.
ESAs do not have to receive intensive training but should be well-behaved. That is important because, while qualified ESA owners have specific rights when it comes to living with an ESA, bad behavior like constant barking, aggressiveness, or destructive actions are reasons that a landlord or property manager can have your pet removed or make you move out.
A psychiatric service dog (PSD) is a dog trained to perform specific actions to assist someone to deal with the effects and symptoms of a recognized psychiatric disability. To provide that help, PSDs need obedience and situational behavior training. But they also need extensive, individualized training to provide the complicated help individual users require. We discuss those tasks and training requirements elsewhere in this FAQ.While ESA owners’ rights are limited to housing under the Fair Housing Act, the use of psychiatric service dogs, like other service animals, is also covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Those laws protect PSD users from discrimination while traveling on airlines and other commercial travel providers, in housing, and in access to most private businesses and public spaces. As long as their PSD is properly trained and can be reasonably accommodated, Psychiatric Service Dog users are entitled to have their PSD living with them in their home; in an airline's main cabin; and when they go to appointments, public events, and go shopping, out to eat, or on errands to other businesses.
As a responsible PSD user, you need to understand the service dog training and behavior requirements that apply where you live, including federal, state, and local rules. Under the regulations included in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dog training must include work or task training.
All service dogs have to be well-trained to always behave properly in public. A service dog that behaves poorly or reacts inappropriately to an unexpected situation can be removed and banned from public places.
Of course, that involves obedience training to react properly to commands. But service dogs also need training to NOT react to different situations. “Exposure” training involves a long checklist of potential triggers that a dog might react to, whether that’s somebody hugging you or petting them unexpectedly, people wearing unusual clothing like a long jacket or a hard hat, loud noises, or other dogs playing or fighting. The list of potential triggers is very long and training a service dog to react properly (or NOT react) to each one takes time.
What makes a service dog, including PSDs, different from other well-trained dogs is that they must also learn to help you with specific needs created by your disability. That help falls into two categories: Work and Tasks. Tasks are the actions a service dog will do when its user tells it to do something, like fetching something or helping you to stand up.
Work includes all the actions a PSD is trained to do without prompting, like warning you when it senses a panic attack coming on, comforting you so you can get back to sleep after a night terror, or reacting to other non-verbal cues to help warn of and head off an episode.
PSD “work”, on the other hand, are the actions a psychiatric service dog learns to do on its own when it senses you need specific help. In addition to the examples above, those can include touching or making eye contact when it senses you need to be distracted from your thoughts, leading you away from situations and guiding you home if you become disassociated and confused about where you are, or keeping a “safe zone” between you and other people.