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August 26^th is National Dog Day—a day to remember and recognize all that these wonderful creatures do for us without question. Dogs save lives, keep us healthy, guide our blind and disabled, protect our neighborhoods, and bring joy to our families. Dogs do so much good for the world, yet so many of them end up neglected, abandoned, and abused.

Here are 20 great ways to celebrate with your dogs:

• Adopt a dog from a shelter or local rescue organization.
• Buy your dog a fun new toy.
• Teach your dog a new trick.
• Take your dog on a hike.
• Have a National Dog Day party and invite all your 4 legged friends.
• Snap a few pictures of your dog and share them with friends online or enter them in a contest.
• Have a caricature or portrait drawn of your dog.
• Give your dog a bath or have him groomed.
• Visit your local dog park.
• Take a trip to the closest dog friendly beach.
• Buy a fashionable new leash and collar.
• Try a new DIY treat recipe.
• Plan a play date with your dog’s favorite doggy friend.
• Learn dog first aid and CPR.
• If your workplace allows it, take your dog along for the day.
• Give your dog some extra belly rubs.

Don’t have a dog? You can still celebrate:

• Donate supplies, money or your time to a local shelter.
• Walk a neighbor’s dog.
• Watch a movie starring a dog.
• Look into becoming a foster home for dogs in need.

Whatever you do, remember to celebrate all the wonderful things that dogs do for us each and every day!

Source: www.nationaldogday.com

It’s no secret that dogs are known as “man’s best friend”. On a daily basis our dogs (cats and other furry & feathered friends, too!) provide us with unconditional love and loyalty thus making a positive impact on our lives. The therapeutic and healing benefits of a canine’s companionship are next to none, simply petting a dog can reduce stress, anxiety and depression. This trait, along with their amazing trainability is what makes them so successful at being assistance dogs and aiding those with disabilities. With the help of hardworking and devoted assistance dogs, individuals with physical, emotional and mental disabilities are able to experience an enhanced quality of life.
 

3 Types of Assistance Dogs

While formal training standards for guide dogs have been established for over 70 years, the use of assistance dogs alongside individuals with physical and mental disabilities is a more modern concept. Nevertheless, hardworking assistance dogs of all types significantly impact their partners’ lives in many ways every single day.

Guide Dogs: For individuals who are blind or visually impaired. In public, a guide dog can be identified by a harness and U-shaped handle which promotes communication between the assistance dog and their partner. In this team, the human’s role is to provide verbal commands, while the dog ensures their partner’s safety by avoiding obstacles, signaling changes in elevation, locating objects, negotiating traffic and so on.

Hearing Dogs: For individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. Hearing dogs assist by alerting their partners to household sounds, such as doorbells, alarm clocks, smoke alarms, a crying baby and more. They are trained specifically to make physical contact and lead deaf partners to the source of sounds.

Service Dogs: Service Dog is a broad term for canines who support partners with disabilities other than those related to vision or hearing. These dogs can be specially trained to handle a multitude of situations related to improving their partner’s well-being. Service dogs can work with wheelchair bound individuals, those with autism and also those with other medical concerns to perform potential lifesaving duties. Service dogs can also aid those seeking emotional support. A veteran may find that an assistance dog has a huge, positive impact on their quality of life by providing them with stability & comfort after returning from overseas.

Among many others, here are a few tasks specially trained service dogs can help with:

• Retrieving out-of-reach items
• Pulling wheelchairs
• Opening & closing doors
• Turning light switches on & off
• Barking to indicate assistance is needed
• Providing balance & counterbalance
• Seizure alert & response- Dogs trained to operate push button device to call 911, etc.
• Alerting to other medical issues, such as low blood sugar- Dogs trained to fetch insulin kit or respiratory assist device if necessary.

 

Assistance Dog Standards

Assistance dogs, their trainers, partners and associated programs are held to a high level of standards that are crucial for defining what an assistance dog is. After completing screenings for emotional soundness, physical health and working ability, the dogs must complete labor-intensive training plans which include obedience and task work, such as retrieving, carrying, nose nudge and harness based tasks among many others. Once training is complete, assistance dogs are matched to best suit the needs of their partner and must show they are capable of performing the tasks deemed necessary to alleviate their partner’s disabilities. In turn, assistance dog partners must be able to provide their assistance dog with a secure living environment as well as take responsibility for the dog’s emotional, physical and financial needs.

