Dogs

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Police dogs are important members of the force. Their acute sense of smell is used to detect human scent and to follow a trail for long distances. The police force benefits from their natural predatory aggression and instinct to guard and protect by training them to apprehend suspects once they have been tracked down. They are taught how to avoid injury by taking hold of the weapon-bearing arm of a suspect. Many police officers have a police dog to thank for saving them from injury or death.

RESCUE DOGS

Dogs are used for search and rescue in natural disasters such as earthquakes and avalanches where people may be trapped beneath snow or rubble and are undetectable to rescuers on the surface.

Having an acute sense of hearing and smell, dogs can detect trapped people and will alert searchers to their presence. These dogs also need a high play drive to remain motivated to perform this work. They are taught scent discrimination and they learn how to fetch and locate a handler buried in snow or under debris. When they locate the person, they receive an ecstatic greeting from their owner and lots of praise.

These dogs have to learn to ride on snowmobiles and need to become familiarized with being dropped down or winched up by helicopters. It is a lot to ask of them, but they do it well and willingly.

FARM DOGS

Working dogs on farms are important extensions of their owners. Sheep dogs are invaluable in finding individual sheep, bringing them together and driving flocks.

During the training process their natural instincts to round up and drive prey animals are exploited but they are selectively bred and trained so that the predatory aspect of this behaviour is not carried through to an overt attack.

Dogs can move large numbers of sheep over long distances and rough terrain. The task would take people far longer and could even prove impossible. These dogs, however, have an amazing ability to weigh up a situation and to predict an outcome.

While working on a sheep farm as a student I was sent to bring a flock of sheep down to the yards with a young dog which was in training. The sheep were difficult to move and kept breaking away and running back up the hill. Jack, an experienced dog belonging to the farmer, suddenly ran towards me, rounded up the mob and took them through to the yards. There was no one else around. He had summed up the situation and acted to remedy the problem.

Billy loves riding in the car and motivates Vera to drive co the beach or to one of the parks. In this way, the little dog has helped Vera regain her physical and mental health.

It is nonsense to say that a person is too old to own a dog because they might die leaving it homeless. The sensible thing to do is to make provision for its ongoing care should this be necessary. ‘In fact, no matter what age an owner is, thought should always be given to a dog’s ongoing care in case of the owner’s death by accident or illness.

Increasingly, young couples delay having a family or elect not to have children at all. For them a dog is often a child substitute, something that they can care for and nurture together. It can be taken on walks, outings to the beach or the park, or even to the cafe. It needs to be bathed and fed and can be bought toys and collars.

When a pet is lost through death by illness or accident, people go through a grieving process equivalent to that experienced by the loss of a human family member. Pets also grieve when they lose an owner or a companion pet. They often become very depressed, go off their food, and spend time sitting in areas that the pet or person frequented. They need a lot of love and attention and distractions to help them through their suffering.

In a strange way, seeing the pet grieve can help a bereaved partner get over her loss more rapidly. She wants to make the pet feel happier and thus makes the effort to do things for it, thereby taking her mind off her own grief.

GUIDE DOGS

Guide dogs make a wonderful difference to the lives of blind people. They learn to take their owners safely across roads, down stairs, onto transportation and to specific destinations such as shops or the doctor’s surgery, the dogs remember the routes associated with the destinations.

Guide dogs undergo very strict selection criteria and are intensively trained. It is a hard job for them to do as they must be constantly aware of their owner’s needs and safety.

They must not be distracted by sensory stimuli in their surroundings. Many fail the training course because they just cannot resist food on the street or because they are too protective of their handlers. They have to learn to modify their natural behaviour to suit their owner’s needs.

Those that pass the course do their jobs extremely well.

When they are in harness, they are in work mode when they are free of the harness they can behave naturally.

DEAF-ASSIST DOGS

These dogs are trained to alert their owners to everyday noises such as the doorbell, the telephone, the smoke alarm or something burning on the stove. These dogs are usually of a mixed breed and are often also rescue dogs.

Much of what they do builds on natural behaviour. Most dogs will bark when someone rings the doorbell, many of them will bark in response to the telephone and will become concerned at unusual sounds on the stove. These behaviours are encouraged and reinforced so that the dog learns to paw at and generally bother the owner to alert her to important sounds, and not give up until the owner has taken some action.

Increasingly, young couples delay having a family or elect not to have children at all. For them a dog is often a child substitute, something that they can care for and nurture together. It can be taken on walks, outings to the beach or the park, or even to the cafe. It needs to be bathed and fed and can be bought toys and collars.

When a pet is lost through death by illness or accident, people go through a grieving process equivalent to that experienced by the loss of a human family member. Pets also grieve when they lose an owner or a companion pet. They often become very depressed, go off their food, and spend time sitting in areas that the pet or person frequented. They need a lot of love and attention and distractions to help them through their suffering.

In a strange way, seeing the pet grieve can help a bereaved partner get over her loss more rapidly. She wants to make the pet feel happier and thus makes the effort to do things for it, thereby taking her mind off her own grief.

DETECTING DISEASE BY DOGS

There are reports that dogs can detect cancer. As yet there is insufficient scientific data to verify this absolutely, but there are some interesting repot on the topic.

