Canine Companions DogFest

We are fortunate to host an event this Saturday from 5-7pm with 2 local businesses in Yardley, PA to help fundraise for DogFest Philly/NJ 2020. We are so excited to be working with the Commonplace Reader Bookstore and the Yardley Ice House. We will be hosting a “puppies on the porch” event at the bookstore and selling “pup cups” where 100% of the proceeds benefit Canine Companions for Independence DogFest. You’ll also be able to meet Canine Companions service dog teams, and puppies-in-training. DogFest is a family-friendly and dog-friendly community festival that raises funds and awareness for Canine Companions for Independence, the nation’s first and largest service dog providers. This year our event will be virtual on September 26th.

We have many exciting and interactive activities planned – you don’t want to miss out!

As a non-profit organization that relies 100% on fundraising and private donations, we hope you will register and fundraise using the DogFest fundraising platform. Your efforts will support the mission of Canine Companions – to enhance the lives of people with disabilities by providing expertly trained assistance dogs free of charge. With the unforeseen economic changes tied to the coronavirus, every DogFest dollar raised is even more critical this year.

New Obstacles For Service Dog Owners

While browsing through a Facebook group for guide, mobility and service dog recipients, a post by one of the members jumped out at me. ‘Did you dare to go out with your dog?’ it asked. ‘Are you able to go out of your home?’ Since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis in March, many have had their eyes glued to the news and are following government guidelines. But in all this turmoil, have we forgotten about citizens living with a disability?

I am a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa and a resource teacher for suspended or expelled students. I specialize in the areas of inclusion and service dogs. My research project allowed me to have Toulouse, an assistance dog from the Mira Foundation trained specifically for my special needs students. Since March 2019, she has been accompanying me everywhere and has helped me discover a reality that I didn’t expect.

As a researcher in this field, I am fortunate to have access to networks of assistance dog beneficiaries. With this article, I would like to offer them a public voice in order to draw a portrait of their reality since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

A lack of accessibility

Ableism is the word used to describe the extent of multi-dimensional discrimination against people living with disabilities. People with working dogs are victims of it on a daily basis. Indeed, our society is designed for citizens without disabilities and de facto obliges people with disabilities to fight for their essential rights, such as accessibility, despite the provisions included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act , which ‘guarantee equal rights and freedom from discrimination to persons with disabilities.’

Normally, working dogs accompany these individuals and facilitate their daily life. However, since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the barriers to accessibility have never been so great.

The risks of exclusion are increasing

Anne-Marie Bourcier is visually impaired and received her third guide dog from the Mira Foundation. With her dog, Machine, she routinely takes the bus and subway to go shopping or have lunch with a friend. Autonomy is the watchword for this duo. However, since the pandemic, they no longer go out in public. She wrote me a long email to let me know about her new reality.

These questions remain unanswered for Bourcier and many others. The physical obstacles are major, especially for a dog that has not been trained to deal with the health crisis and prevention measures. Machine is a Bernese mountain dog. (Anne-Marie Bourcier)

While we might assume that people give priority to those living with disabilities, the opposite is true. For example, another guide dog recipient explains that he often has to avoid people who do not give way to him.

Dogs and social distancing

Added to this are situations where the disability is not visible and the public believes that the dog is in training. Awareness campaigns on social distancing have been conducted by the CNIB Foundation. CNIB Awareness Campaign on Social Distancing for Guide Dog Recipients. Two metres separates a client and his guide dog from a person doing grocery shopping. Guide dogs do not understand social distancing. Thank you for helping us keep a safe distance. (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), Author provided (No reuse)

In addition to the physical obstacles, there are also psychological obstacles. ‘At the hospital, I need my dog and my partner for my MRI. I had to negotiate for entry,’ says Geneviève, a traction dog recipient. The mask makes it hard for her to breathe and she has to constantly adjust her tone of voice to give instructions to her dog. ‘I feel badly about taking her in. With the distancing, there is a fear of people and sometimes small alleys. I’m scared to go out again.

Thus, the risk of social isolation is amplified for service dog users who have to stay at home and forget about their routine.

The other side of the coin

Despite the difficulties, there are some positive experiences. Several beneficiaries are happy that the implementation of social distancing rules means nobody tries to pet their dog, which usually happens several times per outing. This distraction may cause the animal to make a mistake, which could put the safety of the user at risk.

