Time to say Good-Bye (part 1)

Hello and welcome all to my second last blog!  It has been a long journey for all of us since the beginning of Feburary, and it is hard to believe that the good-bye's have finally come, especially for all of us, since we are in grade 12. Both you and I have learnt a lot through these blogs, myself especially, therefore I wanted to take these last two to say good-bye and just give a reminder of what we have learnt together, as a class.

We have all learnt that animals have health benefits for their human counter-parts, especially those who may be challenged in some way. We have learnt that together, with animals the help of animals, everyone can reach different goals, that are set to be achieved.  Everyone now knows that "Hippo-therapy" does not actually mean therapy with Hippos, that is actually horse therapy.  That the horse's movement under the rider permits the rider to feel the full motion in their hips of what it would be like for the rider to actually walk on their own on solid ground. The difference between a service animal and therapy animal is not the training, but the certification, all of these animals are very well trained to offer help, but therapy animals don't need to be certified.

There are also all those strange or more unique service and therapy animals.  Redrock the Boa Constrictor who alerts his owner to oncoming seizures, Capuchin monkeys to help the paraplegic, or Sadie the Parrot who helps with her owners panic attack.  Who knew llamas and alpacas could make so many people laugh and have fun, or that dolphins could have such amazing healing and helping capabilities?  I have said it before and I will say it again, all of these unusual service and therapy animals have definitely stepped up to the plate in terms of helping society, whether it be the old, the handicapped, or those fighting terminal illness, these animals have helped in the only way they could.

Emotional Support Animals

Emotional support animals are an important part of everyday life for some people.  Support animals do not require much training as opposed to service animals who are required to be trained, for example, to guide or be someone's ears for them.

Support animals main jobs are to offer companionship, emotional support and are a comforting force to their owner or handler.  These animals are not taught to support full disabilities like a service animal. The owner with the support animal may be in some way mentally or psychotically challenged, but not completely handicapped and therefore the animal is not dealing with the complete weight of a disability. Meaning they are still able to perceive many things, but may not be able to handle it somehow. That is where the support animal is important in keeping their owner "grounded", I guess you could say.  

In order to get a support animal however, the person is required to have a note of referral from his or her doctor suggesting that they should get a service animal.  They must then go through a matching process so as to match the owner and animal as best as possible.

Unfortunately, support animals are not granted the same access as the service animals are.  That is unfortunate because these animals are just important to their owners as service animals are.  They are there to help their owners, and it seems almost as if, because they are not trained as rigorously as service animals, that they are not to be trusted as much. I think they should be trusted. Just because they lack the strict training of service animals, does not mean that they are not trained.  In fact, the Canadian Service Dog Foundation trains all their dogs and cats to behave properly and support their owner before they are matched, therefore there is a small chance of anything going wrong.

All the information provided here can be found at: Emotional Support Animals.

K-9 Units (Police Dogs)

Today I thought I would talk about a different type of service animal all together, one who serves everyone, rather than just one person.  I thought this would be a good idea because, these service animals sometimes go unrecognized for their duties.  Duties that I might add, are very dangerous, and yet they risk their lives anyway to keep us safe.  The service animals I am talking about are police and border patrol dogs (K-9 units).  I have the privilege of knowing a few because of where I work, and it is incredible the commitment, the training and the respect that goes into these amazing dogs.  

A K-9 unit is typically made up of one dog (canine/ K-9) and one handler.  The dogs and handlers are constantly together, whether it be on the job, training or at home. Therefore, these dogs are very loyal to their handler and they have formed some sort of bond with them.

Both handler and canine have a job.  They work together to get that job done. Their job requires them to be able to find lost people or criminals, search for drugs or explosives, alcohol and contraband

The reason that dogs are so effective on the job is that their sense of smell of a dog is much greater than ours, approximately 1000 to 10 000 000 times better depending on the breed.  Not only do they have a great nose, but their hearing is also really good.  Dogs can hear things up to 4 times further than humans can. They can also hear things at a higher frequency or pitch than us.  (Dog Senses)  

Their training also plays a big part in why they are so great at their jobs. For certain situations, they are taught that when they find any illegal substances such as drugs or alcohol, or fruits and vegetables (typically when crossing the border), they will be rewarded with a favorite toy.  They must train multiple hours a week to maintain the dogs title as an officer.

It is nice to know that because of how sensitive they are, they are keeping everyone safe and everything under control.