April 7, 2009

How Do I Know If That’s Really A Service Dog?

Simple – you don’t. And you probably never will.

Lotta things I could show you, but here’s a direct quote from the Department of Justice’s proposed changes to 28 CFR 36, “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities”, the part of the ADA that addresses service animals:

Proposed training standards.

The Department has always required that service animals be individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, but has never imposed any type of formal training requirements or certification process. While some groups have urged

… Read More

April 6, 2009

Endal Junior – Service Dog In Training

A nice follow-up story to the passing of Endal a few weeks ago (“UK’s Most Famous Service Dog Is Gone” ) – EJ (Endal Junior) has made his first official public appearance:




“Endal’s Successor Makes Dogs Dinner Out of First Official Engagement”

Note that he’s only 10 months old and, as his human, Gulf War veteran Allen Parton, said, “…is very much a puppy in training and not a fully qualified service dog…”, but is still doing very well already.

Junior is not actually a son of Endal – here’s his story:
“Endal teaches EJ to follow his lead”… Read More

April 5, 2009

Service Dogs, Veterans, And PTSD

I’ve been wanting to say something about this subject for some time, but I’ve been wrestling with just what to say because I want to add something helpful and not just more fuel for all the arguments about what is a controversial subject.  So, I think the best thing to do is just tell you my approach and how I got there.

Probably no topic generates more heat in the assistance dog world than just what is and what isn’t a real service dog.  Once you get past the subject of people who have no respect whatsoever for the Americans … Read More

April 3, 2009

Air Force Amputee Reenlists

TSgt Christopher Frost, an EOD guy who lost his right leg to an IED in Iraq, recentIy reenlisted:

Air Force amputee reenlists

Whole story is here:  “Don’t Call Him a Hero”.

The hard part for me is there are so many of these tremendous young wounded warriors who’ve given so much that I could never talk about them all or say enough.  I still come into contact with a lot of young active duty military people, especially Army troops at Fort Carson, many of whom know I’m an old retired guy and will very respectfully thank me for my service.  I’m always really … Read More

March 27, 2009

New Red Cross Therapy Dog Program at Fort Carson, Colorado

Nice article in today’s Fort Carson Mountaineer newspaper about the newly established Red Cross therapy dog program at Evans Army Community Hospital. Of course, I’m a little biased because that’s our wonderful dog, Zephan, in the picture:

Red Cross Therapy Dog at Fort Carson Colorado

There’s no direct link to the article – you have to get the complete newspaper pdf and then look on page 21. One caveat: “service dog” wasn’t used accurately in the article – they should’ve just been described as therapy dogs. Nothing sinister there, just an honest mistake somewhere along the way in the preparation or editing of the article.

http://csmng.com/wp-files/mountaineer-weekly-pdfs/mountaineer_2009-03-27.pdf

Well, maybe … Read More

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