Therapy Dogs Are Here To Video Call

Grace Visiting Care Center

Bluegrass Care Navigators in Hazard has a new member on their team, a therapy dog named Grace.

Grace is a part of their integrative medicine program which includes art, music, and massage therapy.

She is one year old and just finished nine months of training.

Grace will be visiting patients at the Greg and Noreen Wills Hospice Care Center as well as other nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Studies have shown petting dogs and other animals reduce stress, anxiety and pain.

She has only been at the center a few weeks, but they are already seeing the help she provides.

“It was really beneficial to the patient and the family. They were so excited and you could just feel I heard staff saying you could just feel the atmosphere change and that everybody seemed to be more comfortable more relaxed and she just brightened the day,” said Monica Couch, the associate vice president of EKY operations.

Bluegrass Care Navigators will be looking for volunteers who will be trained to handle Grace. They will take her to visits and play with her.

Talking About Pets

How can I treat heatstroke before rushing my dog to the emergency clinic?

For mild heatstroke, bring your puppy into an air-conditioned space and turn on a fan, so the outside temperature is lower than its body temperature and panting can work. Offer ice cubes to lick, or cold Gatorade or Pedialyte or water to drink, and wrap it in cold wet towels.

For severe heatstroke, soak the pet in cold water from the hose, or in the tub or sink. Place ice packs (bags of frozen peas work well) in its “armpit” and groin region where there are major blood vessels. The cold will chill the blood, and as it circulates, it cools the whole body from the inside. Once its temperature drops to 104 F, wrap him up in a towel and get him to emergency room.

How to identify incontinence in older dogs?

Incontinence is the inability to fully control the bladder and/or bowels. A dog that looks at you and squats to eliminate is probably not incontinent. When a dog is truly incontinent, the urination and/or defecation can happen without the dog realising it until it’s too late. This can make the dog feel shame and even worry about being disciplined. True incontinence is not your dog’s fault. Common findings in incontinent dogs include:

Leaking urine while sleeping; Having a bowel movement while sleeping; Dribbling urine while standing or walking (not squatting first); Dropping stool while standing or walking (not posturing to defecate); Finding wet spots on bedding; Smelling urine and/or faeces on your dog.

How to treat incontinence in dogs?

If your dog is incontinent and there is no treatment to stop it, you can make some adjustments to improve your dog’s quality of life and preserve your sanity.

Increase the frequency of walks and potty breaks. Take your dog out immediately after eating, drinking, and waking up. It’s like how you treat a puppy.

Put waterproof covers on dog beds and other places where your dog sleeps.

Clean soiled areas well with an enzymatic cleaner to keep your dog from being attracted to that area for elimination in the future.

Place puppy pads in easy-to-access areas so your dog can get relief faster.

Use doggie diapers for severe cases. Just be sure to change them frequently to avoid skin irritation and infections.

Bathe your dog’s genital area often to prevent odour, irritation, and infections. You also may want to keep longer hair trimmed short in the genital area to make cleaning up easier.

What is the reason behind the leaking urine in dogs?

Urine leaking may be symptom of a disease process or the consequence of aging. Like in older dogs it may be due to the weakening of the muscles that hold urine or due to developing a disease that affects the bladder or urinary tract. In spayed females, this may be caused by lack of hormone estrogen.

How can you prevent urine leaking in your dog?

Let your dog outside often to urinate. An empty bladder is much less likely to leak.

Train your dog to sleep and lie down only on easy-to-clean surfaces in the house or provide waterproof puppy training pads in the dog’s favourite spots.

Consider having your dog wear doggie diapers, especially at times when you are out of the house.

Properly clean your dog to prevent any infection.

Most importantly, don’t punish your dog. Keep in mind that it’s not the dog’s fault and is simply a part of growing old for many dogs.

Do dogs suffer from social anxiety?

Yes. They suffer from a fear of people, other animals, or unknown places, sights, sounds, and other stimuli in the environment. A dog may be perfectly fine around its human family members then become anxious around strangers, for example. Likewise, some are fine indoors or in their territory, but panic when leaving home. Depending on the dog, the level of anxiety in a social setting can be mild or extreme. It can cause a dog to act out or behave in ways that are not normally observed when it’s in a familiar environment. While some dogs may become very timid, others may feel trapped and cornered, which often results in fear aggression. When a cornered dog experiences the biological fight-or-flight response, the only available action is to fight.

