A study at Loyola University Health System found that:

Painkillers. Photo by Yersinia.

Adults who use pet therapy while recovering from total joint-replacement surgery require 50 percent less pain medication than those who do not.

That’s a pretty amazing finding, but not entirely surprising news to a dog lover.

We know our pets can cheer us up, give us a smile or a laugh, make the world weigh a little less heavy.

The article goes on to describe 4 different classes of assistance dog:

Service dogs are trained to assist with physical tasks and provide social support to their partners. These dogs learn 40 commands to enhance the independence of people with ailments ranging from spinal cord injuries to multiple sclerosis.

Facility dogs are trained to work with a professional in a visitation, education or health-care setting. They can perform more than 40 commands designed to motivate, rehabilitate or soothe clients with special needs.

Skilled companion dogs are trained to work with an adult or child with a disability under the guidance of a facilitator. Disabilities served include cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, autism and Down’s syndrome. A skilled companion also can serve as a social bridge to people who are not used to relating to a person with disabilities.

Hearing dogs are trained to recognize and alert partners to various sounds, such as a doorbell, alarm clock or smoke alarm. The average service life of each dog is eight years. After that time, the dog retires to live out its golden years as a pet.

[Via : News Release Detail.]

Have you had any experience of dogs reducing pain — physical or emotional? It would be interesting to hear your experiences.

Sometimes schools have special ‘days’ when kids can take along their pets: rabbits, birds, lambs, cats, dogs get to spend a while in class. But how do you decide whether a dog is a companion or a service worker?

In some schools in the US there are lawsuits to decide:

Two autistic elementary school students recently won court orders in Illinois allowing their dogs to accompany them to school. Their lawsuits follow others in California and Pennsylvania over schools’ refusal to allow dogs that parents say calm their children, ease transitions and even keep the kids from running into traffic.

At issue is whether the dogs are true “service dogs” — essential to managing a disability — or simply companions that provide comfort.

[Via : Schools Fight Families Over Autism Service Dogs - ABC News.]

In New Zealand the group 4 Paws NZ is fundraising to bring 4 trained assistance dogs from the US:

• 4 Paws NZ is all about making our children’s lives better with the help of assistance dogs.
• The dogs are valued at US$15,000 each. We will receive them at the hugely subsidised cost of NZ$3,000 thanks to the generosity of 4PAWS FOR ABILITY, USA.
• We need to raise approximately $60,000 to get four dogs to New Zealand. This includes the cost of purchase, training, quarantine fees and flights for each dog as well as the cost of flights and accommodation for the trainer.

These dogs will significantly improve the quality of life of our children, particularly with regards to increased health, safety and independence.

[Via : The Facts.]

We’ve all become fairly familiar with the notion of dogs as assistants for blind people, but it seems their roles are extending far into other areas of our lives too: helping people with their various physical and emotional needs.

It raises quite a few challenges to our thinking, our work and study spaces.

What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment below with your ideas.

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.