Service Dogs Informative Essay

Introduction

Service dogs remain a mystery to many people as they don't understand how they operate or develop their cognitive and responsive skills. This essay aims at providing detailed information on service dogs for an audience, to help them understand and unfold the knowledge behind service dogs.

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What Are Service Dogs Used For?

Service dogs are specially trained dogs that assist disabled people through some essential household activities that they find challenging to do. Mostly, they are meant for the blind, dumb, diabetic, mentally unstable persons and mobility seizures. The dogs undergo continuous training from a young age, guiding them through specific activities depending on the type of impaired person they will later help. Dogs are man's biggest animal friends, with a fore established close relationship, which makes it easy to train them to adapt to some tactics, like being the eye for the blind, or ears for the deaf. The training and breeding are conducted by service dog organizations while some private trainers take such tasks depending on their skills to interact and teach dogs. Some of these dog trainers happen to be disabled, training the dogs to become their partners (Butler, n.p).

There are different types of service dogs including Diabetes Alert Dogs, Autism Assistance Dogs, Mobility Support Dogs, Psychiatric Service Dogs, Hearing Dogs, Wheelchair Assistance Dogs, Visual Help dogs and Medical Assistance Dogs. Service dogs became acknowledged in the 1860's, where soldiers went into the civil war accompanied by a pup[y name Sallie, to encourage them through battle. In 1899 at Ghent, a learning institution for dogs was started to train a dog to help in law enforcement. In 1929, the first visual school for dogs got established, for the sake of helping the blind. During the 2nd world war in 1944, a dog by the name Yorkshire Terrier got left behind in battle, getting adopted by Corporal William Wynne, for war morale and entertaining the soldiers, acting as a therapy dog. In early 1975, a hearing dog program got started, to assist the existing hearing dog training institutions of the time. It conducted more research that improved dog training techniques (Yount, et al, n.p).

In 1976, an international therapy dog organization began under the leadership of Elaine Smith. It aimed at availing trained therapy dogs and their handlers to places that required such assistance. In the year 2005, an assistant dog guided the National Guardsman Sergeant Tony Laron, who received vital brain injury, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and lost his right lower leg in an Iraq war, to gain balance, relieve stress, and emotional support. Having a dog that cared for him at the time gave him some relaxation (Yount, et al, n.p).

It was great progress in discovering the power of service dogs. Recently in 2011, there was an amendment to the laws attached to service animals, officially announcing dogs as the only animals fit for service animals. They also declared that dogs should get harnessed on many occasions, with minimal exceptions. They also gave a pass for interbreeding service animals for the sake of getting the desired animal and were not to get discriminated against regarding age, weight or origin. Today, service dogs have the right to venture in any location, especially when it involves saving someone's life. Dogs can freely enter official institutions like schools and offices, get free transport in cars, trains, and airplanes without their owners getting charged an extra fee for the Dog (Berry, Alessandra, et al, 73-80).

In today's lifestyle, service dogs live with human beings in a closely related manner. They can open doors, ask for help in case their owner is in trouble, alert their owner in instances of an alarm, save small kids from dangerous items around the house by moving them out of their way and showing emotional attachment to their owner in difficult and stressful moments. Dogs have become like one of the family members in a family member. Sometimes, the family owners involve their dogs in making some family decisions, seeking their reaction to the options they have in play (Berry, Alessandra, et al, 73-80).

Service dogs have been of great help to human life. Dogs have always had mercy on a person in pain, and have shown their concern by saving kids, hurting soldiers and locating enemies in a way by their strong sense of smell. They have guided people to walk through their physical disabilities and health issues with confidence because they trust their dogs to guide them. More research about service dogs is still ongoing, to help improve their skills, make their work more efficient, and increase the bond between them and humankind (Chandler, n.p).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the dog is a unique creature that belongs home with the man and hence ought to get good treatment. Many domestic animals would watch someone succumb to danger or a specific health issue, but dogs are always on the lookout to protect its owner from any form of risk. That special care for man has twisted the interest in dogs, which finally led them to become the only service animal on earth

Works Cited

Berry, Alessandra, et al. "Use of assistance and therapy dogs for children with autism spectrum disorders: A critical review of the current evidence." The journal of alternative and complementary medicine 19.2 (2013): 73-80.

Butler, Kris. Therapy dogs today: Their gifts, our obligation. Dogwise Publishing, 2013.

Chandler, Cynthia K. Animal-assisted therapy in counseling. Taylor Francis, 2017.

Yount, Rick, et al. "The role of service dog training in the treatment of combat-related PTSD." Psychiatric Annals 43.6 (2013): 292-295.