Aggressive behaviour, such as barking, growling or jumping, towards a person or animal.

Timid and fearful behaviour, including cowering behind the owner, whining, or even screeching.

Some dogs show signs of extreme nervousness like panting or drooling. They may even suddenly urinate or defecate without seeming to know it.

Therapy Dog Moose

Virginia Tech’s virtual commencement ceremony included an honorary doctorate being bestowed on a beloved university staffer: a therapy dog named Moose.

The School Announced Moose, an 8-year-old therapy dog employed by the school’s Cook Counseling Center, was awarded an honorary doctorate in veterinary medicine Friday as part of the school’s virtual commencement ceremony.

Moose, who has been with the school since 2014, is one of four dogs serving at the Cook Counseling Center as working therapy animals and ambassadors for mental health awareness. The canine previously received the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Hero Award in 2019.

“The students here talk a lot about how Moose has broken down the stigma around mental health care on campus,” owner Trent Davis told CNN. “Veterinarians are unfortunately a very challenged population. They have high rates of suicide, and this profession can be quite disturbing. He has really helped the students and staff at Virginia Tech and has gotten a lot of recognition for that.”

The school said Moose is facing his own health problems amid the COVID-19 pandemic: he was diagnosed with prostate cancer just one week after his birthday in February. Officials said Moose is still receiving chemotherapy treatments while continuing his therapy dog work and has been given a “pawsitive” prognosis by veterinarians.

Puppies Helping Firefighters With Stress

Service Dog Puppies

Here’s something cute to help you brighten your week!

Sweet 8-week old puppies just arrived at Dallas Love Field on Monday by private jet after a long journey from California. The local chapter is based in Irving with multiple locations across the country. The headquarters are in Santa Rosa, California, where the puppies arrived from.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the group is keeping its mission going to train and provide service dogs for people with disabilities at no cost.

While the pandemic is limiting flights for many, it hasn’t stopped them from transporting these future assistance puppies. Canine Companions looked to private pilots for help, and they stepped up in a big way.

Private pilots Martyn Lewis and Josh Hochberg volunteer with a nonprofit organization that connects volunteer pilots and plane owners with animal groups that need animal transportation. Now, they’re offering Canine Companions their services in a time of need.

“It combines two of my greatest passions, flying and dogs,” Lewis said. “There is nothing better in the world than delivering a puppy to their new person. The impact the dog has on its future person is incredible.”

So far, private pilots have flown more than 100 Canine Companions puppies from the nonprofit’s headquarters in Northern California to their volunteer puppy raisers in Southern California, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and now, Texas.

“We are so grateful to Martyn and to all the pilots, staff and volunteers who are helping our puppies get to their volunteer puppy raisers during this unprecedented time,” said Canine Companions CEO Paige Mazzoni in a statement. “At times like these, it is wonderful to see the goodness and kindness in people who want to help however they can.”

Canine Companions still has over 400 people waiting to be placed with an expertly trained assistance dog.

Yogi’s Law

The black dog is Ron Fenton’s ever-present companion. Usually, it sits on his shoulder. Sometimes, it creeps up and whispers in his ear, telling him it’s time to have what Mr Fenton calls “a little chat”.

On the day the former policeman found out he had terminal liver cancer, it jumped right off his shoulder and screamed in his face, “Now! Now is the time!”

It was another dog – a chocolate-coloured Labrador to be precise – who saved him. For two nights, Mr Fenton’s canine companion Yogi sat with him patiently, nuzzling his hand insistently.

“For the second time in my life, Yogi talked me out of suicide,” he says.

In Memory Of Diesel

When Rolette and Josh Warren’s dog, Diesel, needed an expensive operation several years ago, the Binghamton couple couldn’t find any financial help.

They dialed animal rescue organizations as far away as New York City and California, but were turned down by every organization.

“We ran into a lot of roadblocks,” Rolette Warren said.

