Service Dog Canines
San Diego Fire-Rescue welcomed three furry new team members to its department Tuesday. The four-legged family members will serve as part of the SDFD Crisis Response Canine Program.
The new program pairs canines with chaplains to provide emotional support to firefighters during and after traumatic calls.
Bodie, a 2-year-old Labrador retriever, is one of the new team members. His handler, Chaplain Dan Guarrero, said he has the right “chill” demeanor for the job.
“When he walks into a room, you can feel that he brings total comfort,” he said.
Ty is a 6-year-old mini Goldendoodle. His handler, Chaplain Debi Arnold, said people gravitate toward him any time he enters a room.
“People love Ty,” she said. “He’s fluffy, extra cute, and he’s got a real calm sweet demeanor.”
Genoa is a 2-year-old Labrador retriever. Her handler is Chaplain Betsy Salzman.
Bodie, Ty and Genoa are certified crisis response canines through NSSD, an Assistance Dogs International accredited organization. The chaplains and their canines have successfully completed more than 120 hours of training and they will continue to receive training through the generous support of NSSD. Each canine team will be retested every three months during their first year as a team. In subsequent years, they will be tested annually.
“By nature, they’re designed to provide love,” said Guarrero.
SDFD Chief Colin Stowell told News 8 the past nine months have been particularly hard.
“PTSD is common in the fire service,” he said. “Our population is 7 times more susceptible to PTSD than the general population.”
“This program is just another resource for all personnel who may be experiencing difficulties on calls, [and if] they’ve had any of the stresses that come with our job,” said Chief Stowell.
“You can kind of tell if a firefighter is feeling it if they come off of a bad call,” added Guarrero. “Instantly I’ll bring Bodie to them and Bodie can do a lap. He can put his chin on that person.”
Arnold said the dogs are able to get firefighters to open up and talk about what’s bothering them in a way that maybe people can’t.
“I think it’s just a good way for them to say, ‘This is what’s going on’ so they don’t carry it inside and it’s very healing for them,” she said.
Tuesday, via Facebook live, all three dogs received a badge and were officially made members of the team. Bodie even took it a step further with a handshake and a bow.
“To watch him bring comfort to either the victim of a fire or a firefighter themselves is rewarding,” said Guarrero. “And that’s why I do what I do.”
SDFD’s chaplaincy program is made up of 17 volunteer chaplains from a variety of faiths. There are two chaplains assigned to each battalion, one chaplain assigned to the lifeguard division, one assigned to the emergency command and data center (dispatch) and one administrative chaplain.
Emotional Support Dogs
In a rule change that could impact select veterans, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that dogs — and no other species — will soon be the only service animals allowed on board U.S. flights.
The updated policy eliminates the option of flying with animals previously categorized as emotional support. That means no horses, peacocks, rabbits, snakes or quokkas, no matter how much emotional support their gigantic, cartoonish smiles provide.
The previous policy, one that the Transportation Department said “eroded the public trust in legitimate service animals,” permitted emotional support animals to travel free of charge under guidelines that irked many in the industry who felt passengers were merely scamming airlines out of pet-associated costs.
Additionally, passengers and flight crews alike were seldom fond of sporadic biting or bladder and bowel evacuation by animals that seem more suited for the Serengeti or Amazon rainforest.
“The days of Noah’s Ark in the air are hopefully coming to an end,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, told USA Today.
The refined guidelines, which now define a service animal as “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability,” received support from more than 80 veterans groups that have, over time, argued that the transport of untrained animals jeopardizes the ability to bring a service dog by those who actually need it. “This is a wonderful step in the right direction for people like myself who are dependent on and reliant on legitimate service animals,” said Albert Rizzi, founder of the advocacy group My Blind Spot. Rizzi added that too many people “want to have the benefits of having a disability without actually losing the use of their limbs or senses just so they can take their pet with them.”
Southwest Airlines reportedly transports more than 190,000 animals classified under emotional support per year. American Airlines, meanwhile, saw the number of emotional support animals they carried jump 48 percent from 2016 to 2017, a timeframe during which the number of pets that were checked fell 17 percent.
For now, disappointed pet-free passengers will be forced to take extraordinary measures to attain emotional support, such as employing the company of another human being, reading a book, or enjoying the soothing cracks of an airline bottle of vodka’s twist off cap.
Piper The Therapy Dog
Citing recent community health, social and economic consequences related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Round Rock ISD on Monday introduced “Piper,” the school district police force’s behavioral therapy dog.
“When children experience ‘life happens’ overload, they can express it through their behaviors,” the district wrote. “These behaviors’ impact can negatively affect their schoolwork, friendships, relationships at home, and personal well-being.”
