From Adorable Puppy to Invaluable Service Dog

Every now and then while sitting at the local Starbucks gazing out the window, people watching, I see an extraordinary thing.  There is a group of people who routinely utilize the bustling town as practice for Guide Dogs in training.  Guide dogs fascinate me.  In fact all service animals fascinate me, it’s astounding that they can be trained for a life of service involving such complex tasks and decision making.

Max, A Service Dog in training

You can imagine my delight when I was given an opportunity to share a wonderful Info Graphic and companion article about Service Dogs, provided by Petco.  If you’ve ever wondered how Service Dogs help people and what it might be like to be a Service Dog trainer, this Info Graphic provides a snapshot of what that might look like.

By now we’ve probably all seen service dogs in action.  Service Dogs help sight-challenged people navigate the ins and outs of daily life.  They offer comfort to returning service people.  They are even able to alert some individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes when they might be in danger and need medicine.  But training a dog from puppy to lifesaving companion isn’t an easy task.  It’s unlike raising a pet that will be part of a family; Raising a service dog is helping instill the necessary traits and ethic to be a hardworking animal that is specifically attuned to the needs of an individual.  If you’ve ever thought about becoming a service animal trainer, or are interested in what service animals can help with, use this graphic to learn more.

My dog Icy and I are a Therapy Dog team.  The terms "Therapy Dog" and "Service Dog" are sometimes used interchangeably, but a Therapy Dog is very different from a Service Dog.  To learn about Therapy Dogs and read some heartwarming stories about how Therapy Dogs help people, check out the section on THERAPY DOGS on my  blog's Home page.

My dog Icy, a Pet Partners Therapy Dog

If you enjoyed this blog post, I think you'll really like my post on Service Dogs being raised in prison for a life of service. In this post I interview my friend Barbara, who spends her weekends socializing these dogs outside of prison walls.