‘Doggy’

The pair had been called Monday to an area near Highway 357 in Musquodoboit Harbour, N.S., to join the search for a three-year-old girl who was missing after wandering away from home and into the woods.

“In my mind it was so thick and so hard to navigate through that I was ready to pretty much determine that no human would go through there,” Berube said Wednesday.

Police had issued a public appeal that afternoon for any information that would help locate the little girl, bringing fresh distress to a province still reeling from the mass shooting little more than a week earlier. Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency even sent a drone team to the area.

But thanks to a keen canine and his Halifax Regional Police handler, the search would end happily.

When Berube first got the call on Monday, he and Jynx were training with other canine units. After arriving on scene, the other first responders out scouring the woods were called back, as dogs often work better with fewer people around.

“If there’s a lot of human scent in there, it gets harder for us to find the actual person we’re looking for,” Berube said.

In his training, Berube had learned that young children who are lost often go downhill. But he said the girl’s mother had told another officer that the child was a climber and was most likely heading uphill.

“So I went with mom’s gut. I have children of my own and I know my children best, and I figured mom knows her daughter best as well,” Berube said.

Once he had gathered what information he could, Berube and Jynx headed into the woods.

“You don’t really know where to start, it’s a needle in a haystack. Sometimes you’ll have certain indicators, footprints in snow if you’re lucky,” he said. “In this case, we had no starting point.”

They started up a hill, accompanied by an RCMP officer. But any time Jynx picked up a scent, it was heading back to the girl’s house, leading Berube to believe the dog was smelling previous officers in the woods.

Battling through branches and traipsing through mud, the officer decided to clear the hilltop.

That’s when Jynx started to track another scent. Berube called to the RCMP officer to hurry. Then he heard a faint “hello.”

“I thrashed harder and my dog led me to where she was — and here she was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, a whole bunch of pine brush around her and she was just standing there,” Berube said.

“The first thing she said was, ‘Doggy.’ I just hugged her.”

The girl was wet and shivering. Berube took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

“Her curly hair was starting to stretch out because of the weight of the water in there. She had two mismatched boots and she was just standing there,” he said. “Not crying, she didn’t seem fearful, she was asking for daddy and mommy.”

An RCMP officer carried the young girl out of the woods and back to her parents.

“I can’t imagine one of my children not being home for dinner, not home at night,” Berube said. “I wasn’t going to let this one slide.”

As for Jynx, he was given a treat for doing his job well.

“Just another day at work for him,” Berube said.

Guide Dog Day

Today (April 29)marks International Guide Dog Day and Delta-based charity BC & Alberta Guide Dogs would like to thank the community for the well wishes and encouragement that have accompanied donations over the past few weeks, and also for rallying behind its recent online Virtual Trivia Night event.

International Guide Dog Day highlights how important guide dogs are to ensure the safety, mobility and inclusion for individuals who are blind or visually-impaired, and this awareness is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recipients of guide dogs face additional challenges to their mobility as their dogs haven’t been trained for “physical distancing.”

BC & Alberta Guide Dogs encourages the public to be mindful when seeing a working guide dog navigate in the community.

With in-person events cancelled, the organization has had to get creative with revenue ideas. They recently held their first ever Virtual Trivia Night, sponsored by Ledcor Group, last weekend with more than 350 players taking part across Canada and the United States.

“The feedback from our event has been so positive and everyone has really come together to support BC & Alberta Guide Dogs,” said Joni Wright, Director of Development and Communications at BC & Alberta Guide Dogs. “We are already planning our next Virtual Trivia Night for May, so please keep an eye out for an announcement on our website.”

BC & Alberta Guide Dogs also received a significant donation from the Burnaby Lougheed Lions Club in the amount of $16,000 and would like to thank the Club’s continued dedication to providing life-changing Guide Dogs, Autism Service Dogs, and PTSD Service Dogs for those in need.

“Burnaby Lougheed Lions Club have supported our programs for many years,” adds Bill Thornton, CEO of BC & Alberta Guide Dogs. “This donation could not have come at a better time and helps to make up for some of the revenue we have lost due to our cancelled events.”

If you would like to donate to BC & Alberta Guide Dogs and help individuals who are blind/visually-impaired, children with profound autism, and Veterans, RCMP and First Responders living with PTSD, then the organization encourages you to make that donation on May 5^th for Giving Tuesday. Donations made that day will be matched by Nestle Purina and Grosvenor Americas up to $5,500.

Our Newest Canine Narco

 

Narco, so christened by a youngster from the Saskatchewan community of Loon Lake, is among the first 13 puppies born this year at the RCMP police dog services training centre.

