A Complete Guide to Training Your ESA Dog

ESA or emotional support animals are becoming popular nowadays around the world. Developed countries such as the United States and Canada are normalizing the adoption of emotional support animals. People with distresses and disabilities tend to get themselves an emotional support companion in the form of these animals.

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What are Emotional Support Animals?

Emotional support animals are different from your regular pets or service animals. They are animals to provide you comfort in your difficult times. They can help you cope with mental and physical troubles, and they are already trained for it. You can select different animals as your emotional support friends, such as a dog, cat, mini horse, snake, hamster, hedgehog, or ferret. The most common emotional support animals are dogs and cats; however, you can select any of the animals who you think can provide you with relaxation. You can easily keep them anywhere once you receive your ESA letter for housing.

Why get an Emotional Support Animal?

You must be wondering why to get an esa when you can just get a regular pet. Emotional support animals are different from your regular service animals. They are already trained to provide you support for your disabilities, such as pushing a wheelchair or helping you with anything that triggers your post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

There are various other benefits of having an emotional support animal. Many people who own an ESA report that their support animals helped them through their depression and situations like anxiety and panic. Studies also prove that emotional support animals also help provide relief from chronic pains and other distress. They elevate your mood, and taking care of them can reduce your loneliness.

Dogs as Your ESA

Dogs are the most common emotional support animals. This is usually because dogs are viewed as a man’s best friend. An ESA dog can understand you well and help you through any miseries. ESA dogs are different from pets, and the emotional stability they provide can prove why. However, even though ESA dogs are trained to help you with any disabilities, they still require basic training to be well-behaved around the house.

How to train your ESA dog?

There are various procedures that you can adopt to train your dogs. However, be sure to stick with the procedure until your dog is fully trained. Before you start training the dog, make sure you have the right tools for it. For instance, a huge amount of dog treats and a leash. Training the dog will surely take your time. However, giving your dog a ten-minute training twice every day will be more than enough.

While training the dog, be sure to implement a positive approach. For instance, teach it things and reward it with its favorite treats. Having a punishment for not learning or being a slow learner is a big NO. This can cause the animals to become aggressive and can cause them to adopt wrong behaviors.

Start training your dog with potty training. This is the basic step in your training. Make sure you know when it is time for them to urinate. Take them to the spot you have set for them outside every time, but do not be frustrated if they do it inside. Keep taking them to their spot every time, and they'll eventually learn.

Now you can proceed with teaching them different commands. Usually, owners teach their dogs to 'sit' before anything else. It is said to be the easiest command for the dogs to learn. You can bring a treat and move it in front of them to teach them to sit on your command. Once they have learned the sit command, it would not be long before they start understanding the stay command as well. You can use hand gestures to show them that the stay commands want them to stop at their position and not move. After that, there are various other commands, such as the ‘come’ and ‘leave it’ commands that are a must in the basic training you provide to your dog.

While training your dog, be sure to give each command a significant amount of time. Your dog will not learn just in a day or a week. Also, teach the dog to respond to you under any circumstances. You can use different distractions to let it understand that it has to listen to you no matter what. You can conduct your sessions in a park where there are other people. Dog trainers are usually expected to keep their calm because dogs usually pick your body language way before they start to understand your words.

How to get your ESA Dog?

Getting yourself a dog as an emotional support animal is simple. You just need to contact a medical expert and he or she will recommend a good center from where you can get guidance related to the ESA and adopt one according to your liking. Once you are done with the procedure, you will receive an ESA Letter, which will be proof that your animal is your support companion, and you will be able to take it anywhere you like.

So, emotional support animals are special animals that help you through your pains. Therefore, it is necessary that you take care of them as well and teach them the basic mannerisms that they should know to avoid any harm and to help you through your difficult times as smoothly as possible.