Sammy is a very talented boy, he can paint, and his paintings have sold for $1,700. That’s a lot of dog biscuits. The best thing about this talented pup is he’s part of Shore Service Dogs. They are a wonderful organization that train service dogs and use rescues dogs whenever they can, giving them a second chance at life.
To help raise money for Shore Service Dogs some of the pups are trained to paint. Don’t worry, everything they use is non-toxic and the dogs seem to really enjoy it. Watch Sammy in action and you’ll see what I mean.
This week’s Dog Of The Week is Black, a one-year-old standard poodle. He’s been on Dogster since May 31st, 2009.
Black went from a stray running the streets to becoming a service dog for the member’s son who has autism.
Black was a stray running the streets. His picture was in the newspaper for adoption at the local pound and I lucked out and was the first there.
He went right up to my son who is on the Autism spectrum. I have been interested in getting and training a service dog for my son and Black seemed a good candidate.
So far Black has settled in and loves all the kids. Having him around calms my son down when he is anxious or upset. Black right away took to him. He is wonderful. The chances of a pound dog to work out this good are almost nill.
Black was sent to us I am sure. He is a true gift from God.
It sounds like this was a match made in heaven. We wish Black and his new family a long and happy life together.
Since this is a dog blog, a couple of times a month our boy Bo (woof!) thought it would be nice to get the news through a dog’s eyes.
Bo invites everyone to read a chapter from his upcoming book BAD TO THE BONE due out late September. It’s a funny memoir about the crazy adventures we have shared together over the last 14 plus years, told through Bo’s eyes.
Okay Bo, take it from here….
I recently read a survey that most dogs don’t like vets. I was shocked to hear those results.
I mean, what’s not to like? The camouflage? The ability to relieve themselves on a battlefield? It certainly can’t be the yummy c-rations.
Then I realized the survey was talking about veterinarians, not veterans. That made me feel better.
Well, since I’ve stumbled upon the subject, let me just send a quick thank you for all the members of the armed forces. Without their sacrifice, the freedoms we enjoy in this country would most assuredly be replaced by the chains of totalitarianism.
I know that all dogs know this and are eager to provide support. Check out the study the Dept of Defense has on tap to figure out just how great of animals we are, courtesy of the Kansas City Star.
Can a canine companion soothe the volatile emotions of a soldier haunted by post-traumatic stress disorder?
It may sound far-fetched, but the Department of Defense wants to find out.
If you’ve ever been to a PetSmart store you know you can bring your “well-behaved” dog in, of course we all know the meaning of that is very subjective. What’s inappropriate to some is sometimes thought of as cute by the dog owner.
Since PetSmart is a pet supermarket it’s one thing to allow dogs, what if you were walking in your local grocery store and you saw someone with their dog, not a service dog, would it bother you? What about if the dog went to the bathroom in the store?
In Portland’s Pearl District this is happening, it’s become dog owners versus non-dog owners. Dogs are now frequently seen in grocery stores and in the last year the food safety division of Oregon’s Agriculture Department has received over 600 complaints about this issue.
“Usually they’ll hold off and not make a complaint until they’ve seen a dog urinate in the grocery store or jump up and try to swipe a pack of meat,” said Vance Bybee, the head of the food safety division. “Or they’ve seen dogs pooping in the aisle, that sort of thing.” Read the rest of this entry »
We have the first pick forour new Dog Of The Week feature, and I don’t think the winner will come as any surprise. It’s no other than…drumroll please…Sam, the 2009 Community Service Pet Hero.
I posted Sam and Brittney’s story on Monday and if you haven’t read it yet take a minute to do so, they are an amazing duo.
Sam is a very special dog. I am currently [and will be until May of 2010] training him to become a Certified Service Dog, AND Arizona’s first Courthouse Dog. His job will be to sit up in the witness stand with victims, mainly children, who have been terribly abused and traumatized, and will be a comfort to them and can help them to testify.
There are only four or five other Courthouse Dogs in the US, and out of those, Sam will be one of the first that is actually a Service Dog. The others are only Therapy Dogs, and do not have public access…which means they can be, and often are, removed from the courtroom.
