CDT Service & Therapy Dog Training 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A service dog in training (SDIT) has public access rights under federal law in which situation?
- Always, the same as a fully trained service dog
- Only when accompanied by a licensed trainer in states that extend public access to SDITs (Correct answer)
- Only inside federally funded buildings
- Never — SDITs have no public access rights
Correct answer: Only when accompanied by a licensed trainer in states that extend public access to SDITs
Federal law does not grant SDITs public access rights, but many individual states have laws extending limited access when a professional trainer accompanies the dog.
Question 2: The 'deep pressure therapy' (DPT) task taught to psychiatric service dogs is designed to:
- Alert the handler to an oncoming seizure
- Apply calming body weight or pressure to interrupt anxiety or panic attacks (Correct answer)
- Guide a visually impaired handler around obstacles
- Retrieve dropped medical devices
Correct answer: Apply calming body weight or pressure to interrupt anxiety or panic attacks
DPT involves the dog applying pressure (e.g., lying across the handler's lap) to help reduce anxiety, panic, or dissociation.
Question 3: Assistance Dogs International (ADI) recommends that member programs place service dogs only after the dog demonstrates a minimum public access pass rate of:
- 70%
- 80%
- 90% (Correct answer)
- 100%
Correct answer: 90%
ADI's Public Access Test requires a 90% or higher pass rate across all skills to ensure dogs placed are reliably trained for public settings.
Question 4: During a hospital therapy dog visit, a patient grabs the dog's ear tightly. The dog freezes and shows whale eye. The handler should:
- Tell the patient to let go and immediately redirect the dog away from the patient (Correct answer)
- Allow the interaction to continue because patients need connection
- Distract the dog with a treat to keep it engaged
- Ask a nurse to remove the patient's hand
Correct answer: Tell the patient to let go and immediately redirect the dog away from the patient
Freezing and whale eye are stress signals indicating the dog is near threshold; the handler must intervene immediately to prevent escalation and protect both dog and patient.
Question 5: Which temperament trait is MOST critical when selecting a candidate for therapy dog work in a pediatric hospital setting?
- High prey drive
- Exceptional food motivation
- Tolerance for unpredictable handling by strangers (Correct answer)
- Strong protective instinct
Correct answer: Tolerance for unpredictable handling by strangers
Children in hospital settings may handle dogs roughly or unpredictably, so a high tolerance for unusual physical contact from strangers is the most critical trait.
Question 6: A guide dog trained under the 'intelligent disobedience' principle will:
- Disobey commands it finds unpleasant
- Refuse a command when obeying would place the handler in danger (Correct answer)
- Choose its own route rather than following handler cues
- Stop working when distracted by other animals
Correct answer: Refuse a command when obeying would place the handler in danger
Intelligent disobedience means the dog is trained to override a handler's command (e.g., 'forward') when doing so would result in harm, such as stepping into traffic.
Question 7: When proofing a diabetic alert dog's low blood sugar alert task, a trainer should vary which of the following to ensure generalization?
- The dog's breed and age
- The location, handler position, clothing, and distraction level during alert trials (Correct answer)
- The glucose meter brand used for testing
- The size of the food reward given after each alert
Correct answer: The location, handler position, clothing, and distraction level during alert trials
Generalization requires training the alert across many contexts — different environments, handler positions, clothing, and distraction levels — so the dog responds to the scent cue regardless of setting.
CDT Service & Therapy Dog Training 3
A service dog in training (SDIT) has public access rights under federal law in which situation?