In fact, all of them are grateful to have a companion during this crisis. In spite of the isolation, the beneficiaries can count on the reassuring presence of their animal. Marie Eve Leduc is the mother of a child diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who has an assistance dog. She is relieved to have had Amhara for her boy.

After several months of confinement, the reopening of stores has also made going out again easier.

Arthur holds Amhara, a black Labrador service dog. (Marie Eve Leduc) Solutions exist
As the process of deconfinement continues in Canada, many recipients are concerned that they will be overlooked as the measures rarely take into consideration Canadians living with disabilities . A few solutions are therefore suggested for them, including priority entry at all times, reserved hours and a shopping assistance service.

Masks with a transparent screen or visors to allow deaf or hard of hearing people to read lips would be necessary in essential services, particularly at the reception desk. Finally, distancing could become permanent around recipients of working dogs.

In this wave of change, it is up to us to seize the opportunity to make our society a more accessible place.

The author thanks the beneficiaries of the Mira Foundation who have generously shared their photos and testimonials, as well as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind/Institut national canadien pour les aveugles for the illustration.

Marley’s Mutts Rescue

Pups Lost, Found And Returned

Mollie ran off as the Pasadena sky exploded in fleeting , fiery colors, and Karen Hirst, who owns and loves that silver gray Yorkie-Shih Tzu, hasn’t stopped thinking about her since.

“I’ve cried till I thought I couldn’t cry anymore. We went everywhere together. I took her to the bank, shopping, to the doctor. When I got ready to go to work, she would lay on my clothes and make sure I was going to take her,” said Hirst, who got Mollie as a puppy 13 years ago.

Alongside New Year’s Eve, Independence Day is the biggest day for canine runaways and the busiest for Los Angeles’ animal shelters as dogs flee their homes because of booming fireworks. On the holiday, shelters and rescue organizations work overtime to reunite man with man’s best friend.

Hirst went to a Fourth of July barbecue on Saturday, and Mollie escaped near Navarro Avenue and West Howard Street when the neighbors watching her let her out to relieve herself.

“I just can’t bear the thought of my dog, knowing how emotional she is, that she can’t get back to me,” Hirst said.

The couple reached out to shelters and posted notices of the missing dog across the internet. On Monday evening, Hirst made fliers and prepped a list of animal stores to put them in.

As he ran at South L.A.’s Harvard Park on Sunday morning, Danny Rivera came across a gray pit bull mix.

“I went to pet her and then looked around and didn’t see anyone,” Rivera said.

He said firework explosions have rocked his neighborhood nightly since early June but picked up Saturday night.

“The day of the Fourth, they were really going at it,” Rivera said.

The dog wore a studded blue collar and looked taken care of. He guessed she had just run away, so he started walking with his new companion in hopes she would find its owner nearby. After four fruitless hours, he and the dog — whom he’d named Sunny — went home.

“The way that she smiled at everyone and everything, you can’t help but smile at her too,” Rivera said. He bought canned dog food and potty pads for his guest. On Monday, he took Sunny to the Chesterfield Square Animal Services Center, where a scan showed she didn’t have a microchip.

“I really did bond with the dog. I was really crying my heart out after I dropped her off at the shelter,” Rivera said. He described Sunny as sweet and curious and said she never barked while he had her. He’s gotten permission from his apartment manager to foster Sunny when she becomes available if her owners aren’t found.

Annette Rodriguez, director of field operations at Chesterfield Square, said Fourth of July runaways end up in her facility every year. She blames the fireworks.

“We’ve had animals actually break through windows because they’re so panicked, so scared. They’re sensitive to the noises: They’re loud bangs for us, and our ears are not as sensitive as a dog’s ears, so it can really scare scare animals. That’s why they end up getting out of their yards, trying to get away from all the noises,” Rodriguez said.

Since July 1, her shelter has reunited 38 dogs with owners. Fewer dogs came in this week than expected.

“It has been the calmest Fourth of July we have ever had, which is absolutely surprising due to the amount of fireworks going on, and it really has been because of the number of partners out there supporting us and helping us with scanning [microchips] and intervening with animals not coming into the shelter,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve had so many reunifications where they never even came into the shelter.”

Microchips, tiny implants placed under a pet’s skin, have individual codes that are uploaded with the pet’s ownership information into online databases. Shelters, vets and rescues scan for such chips as a way to quickly get pets back to their owners.

