Dogs Really Are Man's Best Friend

As you might imagine, my job as Chief Canine Officer of the company requires me to be quite internet savvy.  The other day I was surfing the net and came across a site called Soldiers Best Friend  The organization provides military veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with a trained Service or Therapeutic Dog.

How great an idea is that!  And it gets even better!  Most of the dogs chosen to be trained for the program are rescued from local shelters. I love these people.

It's about time humans realize how much we dogs help them.  For years, dogs have been trained to help humans with special needs.

Children with brain injuries, ADD/AHD and children with all kinds of physical and mental challenges relate much more quickly to dogs than to humans.

Seeing Eye Dogs allow blind people to get out into society by being their owner's eyes.  Other specially trained dogs know when a person is going to have a seizure or is going to have a diabetic reaction, even before their humans knows and they alert the person so that they can take appropriate actions.

Therapy dogs visit nursing homes, making the lives of the residents more enjoyable.  Often the elderly in homes miss the companionship of pets that they have had and a visit from a therapy dog is much appreciated.  Hospitals have welcomed therapy dogs for some time and many are now allowing patient's own pet to visit.  We've known all along that dog kisses are the best medicine and it seems that doctors are starting to figure it out.

Just because the ordinary family dog doesn't have specialized training doesn't mean we aren't the best friends a family could have.  We provide love, comfort and protection  No squirrel can get in my family's yard without me sounding the alarm and my sister DixieLee is a world class cuddler.  Who could ask for more?

Your friend,

Zeva

P.S.  Blatant self promotion.  Looking for a special gift for your very best friend?  I bet he or she would love a gift basket from Paw Pals Boutique.  Check out our website today.

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Dogs are really smart animals.  We can do lots of things.  There are Therapy Dogs that provide affection and comfort to humans and Service Dogs that are trained to help people with disabilities.  Seeing Eye dogs were the first Service Dogs but now there are many different kinds of training.  Today dogs can be trained to assist humans with conditions from Autism or Allergy Alert Assistance to Diabetic or Seizure Response and even psychiatric conditions like PTSD.

There are Military Dogs that are trained to do all sorts of important jobs.  Jobs like sentry duty, walking patrol with human troops and being messengers.  Military Dogs, and Police Dogs, are trained to sniff out bombs and drugs.  Some Police Dogs are trained to track lost peoples or to catch bad guys.

I didn’t have any special training, only puppy training, but I thought I was really smart.  I mean, it was my idea to start the Pet Division of Laurel Mountain Basket Co and I helped my Mom get it up and running.  I have my own blog where I take on serious and not so serious issues concerning pets.  I have hundreds of friends on sites like 3 Million Dogs and PetPav.  I am paw pals with dogs all around the world and I can get Mom and Dad (especially Dad) to do pretty much what I want them to do.

I thought I was really smart until DixieLee came to live with us. We don’t know what kind of training DixieLee had before she came to live with us and she's not talking.  For all we know she could have worked for the CIA.  Anyway, DixieLee is lots smarter than even me and Dad.  She might be almost as smart as Mom!

She figured out how to open the cabinet where we keep the kibble so now it has a childproof lock on it.  She knows how it works but you need an opposable thumb to make it open.   Not saying she won’t overcome that obstacle but not just yet.

I don’t mind that she learns commands faster than me.  She was first to figure out “show me where the cookies are”.  No big deal.  We both get cookies even if she learned it first.

What I don’t like is when she outsmarts me.  Everybody knows there is only one THE BEST place to sleep in the house.  In our house it’s the certain corner of the couch.  Couches have two corners but the one nearest the table is the Best one.

Sometimes, when I am sleeping in the Best Corner and DixieLee wants to sleep, she tries to get me to move.  As I said, I am smart so her running up and down the hall and being a total pain may make Mom and Dad wonder what’s going on but I’m wise to her tricks. Or maybe not.

How am I supposed to know that her sounding the alert that there is a squirrel in the yard or that the post person is coming is not for real?  She gets me every time.  She runs to the window or the door so convincingly that I am sure we are under attack.  Then, when I no sooner get to the window or door, she jumps into the Best corner and goes to sleep with that smug look on her face. 

I know many of my friends are really smart dogs.  What is the best trick you know how to do?  And if you know how I can outsmart DixieLee on the Best seat in the house thing, let me know.

Your friend,

Zeva

P.S. Blatant Self-Promotion. With one of our You Name It! Gift Boxes you can say congratulations to your favorite canine upon graduation from puppy school, Canine Citizenship Class, Agility Training or however they show you how smart they really are.