Happy Sunday, Missians!
Glad to meet you all back here for another Missy Show post. Thanks for joining us. As you all know today is the last post until we come back from our hiatus on August 18th. This two week break will give me some time to work on my Girl October projects and also to gather new topics and material for our upcoming September and October Missy Show posts and episodes.
In today's topic, we're discussing the upcoming holiday for this week (today thru August 10th)--International Assistance Dog Week. International Assistance Dog Week (IADW for short) is a week set aside to honor and appreciate all the assistance dogs that help individuals with various types of limitations or disabilities.
According to assistancedogweek.org the goals of IADW are to:
Glad to meet you all back here for another Missy Show post. Thanks for joining us. As you all know today is the last post until we come back from our hiatus on August 18th. This two week break will give me some time to work on my Girl October projects and also to gather new topics and material for our upcoming September and October Missy Show posts and episodes.
In today's topic, we're discussing the upcoming holiday for this week (today thru August 10th)--International Assistance Dog Week. International Assistance Dog Week (IADW for short) is a week set aside to honor and appreciate all the assistance dogs that help individuals with various types of limitations or disabilities.
According to assistancedogweek.org the goals of IADW are to:
- Recognize and honor assistance dogs
- Raise awareness and educate the public about assistance dogs
- Honor puppy raisers and trainers
- Recognize heroic deeds performed by assistance dogs in our communities
Another site providing info on IADW is Pet Partners.com. It goes on further to give examples of who may need service dogs, and some service dogs "dos and don'ts".
Who might an assistance dog help?
The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, is careful to state that service animals are working dogs, not pets. These dogs are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. They can help people with any number of challenges.
Guide dogs can:
- guide people who are blind
- alert people who are deaf
- accompany those in a wheelchair
- protect people with seizure disorders
- remind people with a mental illness to take prescribed meds
- calm individuals suffering from PTSD during an anxiety attack
DO address the owner of a guide dog first, and the dog second after receiving permission from the owner to do so.
DON’T distract the guide dog from his work. Even though guide dogs are trained to ignore distractions (even cats!), it is still best to let the dog focus.
DO keep your dog on a leash when near a service dog. When a guide dog is wearing his harness, his first order of business is his work, and he is not allowed to interact or play with other dogs. It’s best to just walk on by.
DON’T pet a guide dog or offer him treats, unless you’ve received permission from his owner first. Diverting a guide dog’s attention away from his work creates the same danger as distracting the driver of a car.
DO trust the guide dog to make decisions that are best for his owner.
To see the rest of this article, click here.
Now go forth and celebrate some assistance dogs this week! (but be sure to follow the dos and don'ts guidelines when coming in contact with assistance dogs and their owners).
That's it for now, Missians!
I'll miss you for these next two weeks, but just know it'll be that much sweeter when we meet up again! I'll still be putting some posts of our Facebook and/or Twitter pages as time allows.
Until August 18th,
This is your host J,
signing off...
Comments
Post a Comment