One of Chesterfield Square’s partner organizations, Paws for Life K9 Rescue, scored 18 reunions Saturday night. The group, which works with incarcerated people to train therapy dogs, set up seven microchip-scanning stations across the city. They directed finders of lost pups to the test sites and contacted owners as information came in.

The process was born out of creativity and necessity, founder Alex Tonner said.

“On Fourth of July, there are so many dogs that get turned into the shelter, and normally rescue groups are outside the shelter helping the public there, but because of COVID, no one was allowed to do that,” Tonner said. Shelters are closed to the public because of the pandemic.

Los Angeles Animal Services scanned lost dogs, too. Their officers gave identified pets free rides back home.

Rodriguez called reunions the most emotional part of her job.

“People think of their pets as family members,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful thing to connect that family back together.”

After his chihuahua went on the lam Saturday evening, Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson experienced that joyful homecoming.

“They saved my family and my sanity by finding my littlest,” he said.

Wesson’s dog ran off as he did yard work and grilled steaks. He realized Waldo was missing when he let his other two dogs inside as fireworks picked up.

“It’s like a kid: You think the worst. He’s been eaten by a coyote. A hawk flew down and grabbed him. He’s underneath a bush shivering. You don’t think anything good. You do a lot of praying,” Wesson said. He searched for the dog for six hours, trolling the streets by foot and truck as fireworks erupted in the night sky, forgetting to eat the food he’d cooked for the holiday.

“They were everywhere, illegal fireworks. On every corner, every little cul-de-sac, on major streets,” Wesson said. “It was hellish…. You think you hear maybe a dog whimpering or barking, but it winds up being some firework.”

About 11:45 p.m., he got a call from Tonner. She knew where Waldo was. A neighbor three doors down and across the street had found the dog and brought him to a scan station run by Angel City Pit Bulls and Paws For Life. Wesson, who pledged to support the organizations and expressed gratefulness for the neighbors who took care of Waldo, credited his dog’s microchip for Waldo’s return.

“If it wasn’t for that, I’d be out looking for him right now,” he said. Now, the family lap dog, who Wesson said is “four and a half pounds, maybe five depending on what he’s eaten that day” and described as “a little miniature heating pad,” is back home, safe and sound.

Hirst is still searching for Mollie, whom she calls her California girl “because she liked to have the wind blowing in her hair.”

“I can’t explain the joy I would have having her back. I think about everything I could’ve done, maybe should have done that I would have a chance to do again,” Hirst said.

“She understood us, and we understood her. God, I miss her.”

Therapy Dog Helps Clients During Sessions

A private counselor in Webb City aims to break down the stigma associated with men and mental health services by launching an empowering parenting group for divorced fathers and other single men who are raising children on their own.

Travis Bolin, a former teacher at Harry S. Truman Elementary and school counselor at Carthage Intermediate Center, opened up his own practice this year at Mount Hope Christian Counseling Center in Webb City. His practice is called Journey Toward Hope Counseling, which he said strives to encourage clients to find the bright side of life, no matter how dark it gets.

“I know that everyone we meet on this journey is fighting a battle, and along that journey, everyone has some hope along the way,” Bolin said. “That hope is what keeps them from giving up. In the end of the struggle or trauma that people go through, I know that there’s hope waiting for them. I always encourage my clients and instill hope in them because without hope, people give up. And without hope, people can’t get better or grow into the person they need to be.”

Men are less likely than women to seek help for depression, substance abuse and stressful life events due to social norms, downplaying symptoms and reluctance to talk, according to data from Mental Health America, a community-based nonprofit that addresses the needs of those living with mental illness.

“I think our culture believes that dads are supposed to be the strong one in the family who show no emotion,” Bolin said. “The dad is supposed to be the one who always has that job to pay the bills and teaches his son how to play baseball. Sometimes when a dad goes through a divorce and the mom’s not in the picture, he feels like he has a missing piece, and it’s because he’s the one doing everything in the house.”

Bolin, a single father of a 10-year-old girl, was seeking support groups for single dads and was surprised to find there weren’t any offered in the region. That gave him the idea to start a counseling group for all single men — not just divorced fathers, but also grandfathers, uncles and other male guardians.

