I’ve mentioned my service dog, so it may have been me or someone else. Like most typical labrador service dogs trained for people in wheelchairs, he can work a lot of different types of light switches with his nose to go up and his chin to go down. From a form factor standpoint, it’s real similar to me working a switch with my elbow.
He can do a conventional toggle switch, but if you get two or three of them next to each other, it gets tricky to get the correct one.
Anything that’s just a button press is simple. (He loves the Staples Easy Button, which we use that as a training toy.)
He’s good with touchless proximity switches, although in most cases if he did touch it the switch still works.
Some dogs can learn the concept of doubletap or press and hold vs press–he just doesn’t get it. He can count to 3 or 4, but he just doesn’t understand the biomechanics I’m asking for. He’ll press until something happens, like a light or a noise, but he won’t do a doubletap with one cue or a single tap with another on the same object.
Big rocker switches are physically comfortable for both of us, so we do use those a lot. But single press switches that don’t toggle are good, too. It’s just little rockers, little flip switches, or small buttons packed in a tight grid that are problematic.
My occupational therapist, who is big on using everyday items, uses a tennis ball to test switches. Hold the ball in your hand and try to work the switch with it. If you can, the dog will probably be able to do so easily. If you can’t, it may still be possible, but it could get tricky.
So what works best for us is a conventional rocker switch where both on and off are just a push.
http://greenstep.com/images/stories/SINGLE-ROCKER(1).jpg
Anything with that form factor for a toggle, or a single press in any shape that passes the tennis ball test, should work for my house.
He should be able to at least work the left and right, not sure about the center. We’ll see.
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