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Types of Jobs for Dogs

I’m forever praising Murph for all the help he gives me with chores, but some dogs truly do work for a living. I got to pondering all the many types of jobs for dogs there are when I was coming up with ideas for animal holidays and observances there should be if there aren’t already. For that article I stumbled across Aimee’s article about working group dogs as part of my research and it dawned on me: “Wow. I never realized just how many dogs work.” Yes, times are getting tough, but, no, this won’t be an article of ways … Continue reading →

Sleuths and Guide Dogs: The Many “Eyes” of Joani Ascher, Part II

Author and Seeing Eye puppy raiser, Joani Ascher In Part I, I introduced you to mystery writer and Seeing Eye puppy raiser, Joani Ascher. In this section we hear more from Ms. Ascher about her personal pets and those who have, and someday might, grace her fiction. CM: You had mentioned that there’s a black Lab in your series and that you wrote the first book before you started raising puppies. You also mentioned you put the dog in to make the character different from you. Can you explain that? Was there a point in time dogs weren’t a part … Continue reading →

The Sam Simon Foundation and the “Dog Nut”

More and more as I get older I find myself getting a little bit jaded about the world we live in. Too much of a gap between the haves and the have nots, too many who are in positions to do good with their fame and/or wealth but don’t, too much emphasis on the negative, etc. But every once in a while I stumble across a story of good that renews my faith in people. On Sunday night I ran across such a story while watching 60 Minutes. Morley Safer did a piece called “Meet Sam Simon, The Dog Nut.” … Continue reading →

Assistance Dogs of the West and The Lessons They Teach

Have you ever heard the expression, “You get what you give”? When a little birdie here at Families.com passed me a link to an organization called Assistance Dogs of the West (ADW) that saying came to mind. (Not because it related to myself, though I did appreciate the tip, but because of what I discovered about how this organization trains assistance dogs.) I had a general sense of how this process must work. I knew it was involved, took months, and required a certain type of doggie temperament. The one element I overlooked was the human aspect. It’s not just … Continue reading →