“I’ve run across some people in the Joplin area and have counseled single dads who have a tough time being a single dad or being divorced,” Bolin said. “I started researching in the Joplin area, and there aren’t any counseling groups for single dads. I kept running across single mom groups.”

The new group is called Rising From Divorce, which will be offered from 6 to 7 p.m. Mondays from July 20 through Aug. 10 at Mount Hope Christian Counseling Center, 2810 Mount Hope Road in Webb City. The group will cover topics such as successful parenting after divorce, how to enhance father/child relationships and how to set healthy guidelines. The cost is $120 for all four sessions, and scholarship opportunities are available.

“I want people in the Joplin area to know that just because you’re divorced or you’re a single dad, you can rise above that stigma and see hope,” he said. “I want them to see that there are other people in their neighborhood who are just like them. In this world, we’re not supposed to do life alone. We’re supposed to ask for help.”

Compact Information Systems, which provides direct marketing database services, compiled a list of how many single fathers live in the area and found an estimated 5,813 single men with children living in Joplin, Loma Linda and Webb City.

“Studies show that the most positive change happens when people are in a counseling group because they see they’re not alone and see there are other people like them,” Bolin said. “I want our dads to do a lot of talk time in this class where they share and talk about struggles they’re going through as a single dad. I want to be able to share as a single dad some tips that have helped me. I also want to share what works for other dads in the area.”

Full-time assistant

On March 13, Bolin adopted from the Joplin Humane Society a 6-year-old cockapoo named Journey who assists with clients during sessions as a therapy dog. Bolin said his clients love having Journey around because he is nonjudgmental and open to pets, cuddles and playing.

“He’s gentle when he needs to be gentle, and he’s hyper when he needs to be hyper. I noticed my clients love him. They pet him when they’re crying or hold him,” he said.

Dog Makes Deliveries

 

While we’re incredibly grateful for the important work delivery people have been doing during the coronavirus pandemic, we can’t help but be a bit jealous of customers of one market in Medellin’s Tulipanes neighborhood.

Every day, Eros — an eight-year-old chocolate Labrador — climbs up and down the hilly neighborhood’s steps, bringing baskets of vegetables, fruit, and packaged foods to customers of El Porvenir mini-market. He does his work nobly, asking only for treats in return for his services.

While he cannot memorize delivery addresses, he can remember people.

“He knows the names of five or six of our customers,” Eros’ owner Maria Natividad Botero told The Associated Press. “So I send the merchandise with a receipt in the basket, and my customers pay me through a bank transfer.”

But just because the groceries are being delivered by dog does not mean that customers can skimp on the tip. “He’s quite a glutton,” Botero said. “He won’t leave your house until you give him a treat.”

Eros is an adopted dog, brought into the family by the request of Botero’s son. When the family opened their market four years ago, Eros began to accompany them on their deliveries and memorized the names of customers.

As Colombia combats the coronavirus pandemic, with over 200,000 cases recorded by Johns Hopkins University, the government has placed restrictions on how often citizens can go out for groceries — making Eros an essential employee.

But he is not the only non-human helping out during the pandemic. Sunny, a golden retriever in Colorado, has been delivering groceries to an elderly neighbor living under confinement, local news reported in March. And in San Diego, therapy dogs are getting online and working to give virtual emotional support to anyone “who needs healing.”

First Responders Meet Therapy Dogs

Therapy dogs, including herding mix Blake, Labrador retriever mix Abby and cairn terrier Suzy Q, brought smiles to Leavenworth County Emergency Medical Services personnel when Fort Leavenworth Human Animal Bond, Inc. attended three days of appreciation luncheons for EMS technicians July 7-9 in Leavenworth.

The event was meant to thank personnel for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to make up for the absence of the normal appreciation events during National EMS Week in May. The HAB visits and cookouts were offered over three days to accommodate EMS shifts.

“Normally hospitals invite us over for cookouts and stuff like that, and they really weren’t able to participate in anything like that,” said Brian Bailey, Leavenworth County EMS assistant director. “The hospitals did deliver here so that was pretty cool, but we really wanted to do something extra.

“These guys have had to be in N95 masks and gowns and gloves and goggles in the vast majority of our patient contacts, and we just wanted to do something as a thank you to them for suffering through this with that equipment on and doing a great job in it,” he said. Bailey organized the cookout with Pat Morey, Leavenworth County EMS operations manager, and Michelle Westfall, Leavenworth EMS training officer, coordinated with HAB, an organization comprised of teams of volunteers and their therapy-certified pets.

