All Things Service Animals
From the category archives:
Judy Jurgens made Riker, her border collie of seven years, a service dog. Jurgens says Riker can sense a drop in sugar levels by picking up a change in her scent.
Original post:
Dog Detects Diabetes - Central Illinois Proud
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A woman in Fayetteville is upset her service dog was killed by a hit and run driver.
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Service dog killed in hit-and-run - abc11.com
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Dogs are about love and trust, and those are in short supply in prison. To live with and train a dog is a great privilege, and the women who live in the housing unit with the dogs are careful not to lose that privilege.
Continued here:
Training of dogs transforms prison - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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The beneficial effects of pets on people has been examined a lot of late, but never quite like this. Many soldiers returning from combat suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. And a new study by the Department of Defense is looking into whether these soldiers will benefit from being paired with specially trained service dogs.
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Service dogs for service members - DVM 360
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A state employee with a walking impairment had a specially trained dog that assisted her in getting around the workplace. The slick linoleum flooring in her office, however, caused her dog to slip and fall. The employee tried to use dog booties, but that resulted in paw infections. So she requested that the employer accommodate by installing non-skid floor coverings for areas she needed to traverse. The employer sat on the request for several months, with no action or response. In the meantime, the dog fell several more times, requiring veterinary treatment, and the agency that provided the service animal to the employee decided to withdraw the dog because of safety conditions.
In McDonald v. Mont. Dept. of Environmental Quality, the employee sued her employer for failure to engage in the interactive process and to accommodate under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Montana Human Rights Act (MHRA). The employer defended the case by claiming that the ADA and MHRA require the accommodation of people with disabilities but do not require accommodation of a service animal. The court disagreed.
The service dog, in this case, is no different than any other mobility device such as a wheelchair. Allowing an employee to bring a wheelchair into the building but failing to provide internal ramps for its use, for example, would nullify the accommodation. The ADA (28 C.F.R. §36.304) specifically mentions modifying floor surfaces for wheelchairs as part of the accommodation requirements, and there should be no difference for other types of mobility aids, such as a service animal. The court found that failure to consider and implement the floor coverings was a failure to accommodate the employee, not the mobility device. The award: $30,000, plus attorneys’ fees. (Half of the damage award was for vet bills and replacement of the original service animal, which had to be retired because of the repeated injuries.) In addition, the employer had to spend significant legal fees and costs to defend the case; the non-skid floor covering would have cost $1,500 (Montana Sup. Ct., 2009).
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Mary Grey Wilcox, freshman English major, broke every limb in her body and had 16 concussions by the time she was a senior in high school.
She was diagnosed with autonomic neuropathy, a disease that damages the autonomic nervous system, a branch of the central nervous system that helps people adapt to changes in their environment, according to the American Heart Association.
As a result, Wilcox was unable to properly manage her blood pressure, and because it would plummet without warning, she passed out up to 12 times a day.
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Service dog provides lifeline - ASU The Appalachian Online
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Gloria Gilbert Stoga is the founder of Puppies Behind Bars, a canine training program that partners puppies with prison inmates. At the end of their training, the dogs are placed in the outside world, either as bomb-sniffing animals or as service dogs, providing daily assistance to wounded veterans.
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Putting Puppies Behind Bars (For A Go… - NPR
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If you aren’t teary-eyed at the end of this video then you just don’t belong on this blog.
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Under doctor’s orders Martha Hyatt is allowed to have a service dog. Jackie, a yellow lab, wears a special vest and a tattoo to prove it. “I have a mental disorder. I’m bipolar and I’m very prone to panic attacks,” Mrs. Hyatt explained. “She goes everywhere with me. She’s allowed in hotels, motels. She’s allowed in all restaurants.”
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Woman’s service dog kept out of funer… - Live 5 News
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Leave a comment about whether you think the zoo is right or wrong in this situation.
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