Dogs with Jobs

While the concept of energy-based healing might be tough for some people to accept, professional animal trainer and flower essence practitioner Jennifer White of Woodinville, Washington, has a large database of client success stories to draw upon. It includes a 3-year-old service dog who was on the verge of being retired due to extreme car sickness. The dog had exhibited symptoms of nausea – drooling and panting – since early puppyhood, and he never outgrew the problem.

His real name is Blake, but his nickname is Batman – a handsome gentleman, ready to swoop in on a moment's notice to fight crime in his own special way. Blake is a gorgeous, three-year-old Labrador Retriever employed as a courthouse dog for the Pima County Attorney's Office in Tucson, Arizona. Trained by Assistance Dogs of the West (ADW), and partnered with victim advocate Colleen Phelan, Blake provides support to victims and witnesses of crime as they navigate the vagaries of the judicial process.

Meet Lulu. Lulu is a Havanese-mix puppy, just about a year old. In many ways she is a typical adolescent pup: outgoing, social, and full of enthusiasm for life. But there is something special about Lulu. She is in training to be a service dog. When Lulu is fully trained, she will be a hearing-alert dog for her human companion, Sara Walsh.

The dog's nose is an amazing organ, with abilities and features far superior to our own in many ways. First are the physical adaptations of the nose itself. The inside of the dog's nose is lined with many folds of tissue (called the olfactory epithelium), which in turn contain hundreds of millions of olfactory receptors, specialized cells responsible for detecting odors. Because of the increased surface area caused by these folds, the dog's nose contains a ridiculously high number of receptor cells when compared to the human nose; on average, the dog has about 220 million, while our noses harbor a paltry 5 million. This difference contributes to the dog's ability to detect almost impossibly minute concentrations of compounds, by some estimates in concentrations as low as parts per trillion.

Life with any dog has its moments of agony and ecstasy. The ecstasy happens when our dogs' behaviors are top notch, and all systems seem to run smoothly. The agony happens when our dogs have an oops" moment

My friend has super fast dogs, and they compete in agility. I always imagined that the magnets on the back of her vehicle indicated just how fast they could run: MACH speeds! And C-ATCH: Catch me if you can! Obviously my Border Collie, Duncan, and I didn't get far enough in our brief agility career to earn any titles (he preferred to make up his own courses). But when my curiosity got the better of me and I looked into what, exactly, those letters on my friend's car actually meant, I quickly learned that there are countless titles and certifications that can be bestowed upon our canine companions.

An immaculately groomed Australian Shepherd sitting at his owner’s feet in an airplane’s bulkhead row. A yappy Malti-Poo in a shopping-cart seat at Target. A furiously wagging Lab-mix in line at the bank. If all three of these fictional Fidos were wearing vests that read “Service Dog,” you wouldn’t give them a second thought. Or would you?

Woody

When I began working on this article, I asked the members from the Santa Cruz Dog Training Club (the team I participate with) what they valued about being part of a demo team. Their answers varied, but one universal theme rose from the group as a whole: Being part of the team was an incredible socialization opportunity for all of our dogs.

What brings together heelwork, tricks, music, a little high school nostalgia, and takes it all to a whole new level? K9 drill, display, and demonstration teams are not new, but as more of us are looking for different ways to showcase the rewards of positive training to the larger dog community, the concept of drill and demo teams is gathering steam. The term “drill team” may evoke images of military marching routines (historically, military drill teams did occasionally include dogs), but today’s K9 drill and demo teams take many forms that involve dog/handler pairs. “I define it as a group of dog/handler teams, moving in unison to create a changing picture of shapes and lines, with or without music,” says Doris Herber, a retired dog trainer and behavior consultant who participated for several years in a drill team with her Basenji, Kodi.

both for law enforcement and civilian trainers.üStaff Sgt. William Riney uses a toy and a game of tug to reward his military dog for detecting narcotics around vehicles on the grounds of Lackland Air Force Base

House fires are devastating and life-threatening for everyone in the family – including the pets. It’s estimated that half a million pets are affected by fires each year and more than 40,000 die from smoke inhalation. Emergency first responders can provide oxygen to a fading animal, but they usually face the challenge of working with a human oxygen mask, which is difficult to securely fit over a dog or cat’s face.