If I had a penny for every time that I heard that our dogs must be so deprived of human love because they're working all the time, I would be rich. So rich I could pay off all of my schooling. But seriously, this is a real issue. People think that these dogs must always be working and are never allowed to be dogs. I can attest to the fact that that is totally false. When we get home, Ganther totally turns into a different dog, a goofball I would venture to say. He runs around and plays with his bone. He'll even throw it up in the air, watch it land and then pounce on it.
One of Linda's favorite sayings is that "they are dogs first." We're constantly reminded of this when they don't listen cause they're playing with their brother or we take them out in nature and they need a bath afterward. Of course we allow our dogs to be dogs. In Ganther's case, this means a TON of people love too. He always lets me know when I've been studying too long and should instead pay my attention to him. These dogs are loved by so many people, it's almost ridiculous. These dogs are anything but unloved and uncared for. If you think about it, the typical pet dog spends 8-10 hours in their kennel or romping around the house while their owners are at work. The owners then come home, take care of their own needs, and take the dog out on a walk. In comparison, our dogs are our constant companions and come with us wherever we go. They're given a purpose to let go of all of their dog energy and natural tendencies. Personally, I think that the latter have more awesome of a life. They are given a purpose and get to spend all day going cool places and sleep! Please, don't take this to mean that you should start taking your dogs everywhere with you because an untrained dog is a distraction to a working dog. Another thing to consider is that if your dog misbehaves in public, it seriously impedes the access that working dogs are given and the freedom that our clients are supposed to get through having an assistance dog is no longer given to them, so please don't start taking your ESA (emotional support animal) or just pet dog into stores because they aren't given public access rights that a working assistance dog is given under the ADA.
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Today, we did Paw Print Painting with Ganther, he did really well (there was peanut butter involved) and they look so good too! I am so proud of him and think they'll all go at Going to the Dogs (which tickets are still on sale and you can purchase them here!) Going to the Dogs is a huge fundraiser for PawPADs that is happening this Saturday and they will have all of the dogs in the program there, a lot of their placed dogs there, Tory, Benji and Coco. I won't be able to go which makes me sad, but I know it'll turn out great! If you would like to donate in general you can do it here!
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June 2020
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