Service dogs for first responders

In light of Wednesday's post, here's a video about service dogs for first responders.

Thank goodness, leadership in some areas has begun to cut through the "tough-guy" culture in many agencies. It's high time we recognize the huge impact of stress on first responders. When more than twice as many police officers die by suicide than in the line of duty, something is seriously wrong!

Anyone who's followed this blog for a while knows I've posted about service dogs many times before. I've featured dogs who help calm child witnesses in courtrooms, who aid deaf people, help with mobility, comfort hospice patients, and support recovery from PTSD. Especially as they've become more widely used to treat PTSD in military veterans, it's logical to expand the idea to include service dogs for first responders.

Dogs' roles have evolved

This kind of caregiving role for our canine friends isn't a universal centuries-old tradition, such as their aid over the millennia as co-hunters, herding dogs, and guard dogs. But in isolated instances people have used animals as helps in therapy or guides throughout history.

L-R in a wonderful composite photo created by Tori Holmes for Bark-Post: Mural from Herculaneum showing an ancient Roman dog used to guide a bind person,  Morris Frank and his guide dog Buddy (she is popularly considered to be the first guide dog in the US) and a contemporary guide dog with her person.

Our contemporary understanding of what a service dog can do began in Germany after World War I. Former ambulance dogs found new roles as guide dogs for blinded veterans. The idea spread to the United States, where trainers established several schools.

Developing the concept

From there, a whole new chapter in the relationship between dogs and humans has unfolded. Service dogs now help people deal with all kinds of medical and mental health issues.

But the first time I became aware of therapy dogs helping first responders cope was through stories about therapy dogs at the site of the 9/11 wreckage.

Crisis dog Tikva, a Keeshond, helped responders cope at Ground Zero. (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

Individual agencies have begun bringing in therapy dogs occasionally. In the 911 Call Center for Sheboygan County, WI, a team of therapy dogs visits on a regular schedule.

Back in Fairfax County, home of the police in our opening video, they also have a Goldendoodle therapy dog named Wally in Fire Station 32. Therapy dogs have been brought in to help firefighters battling wildfires in Californina (I hope in Australia, too!).

I think this trend of providing service dogs for first responders is positive. What do you think? Should more agencies should explore it as a way to offer our first responders some relief?

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to VOA for the video about therapy dogs in the Fairfax VA Police Department. I deeply appreciate the three-photo composite of guide dogs through the centuries from Tori Holmes and Bark-Post. Finally, I want to thank the New York Daily News for the photo of Tikva the Keeshond, and the accompanying article about therapy dogs at Ground Zero.

Is your city flood-proof? More creative approaches needed!

Today's Artdog Images of Interest focus on the flooding of Manhattan that happened during superstorm Sandy in 2012. It's part of this month's ongoing focus on the environment. Let's take a look at what happens when a city is unprepared.

The Plaza Shops of Manhattan, after Hurricane Sandy in 2012

Construction sites didn't fare well either. This is the Ground Zero site in 2012.

Commuter nightmare: still-flooded South Ferry subway station in lower Manhattan, a week after Hurricane Sandy.

Recent thinking among some city planners for coastal cities around the world is that the floods will come. Old-style thinking calls for building higher levees and praying a lot (ask New Orleans how that worked out). 

More creative approaches, however, are calling for flood-conscious building--that is, knowing the floods will com, but being ready for them. An article reposted on Arch Daily from ArchitectureBoston calls it taking a layered or tiered planning approach.

Manhattan flooding predictions from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Will they be better prepared next time?

How can cities proactively plan to minimize flood damage? Avoid building in floodplains (What an idea!). Reclaim "buffer" wetlands to mitigate storm surge. Build so lower levels are flood-ready, and place more vulnerable parts on higher levels. Making some parts of the city "floatable." These are just a few of the more creative and environmentally savvy approaches proactive planners are trying.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Slate.com for the photo of the flooded Plaza Shops, to NBC News for the photo of Ground Zero, to The Atlantic for the flooded subway picture, and to Kat Friedrich for the apocryphal map from the Union of Concerned Scientists.