While many service dog programs use Golden retrievers and Labradors, there are many other examples of breeds that have been successfully trained in aiding individuals with disabilities. The partner and their type of disabilities is a large deciding factor in what type of dog they will be matched with. Breed, size, shape and color aside, a good service dog is very people oriented, not protective or overly active and is confident, but not dominant or submissive.
 

Want to Learn More?

If you are interested in applying for an assistance dog, training an assistance dog or helping to educate others about these specially trained animals, check out the resources below.

• Assistance Dogs International
  ADI is a coalition of not for profit assistance dog organizations. If you are interested in applying for an assistance dog, you can find resources from Assistance Dogs International to locate programs in your local area.

• Celebrate International Assistance Dog Week
  This website is a comprehensive resource about International Assistance Dog Week (August 2nd through the 8th). Locate events in your area to help celebrate & raise awareness about assistance dogs.

• Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services
  Do you know an organization or individual who could benefit greatly from some therapy dog interaction? KPETS, out of Lancaster, PA, is a network of therapy teams that provide therapeutic and supportive benefits to those with disabilities through human to animal interactions. These services are provided to organizations and/or individuals in need free of charge.

• Phoenix Assistance Dogs of Central PA
  Interested in training an assistance dog? Phoenix Assistance Dogs is a community program created to locate and train puppies to help those in need. PAD can also help individuals in finding and training their own assistance dog if they wish.

Sources:
http://www.iaadp.org/tasks.html
http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/
http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/
http://www.assistancedogweek.org/
http://www.kpets.org/
http://padcentral.org/

Images:
Service Dog © Found Animals Foundation | Flickr
Service Dog with Wheelchair © betta5 | freeimages.com
Guide Dog © Leonardo Tote | freeimages.com

 

We’ve had some really heart-breaking stories of the loyalty of police officers in the news the last few months. K-9 officer Kota showed her heroic loyalty to her person when, after she fell through an attic crawlspace, she returned to the suspects and her person to help finish the arrest despite a broken leg!

Kota has since recovered from surgery, but it prompted me to remember my Aunt’s police dog, Andor. Andor was bred specifically for his job, to sniff out drugs. He was fiercely loyal to my aunt and watched her back, for which I am grateful for every day.

I was very young when my aunt brought him home from his training in Texas, but I remember the training was described as “intense” and took almost a full two year to complete!

Please welcome Kerry Moloney with a guest post about how police dogs are bred or selected, trained and used:

Police dogs are normally bred specifically for the job, but sometimes public dogs are accepted in to the pack to become part of a crime-stopping squad. Police dogs are vital in solving crimes including murder and drug trafficking and they are also crucial in calming and controlling public disorder.

Not all dogs have the innate ability to become a police dog, as it requires a certain natural instinct. The German Shepherd is the most common breed for police dogs, but other dog breeds include Belgian Malinois Shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers and Weimaraners.

To join the dog squad, there is a set of requirements that need to be met:

Perfect health

A police dog has to be healthy in every sense of the word. The dog doesn’t just have to be physically fit, but also mentally alert. They need to have the intelligence, willingness and drive to catch the criminal or pick up that vital piece of evidence for years to come.

Agility

Of course, fitness is a huge part of the job. The dog has to be fit enough to do a lot of walking and attacking (if needed) and will go through many different situations, which will vary in pace. They may have to go from a slow, quiet walk to an energetic sprint within a matter of seconds.

Size

A police dog can be of either sex yet, whether the dog is male or female, there is one weight limit for all and that is generally between 55 and 70 lbs.

Age

If the dogs are part of the breeding program, then they are generally brought into service between the ages of eight and twelve weeks. However, the unit often gets dogs that are a little older, or even full grown. They usually become fully operational in the job at around 2 or 3 years old. They usually work for around 5 or 7 years and take retirement at around 7-9 years old.

Sociability and ability to work with humans        

Of course, there needs to be a great relationship between the dog and its handler. The dog needs to be able to be obedient and understand that they are doing a job. It can’t be scared to interact with humans, because the majority of their time will be spent with humans – whether that’s its handler or criminals.