They handed over their life savings to pay for Diesel’s medical treatment and ultimately lost their home. Diesel could not be saved. Since then, the couple has recovered financially and now run a non-profit organization in Diesel’s memory that helps pet owners with food and other services.

“Our goal is to help be the bridge between the rescues and everybody else that’s trying to do something different within the pet community,” Warren said.

In Memory of Diesel, which received its nonprofit status in 2017, runs a pet food pantry for dog and cat owners in need, as well as help for cremating pets and providing support for their grieving owners. They also donate pet food to local pet rescue organizations, including Every Dogs Dream, Harpers Haven and Pibbles & More.

Future goals of the organization include providing help for emergency veterinary services, pairing people with disabilities and military veterans with service dogs, and rescuing and rehoming dogs from high-kill shelters.

The pet food pantry recently expanded its pet food services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down schools and businesses, and left many people unemployed.

“During this pandemic, we decided to pass out pet food every week rather than twice a month because of the influx of need in the area,” she said.

Since March, when the pandemic started, the organization has given away 1,400 pounds of pet food, Warren said. The goal is to help pet owners make it through tough financial times without having to give up their pets to shelters.

“We believe that you don’t need to surrender them during that time when you’re just down and out for a short period of time,” she said. “We believe everyone should have the opportunity to give their pet a fighting chance to stay with their family.”

Warren knows firsthand how strong the bond can be between pet and human.

“He was a great dog and an escape artist,” she said of Diesel, who was a Siberian Husky. “He was a character. He was the protector of our kids.”

Diesel was an active dog who never slowed down until the day he started getting sick.

“We knew something was wrong because he never acted like a 12-year-old dog. He acted like a puppy,” she said of Diesel.

Diesel was eventually diagnosed with a fungal infection which infected his lungs. He died in November 2014 but he’s not forgotten.

“That’s why we do it,” Warren said. “This is a way to honor his memory.”

Meet These Brave Dogs

Dogs are man’s best friend, but war takes that special bond to another level. Out on the front lines of brutal armed conflicts half a world away, US soldiers count on their canines to keep them safe from hidden threats and get them back home alive.

One of many dangers on the modern battlefield is improvised explosive devices, crude bombs that can be disguised as everything from part of a car to roadside trash, but US explosive detection dogs are trained to find these deadly weapons before disaster strikes.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Citrullo, the kennel master who supervises the service’s 8th Military Working Dog Detachment at Fort Drum, told Insider that a dog he deployed with named Uran “definitely saved not only my life but multiple other service members’ lives by finding IEDs and other things that were just ready to go off and hurt someone.”

He said that soldiers feel better having the dogs around. “They know the dog has been proven. [The dog] can find explosives, and they know it is going to keep them safe.” Hunting down explosives and other threats obviously comes with serious risks for the working dogs and their handlers.

“We’re on the front line most of the time,” Army Sgt. Kristin Vanderzanden, a squad leader and patrol explosive detection dog handler at Fort Polk, told Insider. The stakes are high. If an IED or a booby trap goes undetected, then the dog, maybe the handler and possibly others could be wounded or killed.

The handlers and their dogs also have to worry about the many other horrors of war.

“One of my teammates went out on a mission with his dog, and they got hit by a suicide bomber,” Vanderzanden, who deployed to Afghanistan, said.

“They were seriously injured,” she said. “We didn’t know if either of them was going to make it.” Both lived, but the dog ended up losing one of his rear legs. The dogs that end up serving in the armed forces start their training early, usually around seven to eight months old, at Lackland Air Force Base, which is also where US service members go to learn to be handlers after mastering other soldiering skills elsewhere.

Military working dogs can be taught a variety of complex skills, everything from finding narcotics and explosives to engaging enemy combatants. A dog named Conan made headlines last fall for his role in a special forces raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Before a handler ever gets paired with one of these dogs, they get assigned an ammunition can that serves as a pretend dog for practicing commands and leash control.

Citrullo explained that putting an inexperienced soldier with a specially-trained military working dog would be like training a new recruit on a fully-loaded rifle. “It’s too much of a safety risk,” he told Insider, adding that improperly handling a military canine risks the animal or the handler getting hurt.