DeSean Walker is a behavior interventionist at CD Fulkes Middle School. In his role, he works with students, families and teachers on implementing interventions that can help kids cope with the complicated feelings that can influence their behaviors.
“Student lives outside of school can be complicated,” said Walker. “Grief, unemployment, and isolation are prominent and stressful issues in our student’s households. Behavior intervention techniques give students the tools they need to recalibrate, assign their focus to coming to school, being respectful, and practice optimism.”
When students visit him, they may be experiencing feelings such as anger or anxiety. It’s Piper’s job to serve as a calming influence and stimulate productive conversations.
Officer Liza Cleere serves as the chocolate Labradoodle’s trainer and handler.
“Even before the pandemic, mental health was a prominent community issue,” said Officer Cleere. “We are here to provide students prevention, and issues management solutions, not punishment. Dogs make people happy; they promote self-esteem and can produce positive student school interactions.”
The district’s police department is the first in Central Texas and the second in the state to serve students using a behavioral therapy dog. RRISD has two behavior interventionists at the middle school level and 17 at its elementary schools.
Face Time With Pets
Christie Purks of Athens is finding a way to serve those socially isolated and lonely because of COVID-19. Without leaving the comforts of home, Purks and her 9-year-old mixed-breed dog, Cali, a Maltipoo, are putting smiles on the faces of seniors across the country.
Purks is one of 1,000 volunteers for Pets Together, a free virtual pet visit program offered to seniors in metro Atlanta and nationwide who are living in group settings, such as nursing homes and assisted living communities.
Video chats also are available to doctors, nurses, and other health professionals on the front lines fighting the coronavirus.
Since pets can’t make live visits right now, these volunteers are filling the gap. Using video chat services, like Zoom, volunteers and their pets get on a 30-minute call and participate in friendly interaction.
During the pandemic, Purks works from home as the University of Georgia assistant athletic director of event management. She signed up as a pet volunteer in April, after hearing about the program and the need for help. The chat visits don’t require much time, and she enjoys meeting the other volunteers, and interacting with the residents.
“I like seeing their faces light up,” Purks said. “A lot of them will talk about their animals — pets they’ve had in the past, or if there’s one at the facility.”
Pets Together aims to bring joy and comfort to those feeling socially isolated and lonely. It is a program of Animal Farm Foundation, a nonprofit in upstate New York offering various services to bring dogs and people together.
During the onset of the pandemic, Pets Together was launched in one Maryland nursing home. The response was so overwhelming the organization decided to take it national.
“Pets bring us comfort during times of distress, but not everyone is in a position to have one,” said Stacey Coleman, Executive Director of Animal Farm Foundation.
“One of the many effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is social isolation and loneliness, which were already highly prevalent before the crisis. We designed Pets Together to adapt to these unprecedented circumstances by tapping into the power of pets to spread joy and bring people together,” she said.
Purks and Cali have connected with seniors in multiple states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Arizona. In the metro area, Rosemont at Stone Mountain, a nursing home and rehabilitation facility, has offered the program.
“We have received so many inspiring responses from the facilities and the volunteers. It is amazing to see what a positive impact this program is making with those that are isolated and the volunteers,” spokeswoman Judy Klym said.
While there are numerous dogs and cats, pet volunteers bring farm animals and exotics, too. There are horses, goats, cows, chickens and other birds, snakes, and bearded dragons.
More volunteers are needed, especially those with unique pets, Klym said. Pets do not have to be certified therapy animals.
“As the pandemic continues to grow, we have more facilities sign up. We have multiple sessions every day and need all the help that we can get,” she said.
The commitment is minimal. Each virtual visit is 30 minutes, and volunteers can sign up once a week or multiple times if they choose. Facilities can also sign up for multiple visits.
The Pets Together program gives Purks a way to “give back” during the pandemic.
Cali is not a therapy dog, and doesn’t do animal tricks or wear funny hats, like a lot of the other pets. But she’s tiny, and that’s a curiosity. Often, viewers will ask how much she weighs (7 pounds, says Purks).
“Every once in a while, Cali is just sacked out while it’s going on. You never know what you’re going to get,” Purks said.
“There are a lot of people going through challenging times, and if Cali and I can be of service during this, then that does us good, too,” she added.
Using live video-conferencing platforms (Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts), the Animal Farm Foundation team will schedule real-time visits where people can watch the animals and participate in friendly conversations with those who care for them.
