service dog

English

Noun

service dog (plural service dogs)

1. A dog that serves humans by helping them with activities of daily living, with search and rescue, or with other (non-draft and non-farming) tasks.

   Hypernyms: working dog; < service animal; < working animal

   1. A dog that assists a person who has a physical disability or has a mental disability such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

      Synonyms: assistance dog, aid dog, helper dog

      Hyponyms: guide dog; > seeing-eye dog, hearing-ear dog, hearing dog; • support dog

      • 2007 April 18, Rita Healy, “Echoes of Columbine”, in Time:

        A spinal cord injury will confine him to a wheelchair for life. . . . He has a service dog and lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment, although there are relatives nearby.

      • 2011 June 11, Robin Finn, “Sunday Routine: Jessica Walter”, in New York Times, retrieved 5 Dec. 2011:

        Reggie was a “release” from Guiding Eyes; he kept leading his trainers into light poles, so he was deemed temperamentally unsuited to be a service dog.

   2. A dog which assists the work of military or law enforcement officials.

      Hyponyms: police dog; rescue dog

      • 1959 August 6, Walter R. Fletcher, “Specialty Club German Shepherds' Best Friend”, in New York Times, page 23:

        The German Shepherd probably is the top all-round service dog. He had an enviable record with the K-9 Corps during World War II.

      • 1991 March 20, “Dog tracks, bites suspect in burglary”, in The Press-Courier, USA, retrieved 5 Dec. 2011, page 11:

        A suspected burglar was tracked down by a police service dog and bitten early today.

      • 2008 May 16, Pfc Alicia C. Torbush, “Service Dogs Retiring”, in Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, retrieved 5 Dec. 2011:

        Dago, a retired Army service dog, served as a bomb detecting dog with the 28th Military Police Detachment at Ft. Wainwright, Alaska for eight years.

Translations

dog that assists a handicapped person or an official

• Catalan: gos d'assistència m
• Finnish: palveluskoira
• French: chien d’assistance m
• German: Diensthund m (literally “service dog”), Assistenzhund m (literally “assistance dog”)
• Irish: madra cuidithe m
• Malay: anjing khidmat
• Polish: pies towarzyszący (pl) m
• Vietnamese: chó hỗ trợ
• Welsh: ci cymorth m

References

• “service dog”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• codiverges