In May I posted about Dogster member Brittney (two-legged) and her dog Sam, partners in the Puppy Raising Program. The Foundation for Service Dog Support, a non-profit organization based in Arizona, runs the program. They are a support and resource center for those with service dogs, and those who seek information and training on service dog issues.
The program allows students to earn HS credits, while learning puppy raising, canine obedience and canine safety programming. At the end of three semesters, the teams must successfully pass the FSDS Certification test, and the dogs will then be matched with individuals in the community with disabilities who require service dogs.
Being a victim of crime is traumatizing under any circumstances, when a child is a victim it’s that much more devastating. It is much harder for children to express themselves, especially in molestation cases, so this is where a program called Courthouse Dogs steps in.
Founder Ellen O’Neill-Stephens uses well-behaved dogs to act as companions for traumatized victims of child abuse. Dogs are used to help calm a child’s nerves and to help them talk about things they may not be comfortable saying to an adult.
We know this works well with reading programs where dogs are used to help children with reading difficulties. Those kids are often afraid to read out loud for fear of being ostracized by their peers, but stick a dog in front of them and all of a sudden they start reading. After all, dogs never criticize.
“Sometimes, these children will say things to the dog that they’re too embarrassed to say to a person,” Stephens said. “We had a girl who had been severely abused and she could never talk about it. But she petted Jeeter for over 90 minutes straight and she was able to tell what happened.”
It’s not easy to become a courthouse dog, only about 30 percent of dogs in training actually make it. Usually golden or Labrador retrievers are used, trainers start working with them when they’re only 8 weeks old and training continue for about 18 months.
If you’re a baseball fan there’s a fun event not to be missed at an upcoming Gwinnett Braves baseball game to benefit Happy Tails.
Happy Tails Pet Therapy is an organization that provides animal-assisted therapy and animal-assisted activity visits, for healthcare facilities, social agencies and special-needs programs in the metro Atlanta community.
The Gwinnett Braves will have some new volunteers on hand to help fetch foul balls on Friday, August 14th as Happy Tails volunteers and their canine companions team up to raise money for the non-profit pet assisted therapy organization.
At the game 50/50 raffle tickets will be sold, 50% of the money raised from raffle ticket sales goes to a lucky fan at that night’s game. The remaining 50% is divided evenly between the Gwinnett Braves (for their charity) and the evening’s participating organization…Happy Tails in our case!
It’s the dog days of summer, so come on out and enjoy a ball game and pitch in to help out Atlanta’s furriest friends. Gates open at 5:30 and the game starts at 7:00. See you there!
To get parking information and directions to the stadium please click here.
Sen. Al Franken is introducing a new bill which would give service dogs to injured veterans.
Franken’s legislation, which is an amendment to a 2010 military funding bill, would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to create a pilot program to train at least 200 service dogs through nonprofit organizations and give them to veterans with physical and mental disabilities.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Luis Carlos Montalvan, a disabled Iraq war veteran, suggested the idea to Franken months earlier at the presidential inaugural ball in Washington.
“It was really like a dream come true,” Montalvan, a journalism student in New York City, told the paper.
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Sammy is a very talented boy, he can paint, and his paintings have sold for $1,700. That’s a lot of dog biscuits. The best thing about this talented pup is he’s part of Shore Service Dogs. They are a wonderful organization that train service dogs and use rescues dogs whenever they can, giving them a second chance at life.
This week’s Dog Of The Week is 
Black was sent to us I am sure. He is a true gift from God.
Since this is a dog blog, a couple of times a month our boy 
“Usually they’ll hold off and not make a complaint until they’ve seen a dog urinate in the grocery store or jump up and try to swipe a pack of meat,” said Vance Bybee, the head of the food safety division. “Or they’ve seen dogs pooping in the aisle, that sort of thing.” 
We have the first pick for our new Dog Of The Week feature, and I don’t think the winner will come as any surprise. It’s no other than…drumroll please…
“Sometimes, these children will say things to the dog that they’re too embarrassed to say to a person,” Stephens said. “We had a girl who had been severely abused and she could never talk about it. But she petted Jeeter for over 90 minutes straight and she was able to tell what happened.”