The Pets Together model greatly expands access to pet visits that have traditionally been reserved for face-to-face interactions for people living in group settings (such as nursing homes and hospitals)
Cherry Eye In Dogs
Spotting a red bump in the corner of a pet’s eye is a concerning but not uncommon experience for many dog owners. Colloquially called “cherry eye,” this bump may be a prolapsed gland of the nictitans, also known as the third eyelid.
Dr. Sean Collins, a clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, says that ophthalmologists don’t entirely understand why the gland of the nictating membrane sometimes protrudes from its original position but it is believed to be a result of a weakness in the connective tissue responsible for holding the gland in the correct position.
“This condition can happen to any breed of dog but is seen most commonly in certain breeds, including the American cocker spaniel, English bulldog, Lhasa apso, and the Pekingese,” Collins said.
Pet owners who spot a red swollen mass in the inner corner of their pet’s eye, large or small, should bring it to their veterinarian’s attention promptly. In addition to causing irritation to the dog, this condition can have lasting consequences when left untreated.
“Without correction, chronic prolapse can lead to conjunctivitis (pink eye) and ocular discharge (liquid coming from the eye),” Collins said. “It has also been shown that with correction, dogs are less likely to develop low tear production later in life.”
Low tear production can result in multiple problems if left untreated. In addition to pain and decreased vision, corneal ulceration may also develop, which can become infected and result in a ruptured eye. This condition responds well to tear stimulant therapy in most cases, but lifelong medication is usually required. Your veterinarian will be able to confirm whether your pet has cherry eye and can develop a treatment plan that works best to resolve cherry eye and reduce the potential for ocular issues as your dog ages.
“Initial therapy may consist of topical anti-inflammatory therapy if local inflammation may be contributing to prolapse of the gland,” he said. “If a short course of medical therapy does not work or re-prolapse develops, surgical repositioning is indicated. There are numerous surgical techniques to reposition the gland with overall high success rates.”
If surgical treatment is required, Collins stresses that this treatment will benefit your pet in both the short- and long-term.
“Surgical repositioning is very important if initial medical therapy fails, as the gland is responsible for about 30-50% of the aqueous tear production in the dog,” he said. “We commonly see low tear production in the same breeds that develop a prolapsed gland of the nictitans. It has been shown that dogs with surgical repositioning of the gland have a lower chance of developing low tear production later on in life compared to those where the gland has been excised or remains chronically prolapsed.”
Unfortunately, there are no known preventative measures to protect against cherry eye in dogs, Collins says. This condition can develop in both eyes, usually before the age of 2. The best way pet owners can protect their furry friend is to remain vigilant in monitoring their pet’s health and to bring concerns to their veterinarian promptly in case an issue does arise.
Family Needs Service Dog
Five-year-old Deklan Gerred’s mom Brianna describes her son as compassionate and daring.
“He’s excitable, crazy, funny, loving, curious,” she said. “The list goes on and on.”
Deklan was diagnosed with autism when he was two.
“He is nonverbal he does have sensory issues,” said Brianna. “Certain noises, bright lights, food textures, clothes textures, things like that bother him.”
His family looked into getting a service dog after an incident shortly after they moved into their new house.
“The kids were upstairs and I was downstairs and I heard my daughter crying, so I went upstairs to console her,” said Brianna. “In the time that I had gone upstairs, Deklan found his way downstairs and out the door.”
Brianna said this was the scariest time of her life.
“We live on a busy road that leads directly to a highway,” she said. “I grabbed my daughter, ran out the door, and tried to get to him. I saw a car pulled over on the side of the road. That was the scariest feeling for me because you’re not sure if the worst had happened.”
Brianna reached out to the nonprofit 4 Paws for Ability in Ohio, who specializes in service dogs for children with disabilities.
“There’s a huge gap in that industry of serving children,” said 4 Paws for Ability Development Director Kelly Camm. “4 Paws is very different in that we don’t require the child to actually be the primary handler, and that is often the case where a child could definitely benefit from a service dog, but may or may not be able to handle the service dog.”
Camm says their most common application is for service dogs for autism.
“The dog will actually be able to track him, and we call that search and rescue or tracking,” said Camm. “Deklan tethered to his dog in public so if he sees a balloon that he really wants, the parent will be able to tell the dog to go into a down, which will then prevent him from being able to run off and keep him safe.”
These service dogs can range from $40,000-$60,000 to raise, train, and place a service dog. 4 Paws asks families to raise $17,000 in their communities.
“Right now we are fundraising,” said Brianna. “We have about $3,500 raised out of the $17,000.”
Brianna says this service dog would bring peace of mind to their family
“I can’t go to the bathroom, go upstairs, do anything without hearing a car passing by and wondering, ‘did I triple check the locks’,” she said. “I know I can’t go through that again, I don’t know if Deklan would get home safe again.”
