I'm not going to get any farther into the "task" discussion, because frankly it's not my area of expertise. I do, however, agree with the others who said that it's not a matter of "personal opinion" what mitigates a "task," but it's a legal definition.
It's like when they talk about a "hate crime." IMO a LOT of crimes are hate crimes, because you have to have a certain amount of hatred toward the person to be able to pull off the crime. But yet, only a small percentage of those crimes are considered hate crimes; there's a very specific legal definition that it has to fit.
Getting [sort of] back to the original topic....
This is very important to note for evaluating a service dog for yourself. Now we're talking about how the dog would have to do this behavior without being cued, as well as when you are somewhat unconscious.
For a dog to do a behavior without being directly cued, he has to have a certain level of independence; guide dogs and hearing dogs are pretty independent in their job because they have to constantly be making decisions on their own. So you need an independent, people-oriented dog; IMO it's difficult to evaluate for these dogs because it's hard to know how independent is too independent, and how much is not enough. Plus you'll need the dog to take cues from your behavior, which may be very subtle, so he'll need to be very intuned with you and your body language.
For a dog to do a behavior while you are "out of it," you need a dog that one trainer described to me as being "honest." An honest dog will do what he's supposed to do even when no one's around to watch him. These dogs are difficult to find.
So you need an independent, intune, honest dog. Whew. And that's just for that one behavior.
You also mentioned you'd need the dog to brace you? Now we're talking about a tall, body insensitive dog.
I really hope you reconsider getting a dog from an organization. Even a dog from a breeder would be a great option because at least if it doesn't work out, you can return it to the breeder; if you get a dog from a shelter you will have to find a new home for the dog yourself, which is not easy.
It's like when they talk about a "hate crime." IMO a LOT of crimes are hate crimes, because you have to have a certain amount of hatred toward the person to be able to pull off the crime. But yet, only a small percentage of those crimes are considered hate crimes; there's a very specific legal definition that it has to fit.
Getting [sort of] back to the original topic....
Even if I do it for only a couple of seconds (I've never done it for more than 2 minutes, as far as I know) it would probably wake me up right away to have a dog stimulating me.
For a dog to do a behavior without being directly cued, he has to have a certain level of independence; guide dogs and hearing dogs are pretty independent in their job because they have to constantly be making decisions on their own. So you need an independent, people-oriented dog; IMO it's difficult to evaluate for these dogs because it's hard to know how independent is too independent, and how much is not enough. Plus you'll need the dog to take cues from your behavior, which may be very subtle, so he'll need to be very intuned with you and your body language.
For a dog to do a behavior while you are "out of it," you need a dog that one trainer described to me as being "honest." An honest dog will do what he's supposed to do even when no one's around to watch him. These dogs are difficult to find.
So you need an independent, intune, honest dog. Whew. And that's just for that one behavior.
You also mentioned you'd need the dog to brace you? Now we're talking about a tall, body insensitive dog.
I really hope you reconsider getting a dog from an organization. Even a dog from a breeder would be a great option because at least if it doesn't work out, you can return it to the breeder; if you get a dog from a shelter you will have to find a new home for the dog yourself, which is not easy.