Posts tagged "ServiceDogs"

In January, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine quietly embarked on an important new study to investigate a curious phenomenon: trained service dogs suddenly quitting early on in the job for no apparent reason. Until now, the issue had not been examined.

"We're studying seeing-eye dogs and a population of assistance dogs to try to find out why they don't seem to want to do it anymore," the study's lead researcher, Dr. James Serpell, tells Paw Nation. "They just seem to stop working, meaning they stop doing what they're trained to do."

The study will take three years and is funded by the Morris Animal Foundation. "We are working very closely with three organizations," says Dr. Serpell. "The sample size we're aiming for is a total of 800 dogs that are already out working as guide or service dogs." The breeds of dogs being studied include Golden retrievers, Labrador retrievers, German shepherds and Labrador/golden-retriever mixes.

The rates at which service dogs stop working vary by organization. "Twenty percent is the highest figure I've seen, yet not all organizations would say 20 percent," says Dr. Serpell. "But all have early-retiring dogs that return within the first year or two or three years."

The need for service dogs is huge, as is the cost. University of Kentucky sophomore Logan Bright knows this, and wants to help by starting a club at her school under the 4 Paws for Ability organization.

"I have a strong passion for showing people that community service is more than work; it can be fun too," Bright told Paw Nation. While at Wittenberg University in Ohio (which she attended before transferring), Bright had learned about the program, which lets students who live off-campus bring home five-to-six-month-old puppies in order to help ready them to be service dogs for the disabled.

According to its Web site, 4 Paws for Ability "say[s] yes when many more traditional assistance dog placement agencies say no." The students keep the puppies for a semester, during which time 4 Paws for Ability provides food, toys, medical expenses, a crate, and a service vest.

Each caretaker's main responsibility is to socialize the puppy in different situations. The dogs must learn to be around both people and other animals, indoors and outdoors. The puppies are potty trained and able to sit through class before students take them home.

For now, only Bright and one other student are signed up for the program, and in order to be an official club at UK, at least five students are needed. We only wish this had been an option while we were in college -- doing a good deed by keeping a puppy, with food, toys and medical expenses covered by another organization? Sounds ideal!

Al Franken, newly sworn in to the Senate last month after getting elected in November, has already successfully passed his first piece of legislation, apparently wishing to make up for lost time. The Democrat's bill introduces a pilot program to help provide dogs to vets.

No, not that kind of vet.

The bill, called the Franken-Isakson Service Dogs for Veterans Act, will help provide service animals to wounded US war veterans. The program seeks to accomplish a number of goals, such as pairing at least 200 service dogs with wounded vets, half of which will be soldiers who suffer from mental-health disabilities, not just physical disabilities. It also will be part of a scientific study to further discover the therapeutic benefits of these service animals.

Franken penned an op-ed in the StarTribune describing the inspiration behind his bill. In January, at President Obama's inauguration, Franken met Capt. Luis Montalvan, a veteran who had been an intelligence officer in Iraq. Capt. Montalvan had survived an attempt on his life, but was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. "Luis explained that he couldn't have made it to the inauguration if it weren't for his dog," Franken wrote.

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