“It would be the greatest present to be able to tell him ‘this is going to happen for you’.”
Pets Are Stressed
By some estimates, more than half of people globally own pets, and that’s good news for their health, especially now. Researchers, and likely pet owners, know that having an animal companion has benefits for both physical health and mental health. During the pandemic, when many have been confined to their homes without friends and family for weeks to months at a time, having the physical comfort of an animal companion might be particularly beneficial.
“Suddenly, it’s like touch is deadly,” said Janette Young, a lecturer in health sciences at the University of South Australia. “Caring, companionable touch with another being is really vital to us as human beings.” Not everyone is a hugger, but touch is important for health. Positive, human touch experiences are needed for healthy emotional and behavioral development in infants, and can reduce stress and anxiety in humans of all ages.
But because of measures like social distancing, human touch can be hard to come by, and social isolation and feelings of loneliness have increased in adults since March.
But pets might help make up for the lack of human contact, which could explain why demand for pets has soared since the pandemic began. There’s reason to think that pets can mitigate some of the stress and loneliness arising from public health restrictions — and provide that much needed physical touch.
Young researches pet-people relationships, and in her latest study published in the Journal she and her colleagues write that comfort that comes from touching a loved pet could inform policies to promote health and wellness during the pandemic and beyond.
When Young interviewed her study participants (before the coronavirus pandemic), 29 out of 32 of them spoke, unprompted, of the importance of physical contact with their pets. “When you stop and think about it, it’s a bit of a no brainer,” she said. “Animals come to us and they ask for touch and they want to engage with us. That’s like an endorsement of us as people.”
Now that human touch has become somewhat of a health hazard, she says that pets could step in. “Somehow they must work for people, so many people have them,” she said. And the evidence that animals can benefit human health — and perhaps address some of the health risks of loneliness — is growing. “We know that loneliness is an issue,” said Young. “And animals can moderate that.”
That’s what researchers found in the U.K. In a survey of 5,926 people, nearly 90% had at least one pet, and 86.5% of pet owners stated that their animals provided emotional support during the first lockdown. Although the survey didn’t include a large number of those who don’t own pets, pet owners reported smaller decreases in mental health and smaller increases in loneliness compared to those without pets.
Human-pet relationships aren’t always beneficial. “It’s a lot more nuanced than that,” said Layla Esposito, a program director in the Child Development and Behavior Branch and the Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch at NICHID whose work involves human-animal interaction research.
Petting a dog for a few minutes won’t impart the same benefits as cuddling with a longtime pet, but scientists are still trying to pin down what types of human-animal interactions are most helpful for the health and wellbeing of people, as well as animals.
But Young thinks that research on relationships with pets so far points to policies that could improve health and wellbeing. In their recent study, Young and her colleagues write that human-pet relationships could be “bridging the physical intimacy and connection gap for many people at this time.” They suggest that pet support programs in certain healthcare settings could improve quality of life of patients, and clinical outcomes.
“We know that loneliness is a major risk factor for a variety of health and psychological problems. We also know that interacting with animals is something that helps ease loneliness,” said Esposito.
But if nothing else, pets can bring comfort during stressful times. “There was this big explosion of adopting pets during Covid,” said Esposito. “I think that speaks to the ability for humans and animals to bond, get pleasure and have positive relationships in this strange time in our existence, when human contact is discouraged.”
Service Training Group
The U.S. Department of Transportation has put an end to the growing number of travelers claiming mini horses, monkeys and other non-traditional “emotional support” animals should be allowed to travel on airplanes with their owners.
The trend began several years ago and was pushed to the fore in 2018 when a woman attempted to board a flight out of Newark International Airport with a peacock in tow. She was refused passage.
“It just showed how ridiculous it had become, how out of control it had gotten,” said Rory Diamond, CEO of the Ponte Vedra Beach-based service dog training organization K9s Warriors. “For [veteran] warriors like ours, this made travel a nightmare and nearly impossible. … We work very hard on making our warriors’ world big again, and this was making it smaller.”
On Wednesday, the DOT set down new rules for which animals qualify as service companions for the purposes of mass transportation, and the answer is just dogs — dogs who must be tethered at all times in the airport and on the aircraft.
Emotional support animals will now be considered pets instead of service animals under the new rules, which go into effect next month. Animals deemed emotional support companions may fly if a carrier allows it, but airlines no longer have to accommodate nonservice animals in the cabin.
Diamond applauds the change recognizing that a service animal should be defined only as a dog trained specifically to work or perform tasks for a person with a disability and also how to behave properly in a setting like a crowded airplane.
