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Most of us count on our four-legged friends to play with us, cheer us up, and above all, love us unconditionally. But some dogs do these things and so much more. With proper training, a canine can become a service dog or therapy dog and learn to detect seizures in humans (sometimes before they happen!), encourage students to read better and even help a wheelchair-bound person gain the independence to drive a car. Here’s how your family can become part of the action.

Therapy Dogs
Can your family pet be trained to lead a blind person? Probably not. But your pooch may have the right stuff to become a therapy dog, trained to provide company to nursing home residents or to sit still while children with learning issues read to them. Many dog obedience schools offer the special training necessary for your pet to receive therapy dog certification.

Resources: Reading Education Assistance Dogs/R.E.A.D. trains registered therapy dogs and their owners to work in teams in schools and libraries, helping youngsters with reading issues to enjoy reading out loud. R.E.A.D. offers regional workshops around the country.

Delta Society Pet Partners program is a national program that links therapy pets and owners with programs in their communities. The society offers evaluations in many states to establish whether your animal can be matched with one of the many organizations (hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc.) with which it partners.

Service Dogs
Dogs can also be specifically bred for size and temperament to help disabled people accomplish everyday tasks. These dogs then go to live with the people they are trained to serve. But families can play a role in this process, too. Dozens of service dog agencies nationwide look to adults and even children to raise service dogs from puppyhood to the age when they can begin formal training, usually between 15 and 18 months.

“It’s a bittersweet but ultimately hugely rewarding experience,” says Mindy Eber of Boonton, N.J., who along with her husband and two children, has raised 14 pups for The Seeing Eye. “And the children learned from an early age to take responsibility for the dogs they raised.”

When you nurture a service pup in your home, you’re responsible for housebreaking, socializing and obedience training -- not to mention cuddling. The service agency will likely have some rules and training tips, and you may have to attend regular meetings with other puppy raisers.

On the whole, fostering a puppy until it’s ready for formal training, such as a guide or seizure-alert dog, is a lot like raising a nonworking puppy to be with a family its entire life -- which makes saying goodbye at the appointed time difficult. Still, you can take comfort in knowing that the puppy you’ve cared for since it was 7 or 8 weeks old is about to change someone’s life for the better. “I remind myself each time I have to say goodbye that somebody needs this dog more than I do,” says Mindy.

Resources: Paws with a Cause is one of the largest service dog agencies in the country, providing dogs for hearing-, mobility- and/or sight-impaired individuals. The agency also trains dogs to detect seizures and other medical conditions that require immediate attention. Headquartered in Wayland, Mich., Paws with a Cause often seeks puppy raisers to foster pups until they reach a trainable age.

The Seeing Eye, based in Morristown, N.J., is the oldest service dog agency in the country. Puppy raisers attend biweekly meetings and go on field trips to acclimate pups to a wide variety of environments.

For Marcie Davis, the co-author of Working Like Dogs: The Service Dog Guidebook (Alpine Publications 2007) and a paraplegic, life changed dramatically and instantaneously when Ramona, a black Labrador and golden retriever mix trained by Paws with a Cause, came to live with her. Before having a service dog, Davis says, she was afraid to drive alone. “Ramona helped me up if I fell out of the car or my wheelchair,” says Davis. “She picked up my keys whenever I dropped them.” In other words, Ramona gave Davis the biggest gift of all: freedom.