“It felt like (HAB) would be a really good addition,” Westfall said.
Bailey agreed.

“They say everyone’s blood pressure drops when you pet dogs, so, if nothing else, we’re providing them a break from the day,” he said.

Candy Bowman, HAB director, said she and the other volunteers were happy to bring their dogs for a visit.

“It’s something different, something to bring some smiles and some emotional happiness to everything that has been stressful and maybe not the best news for everybody,” Bowman said.

“(It’s an opportunity) to just let them relax and say thanks for everything they have done and continue to do and will continue to do.”

Misty Sargent, Leavenworth County EMS support, said the EMS personnel were excited for the visit.

“Who doesn’t love dogs?” she asked.

Natalie McGinnis, paramedic, said the visit made her day.

“(The dogs) are very comforting, and I feel like they’re all knowing and embrace you,” McGinnis said. “Just like when you have a hard day and come through the door and they greet you.” Jack Stallbaumer, paramedic, said he thought that the effort of the event showed that the administrators appreciate their hard work. Stallbaumer spent some of the cookout showing his appreciation for the dogs by bestowing head rubs and belly scratches.

Military Sniffer Dogs

Sniffer dogs can detect explosives and drugs, but can they also detect COVID-19? The German military and a veterinary university foundation are working with various breeds of sniffer dogs to find out.

German military sniffer dogs are being trained to detect coronavirus infections in human saliva as part of a joint study between the Bundeswehr, the country’s armed forces, and the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, Foundation (TiHo).

As part of the project, a group of 10 canines made up of sheep dogs, spaniels and retrievers are sniffing samples of infected people.

Sniffer dogs can detect not only explosives or drugs by their molecular composition, but they can also smell various cancers and the hypoglycaemia of diabetics. This ability is what has motivated veterinary scientists to research the potential ability of sniffer dogs to detect the coronavirus at a German military K9 training center in the western German town of Ulmen.

“With a hit rate of approximately 80%, researchers in Ulmen are well on their way to successfully continuing the project,” the dog training center was quoted by the German news agency DPA as saying.

The samples with which the sniffer dogs are being tested have been chemically rendered harmless. The question remains whether the canines can detect active coronavirus cases in human saliva.

“This must take place under very different conditions,” TiHo doctoral student Paula Jendrny told DPA. “After all, we have to be sure that no one gets infected by the highly infectious samples.”

Missing Service Dog

When 12-year-old Ethan Eberhart was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, severe anxiety and ADHD, his family got him Blue.

The emotional support dog helps Eberhart calm down when he becomes too anxious. But now, the beloved Golden Retriever is missing.

“He was always just a really, really sweet dog to me,” said Eberhart. “When I was always upset at something, or just anxious, I would go over to him or he would just come over to me.”

Ethan’s mother Gillian Eberhart says Blue escaped from their backyard on Monday after their gate was accidentally left open by a lawn care company.

“Nobody’s really seen him. So that’s what really concerns me. He usually sticks pretty close,” said Gillian. “We’re in the Bloomingdale area and we’re in the Preston Woods subdivision. We actually back up to some other subdivisions in the area, so it kind of makes it a little difficult for us to do a really good search.”

The Eberharts tell WFLA.com their search is also challenging because they recently moved from Colorado to the Valrico area. Therefore, their contacts are limited. They hope by distributing missing posters of Blue and offering a $500 reward for his return, they’ll generate enough leads to bring the beloved 5-year-old pup home.

“My husband is in the Army, so we moved right before the pandemic. So we don’t have a lot of contacts here,” said Gillian. “Anybody, if they have been taking care of him, we’re super appreciative. We just want him back. We love him dearly. He’s much more than just a typical pet to us. He’s a part of our family.”

Breezer The Team Dog

While the Minnesota Wild get ready to welcome back hockey games, they also had to say goodbye to a special player.  The team adopted a Labrador retriever named Breezer from a rescue organization last year. He lived with the team’s president, Matt Majka, and his family while going through obedience training.

Now, it’s time for Breezer to become a service dog for a veteran with PTSD.

Wednesday morning, Breezer was handed over to a nonprofit called Soldier’s 6 to begin the next phase of training before he is matched up with a soldier in need.