What is task trained?

[Abhean]

Throughout my daily wanderings, I have noticed many different thoughts on what "task trained" means. I thought this would be a good topic to see what other people felt about this term.

In my opinion, our current ADA guidelines leave a lot to be desired when giving a specific definition. It states:

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.

Most people will hear service dog handlers mention "task trained" when referring to a dog's tasks. But what does "task trained" really mean?

If you follow me, either here or on the social site for SDs I hang out in, you will understand I am "old school". The ADA used to have a much more detailed description of what "task trained" entailed. In a nutshell, they said that a trained task could not be a typical normal behavior presented by the dog. Meaning a lick or the dog laying next to the handler was not considered a task. In about 2010 the ADA opened this up so that anything that the dog was trained to do when their handler showed signs was considered a "task".

I did find a very good definition over at Psychiatric Service Dog Partners:

Service dog tasks are on-demand services that are requested by the handler each time. It is often obvious when a task is being carried out, such as when a handler asks a service dog to retrieve a dropped leash that the handler cannot reach.

Service dog work is not requested by the handler, but the dog is on-call to provide the specific help when cued by a change in the handler or the handler's environment. Examples of work include a psychiatric service dog alerting its handler to an impending panic attack, and a guide dog working to direct its handler around a novel obstacle.

So, my thoughts is as long as the action has been trained into the dog for the handler it is a task. While if it is simply a normal act of the dog, say the dog comes up and gives "kisses" during high-stress time really isn't a task.

What are your thoughts?