The RCMP on Wednesday announced the winners of its annual Name the Puppy contest. RCMP Staff Sgt. Gary Creed, senior trainer and acting officer in charge of the training centre, said the “13 names will serve our dogs with pride.”

Each of the German shepherds currently working as RCMP service dogs was born at the training centre in Innisfail, Alta., as part of its police dog breeding program, according to the RCMP.

The 13 winners of the contest each receive a laminated photo of the puppy they named, a plush dog and an RCMP water bottle.

Troops Go To The Dogs

New York National Guard Soldiers, Airmen and active duty and civilian medical providers on duty fighting COVID-19 in New York City are getting the benefit of a wagging tail and licks to lift their spirits.

The troops are returning the favor with belly rubs.

The dogs are courtesy of Puppies Behind Bars, a New York City non-profit that pairs inmates in regional prisons with puppies, which the inmates raise to serve as service dogs.

The group brought their dogs to hotels where Guardsmen and medical providers were staying, as well as the alternate care facility at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, to give those responding to COVID-19 a stress break, according to Gloria Gilbert Stoga, the program coordinator.

New York Army National Guard Sergeant 1st Class Richard Masci, assigned to the 104th Military Police battalion from Kingston and working at Javits, first suggested the idea April 10 when he was talking to the unit’s rear detachment.

“The National Guard was asked by Sergeant Masci in Kingston if they needed anything and their answer was, “Service dogs?” half in jest,” Stoga said.

“There’s something about a dog that people love and they gravitate to and let their guard down,” Masci said.

The idea was raised up to the governor’s office, Stoga said, “and they recommended Puppies, so here we are.”

“As soon as we were asked, I said that of course we would help and one week later (Friday, April 17), we started,” Stoga said.

Puppies Behind Bars began in 1997 and has almost two dozen years of breeding and training experience to prepare dogs for service or therapy duties.

It was a perfect fit for the current military missions in New York, Stoga said.

“The amount of stress that the military and medical personnel serving in New York City are going through is extraordinary,” Stoga said. “The fact that our dogs can provide some comfort makes me prouder than I think I have ever been of them.”

The dogs are raised and trained in seven different correctional facilities in upstate New York. About 140 prison inmates raise the service dogs and with support of the Puppies Behind Bars staff, train them for wounded veterans and first responders.

Dogs have some 100,000 hours of socialization during their two years of training to prepare them for the work.

“We’re set to do eight shifts a week, two hours each, and the idea is that this is a way for the young Soldiers of the Guard to decompress, to just pet a dog and have a dog lick them and kiss them.”

The dogs live in prison with “puppy raisers,” inmates who are matched with them for the mutual benefit and bonding the training brings. “Our dogs learn, instinctively, to help people who need them,” Stoga said.

The efforts have reached more than just uniformed responders in New York, Stoga discovered.

“The Guard is also taking the dogs to meet with the nurses when they come back from the hospitals around the city, and what I’ve found out that I didn’t know is that the nurses are literally coming from around the country,” Stoga said.

“They don’t know anybody, they’re working 12 or 20 hour shifts and they’re coming back (to their hotels) and the National Guard is there with service dogs and the nurses get to pet them and love them.”

The ability to hug and pet a dog during a time of social distancing is what makes the difference, said New York Army National Guard Capt. Yvette Valle, Headquarters Detachment Commander for the 104th Military Police Battalion.

“The experience here is quite surreal and unlike anything I’ve experienced in the military,” she said.

With long hours and the stress of the unknown during the pandemic, the missions for Soldiers has been unlike any other disaster response effort, Valle said.

“The biggest thing I promote within my company is a positive mental attitude during this crisis and their attitude has been more than I expected with everyone willing to do whatever is needed.”

Bringing in the dogs has certainly made a difference, Valle said.
“Coordinating the dogs has definitely boosted morale with the Soldiers and with the nurses,” Valle said.

“It gives them a piece of family, a closeness that we can’t experience due to social distancing. They can get that through the dogs,” Valle said. “It gives them love and warmth that they are sacrificing being here for this cause.”

“The dogs are doing amazing work out in the world and at this particular moment in time, are bringing a tiny bit of joy and normalcy to people for whom joy and normalcy seem almost impossible to remember,” Stoga said.

The dogs, trained to work with veterans, wounded warriors and first responders, are a natural fit for supporting the National Guard response effort and can make a real difference for Soldiers, said Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, the Adjutant General of New York’s military forces.

“I am sure this means the world to all those who get to spend time with the puppies,” Shields said.

“I went twice last week with two dogs,” Stoga said. “One was raised in Fishkill and one in Bedford Hills.”

The visits are now a regular part of the working shifts for military and medical responders at the Javits Medical Station and hotels in Manhattan, serving as a stress-relief for Soldiers and nurses.