Once of the earliest reports as published in the 1989 edition of the lancet, an international journal of medical science and practice. A border Collie cross belonging to a British women repeatedly sniffed a mole on her owner’s leg. She even tired to bite it off. The women eventually decided to have the mole checked and it was diagnosed as a melanoma.

In another report a Labrador took excessive interest in a lesion on its owner’s leg. It turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma.

A dermatologist, Armand Congetta, was fascinated by this and worked with a police dog handler to train dogs to locate tissue samples containing melanomas. They achieved close to a 100 per cent detection rate. Other research are exploring the possibility of training dogs to detect prostate cancer by sniffing urine samples.

Because the social structure of the dog pack is so similar to the human social structure, it is relatively easy for dogs and humans to live closely, communicate effectively and to form strong bonds. Many dogs fulfill vital roles in our lives, providing protection, companionship and to those who are elderly and alone, a reason for living. They fulfill the role of surrogate children for many couples, and for those with a disability, help them lead more fulfilling lives. Dogs are now not only guiding the blind, but are also acting as ears for the deaf, hands and feet for the physically disabled and offering advanced warnings of seizures in epileptics. Dog’s patrol our borders, detecting drugs, and work with police to help in the tracking down and arrest of criminals. They detect bombs and rescue people trapped in fallen buildings or under avalanches, and so provide a constant source of help in our dire moments of need.

DISABILITY DOGS

Dogs are used increasingly to assist people with limited mobility. They are trained to open doors, fetch clothing fetch telephones, fetch walking sticks, fetch the mail and  even to load and unload washing machines and dryers.

Due to this assistance, these dogs make a huge difference to their owner’s lives, helping them to be partly independent of other humans: for some disabled people, the constant presence of a human helper is bad for their self-esteem, making them feel inadequate

The dog is both companion and helper and does not watch its owner with pity or condescension. In fact, the dogs seem to really enjoy their daily tasks and will often spontaneously bring objects to their owners which they think they might require.

It has recently been documented that some dogs seem to sense when their epileptic owners are going to have a seizure. It is as yet unclear just how they know this. It may be that the person’s scent changes or they may be picking up changes in electrical activity in their owner’s brain. It may even be as simple as subtle change in body language.

As yet there are no scientific studies confirming that dogs will alert consistently to every seizure, although there are owners who swear they do. Many owners describe how their dog often stares and paws at them, whines and generally behaves out of character.

Owners soon learn that if their dog behaves in this way, they are about to seizure and can then seek help, or sit or lie down so that they do not get hurt by falling with the onset of the fit.

The dogs, otherwise known as epilepsy-alert dogs, have an innate ability which is enhanced by training. The dog’s natural behaviour is reinforced and it is disciplined to do things such as fetch a pouch of medication or seek help. The dog also has to learn to trust other people to approach and assist its owner.

Epilepsy-alert dogs need to be strongly bonded to their owners. A dog that is kept outside and only has limited contact with its owner is unlikely to alert during the onset of a seizure or help its owner feel secure.

The training procedure for these dogs involves teaching them how to behave in public areas, namely, how to be calm and focused on their owner in a crowded restaurant or on public transport. It also teaches them to accept that other people carrying medical equipment may need to approach their extremely vulnerable owner in a rushed and threatening manner.

The alerting behaviour of the dogs is reinforced, and they have a daily practice routine that may involve fetching objects or finding a particular person who may assist their owner, such as a family member. Having a dog opens up a new world to people suffering from epilepsy.

When Jackie, an attractive, vivacious 78-year-old studying to become a social worker, was diagnosed with epilepsy, her world collapsed. She was having four seizures daily, and couldn’t drive, work or study. Her medication made her tired and depressed. She became afraid to venture outside.

Jackie’s father bought her a puppy as a companion. The Golden Retriever cross wham she named Zac was cute and fluffy and very bright. He became the centre of her world. When Zoc was about six months old, he began to behave in a difficult manner. He frequently jumped and pawed at Jackie, refusing to sit down, and at times knocking her over. The family was disappointed. Zac had been to training school and had done really well. Why was he behaving so badly now?

They decided if it didn’t stop they would have to find him a new home.

Jackie took Zac to an animal psychologist, who made the connection that here was a pattern to his behaviour Zac would begin behaving strangely 10 to 20 minutes before Jackie had a seizure. At all other times he would behave normally. Thus, each time he was alerting Jackie to on oncoming seizure.

They went to a special training school where Zac was taught to alert Jackie in a more controlled manner and Jackie learned to listen to him. He was 0150 taught to fetch her medication and to alert family members.

Jackie found that with many of her seizures, if she sat dawn and relaxed at the onset, they would be very mild, and pass quickly. Zac would alert her in time for her to achieve this. Having Zac changed Jackie’s life; she had the confidence to leave home and even finished her degree.

BORDER PATROL DOGS

These dogs are taught to detect the presence of drugs and foodstuffs on travelers and in their luggage. At first, the dogs are taught scent discrimination as a game, and then taught to apply this to work situations.

They learn to detect and then alert by sitting in front of the object or person carrying the forbidden goods. They are rewarded with a game and a lot of attention. Border-patrol dogs need to have a high play drive to be suitable for this type of work. They also need to be able to remain focused and be comfortable in crowded, noisy situations. These dogs are highly useful in keeping drug trafficking under control.