A recent reading interest has been assistance dogs. This includes guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf, and service dogs for physically disabled or special needs individuals, and service dogs for law enforcement and tracking.
As a pre-cursor, I read a Guideposts story a couple of months ago about a woman using her dogs to find lost pets.
The interest was really sparked when I attended a program hosted by the local public library about puppy-raisers for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Guiding Eyes for the Blind is a training program for guide dogs in New York. The program was local puppy-raisers sharing what it means to participate in this program and their experiences. I learned that (as my parents said when they refused to allow us to choose puppy-raising as a 4-H project) raising a training a dog for guide dog service is a huge commitment and task. Raising and training a puppy not only includes the normal tasks of puppy care (feed, water, walk) and basic training (heel, sit, down, stay), but also training the dog for all sorts of circumstances (riding in cars, visiting stores, dining out, etc) and training him to not be distracted by animals, people, food, and anything else that might be encountered. Much of this is done by keeping the dog on leash essentially 24/7 and including him in all of the everyday activities of a family.
Recommended at the program was Everyday Heroes: extraordinary dogs among us by Sherry Bennett Warshauer. This book is a compilation of stories of dogs that were bred and/or trained by Guiding Eyes for the Blind, telling how these dogs have impacted the lives of the individuals and families they belong to. Some of them are guide dogs for the blind, others are service dogs for law enforcements or simply pets that have had a special impact.
While I was buying myself a copy of this book, I found Partners in Independence: a success story of dogs and the disabled. Written in 1997 by Ed and Tony Eames--both of whom are blind and "partnered" with guide dogs--this book expresses their view of the importance of service dogs, the respect and recognition these dogs should be granted socially, and the legal rights they and their "human partners" should be granted legally. The Eames take the time to highlight a variety of specific programs training service dogs and some of the dogs and teams that have been recognized for their excellence.
About the same time, I also read the article "Some Service Dog" in the June 2004 Guideposts.
How amazing that, with apparent willingness and eagerness, dogs assume such responsibility for human lives and convenience.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Assistance Dogs
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Animal Planet has or did a program on jail dogs, where the prisoners are training the dogs for service. The dogs where with them pretty much 24/7 and both trainer and trainee went through workouts each day. Plus they had several tests phases that they (the dog) had to pass in order to go on to the next stage in their training. One of the highlights for the prisoners on the show I watched was where a guy almost completely blind came with his dog that had been trained at the facility. They did this like a day or two before the last test phase and the toughest that the dogs and trainers would have to go through.
Its just really amazing what they can teach these animals to do. Also how many different types of dogs out there are used as guide and assistance dogs.
Post a Comment