Stoga spoke with one off-duty Soldier during a visit on April 18, and asked where he was from.

“A small town in Dutchess County,” he replied, “Fishkill.”

Pointing to one of the dogs, Stoga said, “This dog was raised in the Fishkill Correctional Facility!”

The Soldier couldn’t believe it, got down on his knees, and had the dog lick his face to meet a new hometown friend, she said.

“It’s been a great success,” Masci said. “Everybody is thrilled to see them.”

“For Puppies Behind Bars, all of our service dogs go to wounded war vets or first responders,” Stoga said, “So these dogs being able to help in this way before they are placed is just phenomenal. We’re just thrilled to be able to work with the National Guard like this.”

service dogs ‘gear up’

Susquehanna Service Dogs is a non-profit that raises and trains service dogs for those in need. The cost to raise one dog is around $30,000.

SSD was supposed to host a “Gear Up” event during Blue-White Weekend in State College, but it was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. Instead, they kicked off a month long campaign that ends April 30.

For more information on how you can donate, check out their website!

Retiring Navy Dog

Therapy dogs comfort people

Some furry, four-legged friends saluted the dogged determination of doctors and nurses at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland Tuesday.

The therapy dogs usually make the rounds visiting patients inside the hospital. But because of COVID-19, they need to stay outside.

So, they did the next best thing – showing up to let the medical staff know they care.

“Right here at the hospital, we have either 12 or 14 teams. So, every day of the week there’s a dog that comes and we visit doctors. We go in the medical office building. I always go in the ER,” said Barbara Harmon who works with the therapy pet program.

In normal times, Legacy has 12 to 14 teams of therapy dogs and owners. At least one team is able to visit each day of the week.

‘The Wonder Dog’

A Morehead City dog is bringing joy and inspiration to those she meets and needs the community’s help in the American Humane Hero Dog Awards.

Bella is an 11-year-old pug and Boston mix who is paralyzed on the back half of her body; she is also nearly blind. Bella’s owner Ann Carpenter says Bella does not let her limitations get her down. She has her own book, Bella The Wonder Dog, which helps children embrace their uniqueness, and she is also a certified therapy dog. Bella’s book is available for purchase online at Barnes & Noble or Lulu. To vote for Bella in the American Human Hero Dog Awards, visit its website.

“As a therapy dog, what she does is she goes to nursing homes, schools, all kinds of places, we’ve gone to the Autism Society,” Carpenter explains. “Her job as a therapy dog is to bring joy to people, and she totally does that.”

Therapy dogs go live

The children came home from school, closed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Now what?

“I’m definitely not a teacher,” said Camas’ Allison Vidourek, who has two daughters in Naomi, 6, and Nora, 4.

DoveLewis, a Portland veterinary hospital, has more than 80 therapy dog and handler teams. They were busy until March 13, when Oregon put its stay-at-home order in place.

“Everything completely stopped,” said program manager Kathy Loter.

It didn’t take long until both parties were back in action.

Within a week, DoveLewis had more than 20 of its therapy dog teams doing what they do best. Vidourek and other parents soon had a handy educational and entertainment aide.

For the past five weeks, DoveLewis hosts a one- hour Facebook Live event (Monday through Friday, from 1-2 p.m.) where children of all ages can read to one or more therapy dogs.

The dogs can’t hear the children, but their mere presence provides an educational spark. Nearly 13,000 people have viewed DoveLewis’ daily video, with viewers from as far away as Massachusetts.

On Tuesday, black labs Maizie, Zinc and Valor laid on a couch – though they are dogs and occasionally barked – while children from homes throughout America read aloud.

At least a couple times a week, Vidourek turns on the DoveLewis video and Naomi reads, while Nora usually listens.

For Vidourek, it eases the challenge of getting her daughter to read. It’s something new with each Facebook Live session, as different dogs show up each day.

“It’s definitely got her more excited about reading,” Vidourek said. “She’s not always thrilled to read to me or her sister. It’s been a go-to activity for us.”

Loter said one day a boy read a “Star Wars” book to one of the therapy dogs. He got to the part in the book about Wookiees, and asked the dog if he knew what they were.

“He then explained and became the teacher,” Lotery said. “It gives them confidence.”

While the Facebook project is into its fifth week, DoveLewis recently added another virtual reading-friendly opportunity for kids and therapy dogs. This one is interactive, a one-hour video conferencing session on Tuesday and Thursday mornings where children read to a therapy dog.

The Zoom rooms are interactive, with one to four children in each session. If there are multiple viewers, the dog handler manages reading time for each child.

“It’s a little more of a lifelike experience,” Loter said.

Loter says they’ve had children as old as 12 reading to the therapy dogs. Children of all reading abilities take part.