K9s For Warriors is the nation’s largest provider of service dogs to veterans. The program carefully matches canines to handlers based on a number of factors, such as the type of mental, emotional or physical conditions of each veteran, including service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and/or military sexual trauma. “For someone with PTSD, getting up to 10,000 feet in the air can be a nightmare. This way [with a service dog], they can concentrate and just focus in on their animals,” Diamond said.
Wells received his service dog, Utah, a mixed-breed Rhodesian Ridgeback, five years ago and said there is no way he could fly or be in other situations in public without Utah by his side.
Wells, 44, who lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, served for eight years in the Army, including combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Suffering from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, Wells said the therapy and countless prescriptions he was on “made me feel like a zombie.”
With Utah by his side, Wells said he has been able to return to daily routines that used to serve as negative triggers for him with greater ease, and that Utah also helps with his mobility.
“They [service dogs] center you and force you to focus on what’s going on right in front of me,” Wells said.
Some advocates for people with disabilities say the new rules are too strict and do not take into account travelers with special needs.
In an interview Wednesday with The New York Times, Curt Decker, the executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, said: “There’s a large number of people with intellectual and emotional disabilities that benefit from having that kind of support on a trip.”
But in a statement the DOT released on its ruling, the department said it found “persuasive the information provided by airlines and other stakeholders indicating that emotional support animals, or animals being presented to the airline as emotional support animals, are responsible for a significant percentage of the incidents of animal misbehavior onboard aircraft.”
Diamond said K9s For Warriors put a lot of time and effort into lobbying the cause alongside organizations with similar missions, such as the American Service Dog Access Coalition.
“This is a rule change that we’ve long advocated for,” said Diamond.
Dog Assisted Therapy
A new study found that children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders showed reduced symptoms after dog-assisted therapy when administered alongside pharmacological treatment. The findings were published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) — a condition that arises from prenatal alcohol exposure — involves a range of cognitive, behavioral, sensory, and physical impairments. These difficulties often manifest as learning disabilities, poor social skills, and memory problems. To prevent these difficulties from impacting later life, early intervention in childhood and adolescence is crucial.
Study authors Raquel Vidal and team wanted to explore whether dog-assisted therapy (DAT) could be an effective addition to medication that would improve the treatment outcomes of young people with FASD.
A controlled study was conducted among a final sample of 33 youth with FASD who were between the ages of 6 and 18. Roughly half the group (17) was randomly assigned to attend dog-assisted therapy, while the other half (16) was assigned to continue with their treatment as usual. The DAT group attended 12 weekly sessions in the presence of a psychologist, two DAT specialists, and two therapy dogs. The therapy sessions targeted competencies such as emotional self-regulation, managing impulsivity, and social skills.
Both groups of young people were monitored to ensure the patients kept up with their prescribed medications as usual. All patients completed a variety of evaluations both one week prior and one week after the intervention.
When researchers compared the results from the two groups after the intervention, the differences were pronounced. The youth who had participated in the dog-assisted therapy intervention showed greater improvements in social skills and a greater reduction in the severity of FASD symptoms. They also showed greater reductions in externalizing symptoms (e.g., bullying, defiant behavior).
The authors highlight that not a single youth dropped out of the dog-assisted therapy — an encouraging sign considering that it can be difficult to keep individuals with FASD engaged. “DAT may be especially well suited to people with FASD,” the authors say, “because animals communicate non-verbally, which may be a less stressful form of interaction than a conversation which requires metacognitive and introspective aspects (Jones et al., 2019).” The researchers suggest that animals act as “social catalysts”, encouraging patients to communicate with others and thus paving the way for social and behavioral improvements.
Vidal nd colleagues note that while the positive results of the DAT intervention were compelling, these gains were short-term and it is unclear whether they would be maintained over time. The authors further add that it is unclear whether DAT would be effective on its own without medication, given that the intervention was conducted alongside pharmacological treatment.
Reunited With Service Dog
Three years after escaping from a fenced in yard in an unfamiliar city, Lola the black Labrador is back laying on the couch with her mom Debra Mejeur in Kalamazoo.
Mejeur has been waiting for this day since Lola ran away in October 2017. After spending years navigating outside on her own and relying on the kindness of strangers, it was nothing short of an early Christmas miracle that Lola was returned to her family on Saturday, Dec. 5.
In the yard in front of the animal shelter Lola was timid at first and hid behind the vet. She gave Mejeur a few sniffs and one big lick on the forehead before her tail started wagging wildly and she burrowed into Mejeur for a hug. When she noticed Mejeur’s husband, Lola bounded over to him knocking him to the ground with excitement.