Courage, strength and determination

A police dog cannot be scared to leap on a criminal if needs be. The dog must have a courageous manner and enough physical strength to intimidate. This is why German Shepherds are often used as police dogs, as they are courageous by nature. [editor’s note: Well, not all… My German Shepherd is pretty cowardly by nature J ]

Instinct for predation, play and hunting

A police dog has to want to find things and hunt. Some dogs would prefer to lounge in front of the fire, which isn’t going to cut it in the force.

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Assess your dog’s personality, nature, and health – then ask yourself, would he have made a good police K-9? Let us know in the comments!

A specially-trained Labrador Retriever named Marine has made medical history by exhibiting an amazing degree of accuracy in detecting bowel cancer.  It is hoped that further studies will lead to new advances in cancer detection and treatment.

A Near-Perfect Performance

Marine was able to detect the presence of bowel cancer by sniffing either the breath or stool samples of 48 people that had previously been diagnosed with the disease.  The dog’s accuracy was rated at 95% for breath samples and 98% for stool samples, and was not affected by potentially confusing factors such as smoking or the presence of other gastro-intestinal problems.  Read More »

Researchers at South Carolina’s Wofford College have announced that a Border Collie has been trained to identify over 1,000 objects.  Surprisingly, the clever dog, “Chaser”, can also differentiate between objects and actions involving them – grasping, in essence, the concept of nouns and verbs!

Surpassing Her “Trainers”

Summarized in a recent Behavioral Processes article, the Border Collie experiments are expected to shed light on just what it is that dogs understand when we speak to them.  The researchers (or ethologists, as animal behavior specialists are known) pointed out that they stopped introducing new objects at 1,022 due to time constraints – Chaser seemed willing and able to learn more.  In fact, her ability to remember all the objects seemed to exceed that of her human trainers! Read More »

At first glance, providing farmers with Karakachans, Kangals and other large, aggressive dogs might not seem an ideal conservation strategy.  However, biologists based in Bulgaria and Namibia are doing just that – and both farmers and wildlife are reaping the benefits.

Why Use Dogs at All?

Farmers who use dogs to protect their flocks do not need to rely upon poison, which has for decades been the predator-control method of choice.  Poison-laced-bait kills “target species” such as leopards, bears and other large predators as well as rodents, vultures and smaller animals.  When the poisoned creature itself dies, scavengers that feed upon its corpse may in turn become victims.   Read More »

It’s hard to believe that it has been almost a decade since the Twin Towers fell. Each year we bow our heads in remembrance of those lost and in honor of those who worked tirelessly in the days and weeks following that fateful day. Some don’t remember or don’t know that service dogs played a vital role in search, rescue and recovery at those disaster sites. I came across this video tribute to the service dogs who worked the Trade Center site, and I really think it is something for everyone to see. Please watch the video and remember these magnificent animals for their past and present service.

It’s National Dog Day—a day to remember and recognize all that these wonderful creatures do for us without question. Dogs save lives, keep us healthy, guide our blind and disabled, protect our neighborhoods, and bring joy to our families. Dogs do so much good for the world, yet so many of them end up neglected, abandoned, and abused.

National Dog Day is celebrated August 26th annually and serves to help galvanize the public to recognize the number of dogs that need to be rescued each year, and acknowledges family dogs and dogs that work selflessly each day to save lives, keep us safe, and bring comfort. Dogs put their lives on the line every day – for their law enforcement partner, for their blind companion, for a child who is disabled, for our freedom and safety by detecting bombs and drugs and pulling victims of tragedy from wreckage.” (www.nationaldogday.com)

Take a moment to say ‘Thank you’ to your dog today. Something as simple as an extra belly rub or a special treat will be appreciated. Think about donating to your local animal shelter, or host a special dog-gathering with friends. Maybe even think about adding to your fur family on National Dog Day. Whatever you do, remember to celebrate all the wonderful things that dogs do for us each and every day.

“My eyes are your eyes, to watch and protect you and yours. My ear are your ears to hear and detect evil minds in the dark. My nose is your nose to scent the invader of your domain. And so you may live, my life is also yours.”

These words, by an unknown author, are the referred to as the K-9 Promise.  They are inscribed on many of the memorials and tributes dedicated to War Dogs and K-9 units across our nation – memorials created to remember the thousands of canines who served with American handlers in all branches of the U.S. Military and in all wars foreign and domestic.  When you remember servicemen who have given their lives for their country this Memorial Day, remember that many who returned home may owe their lives to these four-pawed heroes and friends. Read More »