“Just because they’re doing this doesn’t mean they have a problem reading. It’s an opportunity to look forward to something,” Loter said.

The program is free, as DoveLewis’ PACTT (Portland Area Canine Therapy Teams) are funded through donations.

As a bonus for parents, Vidourek says she can step away and do household chores while her daughters are occupied reading to dogs. Vidourek said she encourages her husband to remember the 1 p.m. Facebook Live reading time when she’s away working as a nurse.

“They feel like they’re not just being plopped in front of a computer screen,” Vidourek said. “They feel like they have an attentive audience.”

Fostering a Dog

If you’re thinking about fostering a dog for the first time, it can be an understandably exciting time. If you don’t already own a pet, fostering can be a way to see if your home and lifestyle is a good fit for a permanent fluffy addition to your family. If you do have another pet, it can serve as a way to see how your animals do with a new animal in the home or to give them a friend to socialize with for a bit. And of course, there’s the cherry on top of it all: Saving an animal and freeing up a space at a shelter to save an additional animal. But it can also be daunting. Will you fall in love with the dog? Will it be impossible to give them back? What if it’s not a good fit? There’s so much to consider when thinking about fostering but one of the most important things to keep in mind is this: It’s not the same thing as adopting, despite that being a common misconception.

Pat Deshong, the president of Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic & Ranch, a not-for-profit, no-kill rescue organization in Florida, says that one of the main differences between fostering and adopting is the time commitment. But although fostering is a shorter-term commitment than adopting, it’s equally impactful.

“A foster home is a much more pleasant place for a dog to wait to be matched with his or her forever family than a cage at a shelter or rescue,” Deshon says. “The dog gets to enjoy the freedom of living in a home amongst people in the interim. It is mutually beneficial.”

So if you’re on the fence about fostering a dog, here are some things Deshon want you to consider first. The good news? By reading this article you’re already doing a little prep work. Though it is different in many important ways, fostering is similar to adoption in one sense: You don’t want to do it on a whim. Doing thorough research about what fostering is, what it isn’t, and if it’s a fit for you is key before doing anything else. All major animal shelters have resources online giving detailed descriptions about their fostering processes. It’s worth looking at national resources first (try the ASPCA’s fostering FAQ page for a start) and then moving on to local resources about fostering before you do anything else. If you’ve ever adopted an animal before, then you know that applications can take a bit of time to get approved and are certainly not instantaneous. Long before you’re hoping to foster, start getting your information together. This includes doing things like picking out your references and giving them a heads up that a fostering agency may be giving them a call in the future. This also is a good time to check the terms of your lease if you rent your home. Are animals allowed? Do you have to pay a pet deposit? These are all very important things to know far in advance of submitting your application.

Not every agency is able to allow someone to foster the very second that their application is submitted and approved. Sometimes it takes weeks to find an animal that is a right fit for you and your home. Having said that, if you know a time in the future that would be perfect for fostering, it’s worth applying far in advance so everything is approved in advance. As New York City-based adoption agency Social Tees writes on its Fostering FAQ page, submitting a thorough application is the first step to eventually being matched with a foster animal.

“Based on your application, we try to match your foster parameters (low energy, under 25 lbs, good jogging partner, friendly with other cats, etc.) with the animals we need to place in foster homes, but we can’t always give you a choice between multiple animals,” the site notes. “Once you’ve submitted the foster application, you can respond to posts on Facebook and Instagram requesting foster help for animals that look like they may be a match for you.”

Dogs all have different needs, and this includes foster dogs. Any foster parent to a pet is responsible for food, toys, water, beds, etc. But foster parents are also sometimes in charge of giving dogs medicine, taking them to vet appointments, watching over them as they recover from surgeries or treatments, etc. If this is a deal breaker for you, then fostering may not be the right fit at the moment.

As the FAQ section on the PAWs site mentions, taking puppies and kittens to regular vaccination appointments is a huge part of fostering young animals. They might be cute, but they’re a lot of work. Foster parents to dogs are expected to provide supplies for their animals (including and especially food), but unlike adopting a dog, these supplies are actually tax deductible. As the FAQ section on Homeward Trails Animal Rescue states, “purchases made for foster care are considered donations to Homeward Trails Animal Rescue and are tax-deductible.” So keep your receipts. As DeShong points out, there are always going to be “foster fails,” which means the foster family falls in love with the dog and decides to officially adopt it.” But, according to the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, going into fostering thinking that it is a trail run to see whether or not you like that particular dog is the wrong mind set. It’s important to realize that in most cases, the dog will be up for adoption to the public for the entire time you are fostering it. This doesn’t mean that it can’t be a good experience to see if you’d like to adopt a dog someday, but in general it’s best to remember that your home is not a permanent situation for the dog at all.