One of the most popular pets in the world is the dog. Dogs are faithful and caring, which is why they are known as man’s best friend. They are very intelligent animals and are fully competent to learn.
Over the years, dogs have become a beneficial part of the community by assisting in the lives of the deaf, blind, people with mobility disabilities, and even the epileptic. Dogs also help humans by using their enhanced sense of smell, which is useful for hunting and helpful to police and rescue organizations.
Dogs, specifically beagles, also help the community by protecting agriculture. All these types of dogs are known as assistance dogs, due to the fact that they assist the lives of so many people.
Dogs are amazing animals. Hearing dogs assist the deaf and those who are hard of hearing in many ways. Hearing dogs make their partners aware of certain sounds that the person cannot hear.
These dogs alert their owners by physically connecting with the person and then running between the source of the sound and the person. Hearing dogs can inform their owner of sounds such as the ringing of the telephone, the cry of a child, and even someone’s name being called. T
hese dogs can also warn their owners of other people nearby, greatly enhancing the owner’s feeling of security. A lot of owners admit feeling much safer while having a hearing dog by their side rather than being by themselves.
Having a hearing dog also increases the comfort and sovereignty of the owner as well as their self esteem and confidence. Overall, hearing dogs make it easier for their owners to more efficiently function in their life and in the world.
Guide dogs, also known as Seeing Eye Dogs, assist the lives of those who are visually impaired or blind. Guide dogs are highly intelligent and are permitted to just about any place that the human public is.
This allows them to assist their owners safely to any destination. Guide dogs are required to known how to do a number of things such as staying on a direct route and staying evenly paced.
These dogs must also come to a stop at all obstacles that their owner cannot safely cross or fit through. These dogs are required to obey numerous commands from their owners such as turning left and right. It is crucial for guide dogs to have an ability known as selective disobedience.
This is a special ability that guide dogs possess that allows them to know when to disobey commands from their owner that will put them in a dangerous situation. The fact that guide dogs are able to balance their obedience with their evaluation of the condition is possibly the most amazing thing about them.
These dogs make the lives of their owners much more pleasant and safe and provide their owners with a true friend (Harris).
Mobility assistance dogs assist people with mobility disabilities, including those who must live their lives in a wheelchair. These dogs are trained to assist the lives of those with mobility disabilities by making it easier for them to function more efficiently.
They are trained to perform a number of tasks such as retrieving items that were dropped or retrieving the telephone. These amazing dogs are also trained to open doors and turn lights off and on.
Mobility assistance dogs also perform difficult tasks such as putting laundry in and out of the washer and drier as well as helping their owner dress and undress. For people in wheelchairs, mobility assistance dogs, which are usually large dogs, may pull the wheelchair for short distances up ramps and inclines.
In a time where emergency assistance is needed, these dogs can press the life line button if the owner has one. Once the dog has pressed the life line button, it may then try to locate someone nearby for help.
Mobility assistance dogs make their owner’s life a lot easier and provide the owner with a great deal of companionship and love.
Dogs also assist the lives of those who are epileptic or have seizure disorders. There are two types of seizure assistance dogs: seizure response dogs and seizure alert dogs. Seizure response dogs are specially trained to help their owners while they are experiencing a seizure.
They are trained to remove items that are harmful to their owner during the time of a seizure, such as pillows and blankets that could suffocate the person. These dogs are also trained to go and get help for their owner.
Seizure response dogs will also stretch out across their owner to prevent them from standing up after the seizure. This is very important because many times people stand up too quickly after a seizure and can injure themselves by falling over. Seizure response dogs, overall, give their owner emotional and physical support (Seizure Assistance Dogs).
Seizure alert dogs are dogs that can actually smell when a seizure is going to happen and can provide a proper warning to the person. It is not believed that dogs can sense chemical changes in the person’s body minutes prior to when a seizure will occur.
The dog’s behavior will drastically change into a pattern that the owner can recognize. This is extremely helpful to people who experience seizures because it allows them enough time to position themselves in a safe place before the seizure occurs. Many times it allows the person time to lie down.
This prevents them from falling to the ground and injuring themselves. Some epilepsy patients have stated that their dogs detected their seizure while in a different room in their home.
Just like seizure response dogs, seizure alert dogs also provide emotional support to the patient just by being by their side when their episode is over (Seizure Assistance Dogs).
Many people are unaware that dogs also protect America’s agriculture. The K-9 SWAT teams of beagles, known as the Beagle Brigade, have been consistently protecting America’s agriculture.
The USDA’s Beagle Brigade is a team of beagles that are trained to detect fruits, meats and plants that are prohibited and that possibly contain dangerous diseases and pests. They do this by sniffing out the international baggage of passengers at inspection areas at airports.
When the beagles smell agricultural items that are prohibited, they alert the officers, their partners, by sitting down. There are currently 59 Beagle Brigade teams located in 23 different areas within the country.
Soon that number will be increased due to 120 due to money that the agency recently received. These teams of beagles help keep diseases, and pests out of our country, thus protecting our agriculture and out citizens (Beagle Brigade Fight Foot and Mouth).
As you can clearly see, dogs improve the lives of so many people including the deaf, blind and epileptic, not just by helping them function better but also by being a true friend and confidant to them. They are amazing and intelligent animal that deserve much praise.
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