Humans have been using dogs for thousands of years in various capacities. We take advantage of their affectionate natures, their loyalty and their natural talents and put them to work for us. With their vision, hearing, and sense of smell, they have become our hunting aids, search and rescue workers, and police assistants. Perhaps their most important job for humans has been that of guide. With patience and care, dogs have been leading the disabled for hundreds of years.
Leader Dogs
Images of dogs leading the blind have been found as far back in time as the Roman Empire. In more modern times, the real push to train and use dogs as assistants for the visually impaired began after World War I in Europe when dogs helped injured war veterans. In the United States, several organizations for training guide dogs were founded after World War II. Since then, leader dogs have become indispensable companions to their owners. But highly trained dogs are not only for the visually impaired. They can assist those with hearing impairment and other physical or even emotional disabilities.
Hearing Dogs
With their excellent ears, dogs make great companions for the deaf and hard of hearing. Hearing assistance dogs are trained for three to five months to listen to distinguish between different sounds. They also learn to respond to hand signals from their owner and others. These dogs learn to alert a person to a particular sound using the sense of touch. They will use their nose to nudge their owner and then lead them towards the source of the sound. The sense of safety that these trained dogs can provide for their humans is invaluable.
Service Dogs
Dogs are also wonderful assistants for people with a range of other physical disabilities. People with limited mobility can greatly benefit from having a dog guide. They can be trained to retrieve needed items, open and close doors, pull wheelchairs, turn lights on and off and find other people for assistance. The can work with and around manual wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs or walkers. They can help someone with balance issues walk more steadily.
Even people with less obvious or less visible disabilities can benefit from a service dog. People who suffer from various mental and emotional disorders can use dogs to help them feel more comfortable and secure in their environments. Someone with agoraphobia may need a dog to be able to leave the house or a child with autism may use a dog to more easily interact with the outside world. Dogs can even assist with medical health problems. Thanks to the amazing smelling power of the dog nose, service dogs can detect when an epileptic is about to have a seizure or a diabetic has low blood sugar. These alerts can be life saving as the dog can alert his or her owner of the sudden drop in blood sugar or seizure and either get his or her owner to a safer place and are trained to alert someone else who can assist. Now if only they could get the tongue depressor or insulin and insert it, wouldn’t that be amazing?
For someone with a disability, getting a service dog can be life changing. A lot of work goes into training these amazing animals. Guide dogs for the blind are generally selected as puppies and are usually Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers or German shepherds. They live with a volunteer or trainer for proper socialization until they are old enough for serious training. Dogs for the hearing impaired and other disabilities don’t require quite as much preparatory work. They can often be selected from a shelter and do not need to be puppies. A service dog of this type should be between eighteen months and two years old and require a few months of training.
Whatever the need, a dog is there to assist. These amazing animals have long been connected to the human race. With their loyalty, abilities, and desire to please us, dogs have truly become our best friends.