We’re all familiar with guide dogs that help blind people, and maybe dogs for the hearing impaired, or assistance dogs who help people with mobility problems.

Those dogs, they’re very versatile. Now the Wall Street Journal alerts us to a new kind of assistance dog:

Tuesday is a so-called psychiatric-service dog, a new generation of animals trained to help people whose suffering is not physical, but emotional. They are, effectively, Seeing Eye dogs for the mind.

Tuesday is with Mr. Montalvan at all hours. Taught to recognize changes in a person’s breathing, perspiration or scent that can indicate an imminent panic attack, Tuesday can keep Mr. Montalvan buffered from crowds or deliver a calming nuzzle. Other dogs, typically golden retrievers, Labradors or Labrador retriever blends, are trained to wake masters from debilitating nightmares and to help patients differentiate between hallucinations and reality by barking if a real person is nearby.

[Via : 'Sit! Stay! Snuggle!': An Iraq Vet Finds His Dog Tuesday - WSJ.com.]

It costs around US$26,000 to train each dog — that’s a fair chunk of money — so there aren’t very many of the dogs yet. But a dog like that can totally transform a person’s life.

Take the case of the young lad who’s deathly allergic to peanuts, and not just eating them. He need only touch something that peanuts have touched and he’s in trouble. His dog has been trained to sniff out the scent of peanuts and protect his owner’s life.

So many dogs, in so many ways, bring good health and calm to our lives. From the regular ‘best friend’ to highly trained workers.

We have a lot to be thankful for with dogs.

Has your dog changed your life? tell us about it in the Comments.