A dog, of course, is much more complicated than a rifle, as each dog is different. Strengths, weaknesses, and how the animal interacts with the handler can vary greatly depending on the dog’s breed, age, experiences, and personality.

Army Spc. Joseph Ramos, a handler with the 8th Military Working Dog Detachment, told Insider that his dog Fox has severe separation anxiety.

“I never thought he would get so attached to me,” he said.

If he leaves, even for only a few days, Fox’s “whole character changes,” Ramos said. “I have to check on him periodically, even through a long weekend, just to make sure he’s eating.” He has to be sure Fox is healthy and performing as he should because the animal is his responsibility.

“Not only do you have to worry about your own soldier tasks, but you have this extra equipment on you that needs attention as well,” he said. Everything he does, he has to take the dog into consideration. “You can’t just think about yourself.”

Dealing with military working dogs, which often unofficially outrank their handlers, requires tremendous patience.

A working dog is “Army equipment that literally has its own brain and can choose not to work correctly just because it doesn’t want to,” Citrullo told Insider. “You can do everything correct with your military working dog and the dog could still choose to not do what it was trained to do.”

Handlers work with their dogs daily, building a relationship and getting to know the animal, learning its likes, dislikes, needs, abilities, and limitations.

When she deployed to Afghanistan, Vanderzanden made armament decisions based off her understanding of her dog Frenky. She told Insider that she did not carry grenades into combat because Frenky is toy-driven. “I knew if I threw anything, he would be running after it,” she said.

Unlike regular dogs, which may be easily spooked by thunder, fireworks, and other loud noises, military working dogs, which often accompany their handlers during live-fire training exercises, are familiar with the weapons of war and trained not to panic in response to gunfire or explosions. “On deployment, we took mortar rounds, there was sniper fire, there were door charge explosions.” Vanderzanden said, explaining that Frenky’s response was based off her reaction. “If I don’t react, he doesn’t react.”

The nature of the explosive detection job regularly puts handlers and their dogs in harm’s way, with the working dogs often facing some of the greatest risks.

“It’s paws before boots,” Citrullo told Insider. Not trying to be cruel, he explained that while the aim is for the dogs to safely identify threats to the force, if a dog is unfortunately injured or killed by an IED or some other deadly device but it saves the lives of soldiers behind it, “that’s a win for us.”

That being said, the US military has veterinarians available to care for its working dogs and fight for their lives.

“I take care of the animals that take care of our troopers,” Col. Andrew McGraw, a military veterinarian and the director of the Lt. Col. Daniel E. Holland Military Working Dog Hospital, told Insider. “We do our very best for these animals because they are selfless.”

Handlers are trained to provide basic first aid in emergency situations, but for more serious situations, the military calls on the experts.

Military veterinarians treat a variety of ailments, everything from heat exhaustion and gastrointestinal issues to gunshot wounds and IED blasts, sometimes working medical miracles with injured animals. It’s a challenging job, one that demands far more than just caring for wounded working dogs.

Lt. Col. Patrick Grimm, a military veterinarian and a radiologist at the working dog hospital, told Insider that on one combat deployment, he was called up in the middle of the night following reports of an ambush.

He waited for several hours as Black Hawks brought in wounded troops but no dog. When the last helicopter finally came in, it delivered about half a dog wrapped in an American flag. The dog had been hit with an IED, and there was nothing he or his team could do.

“I saw the kennel master from the special forces team that was involved in the mission in the corner,” he said. “I went over to him, and he was crying.” Several US troops were killed. The handler assigned to the deceased dog was alive but had lost his legs.

Grimm said the kennel master asked him to deliver the flag to the handler in the hospital, to deliver the heartbreaking message that his dog didn’t make it. He said that this was one of the hardest things he has had to do.

“Being a veterinarian in the Army is more than just being there for the dogs,” he said. “It’s about being there for the team and the handlers and supporting them.” Grimm stayed with the handler at the hospital, not saying much, but being there for him when he needed it most.

Virtual Therapy Dogs

Ricochet has been surfing with wounded warriors and helping people with PTSD for years. Now, her human is finding opportunities for people to see her virtually.