August 1, 2007

Fred Darling came to stay with us for a few days while his humans were on vacation. Unlike PARKER, which is a Fine and Noble Name bestowed upon me by the Wise and Clever Naming Fairy at CCI, I'm told "May I call you Fred, Darling?" is a line from some silly old movie about Tiffany's breakfast....or something like that. I dunno.

At any rate, Fred is my age, and about the size of the Guinea Pigs I see at PetSmart. He weighs 2 1/2 pounds. I know this because I watched Marianne weigh him on the postage scale at work. I currently weigh about 40 pounds. For some reason, Fred seemed uneasy around me, especially when I wanted to bounce at him. Go figure -- I just wanted to play, you know?

WELL! Imagine my surprise when I looked up from my dinner dish and saw Fred Darling wearing my cape. "Sorry, mate," said Fred when he noticed me. "I just wanted to see what it felt like." I laughed so hard I snorted kibble out my nose. The very idea that someone so small could be a Service Dog is absurd!

Isn't it?

"Well, no, not really," said Marianne after she cleaned up the kibble. "There are lots of different kinds of service dogs. Some need to be your size to assist their human partner. But others don't. For instance," she said, "Years ago, CCI trained Welsh Corgis as Hearing Dogs."

"Wow," squeaked Fred. "But they're still lots bigger than I am."

"Yes, but you could be a Hearing Dog if you could alert your human to noises like doorbells, alarms, the phone, etc."

"What else could I do?" asked Fred. I could tell he was taken with the vision of himself in uniform.

"Well," Marianne mused, "Some dogs alert their partners if they are about to have a seizure, or if their insulin levels are too low. Others assist partners with psychiatric disorders like panic attacks, agoraphobia, and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Oooh," said Fred. "I'd be good at helping someone like that! I'm great at snuggling and everyone says they feel better just holding me."

"I guess I didn't know there were so many kinds of service dogs," I admitted.

"Oh, that's not the half of it!" exclaimed Marianne, "There are other working dogs that use their incredible noses for all kinds of special tasks. They can detect bombs, drugs, money, and food. Some dogs can find mold or termites, some find lost people, some can even detect cancer!"

Fred and I looked at each other. "I can find my dinner dish," I said. "I can find our cats, and sometimes I can find a particular toy that I want to play with, but I can't find those other things."

"That's OK," Marianne reassured me. "Those aren't your jobs. But do you see how Fred could be a working dog, even if he is tiny?"

"Yes," I said. "But you need to get him a cape that fits. I want mine back!"

Chow for now!

Parker

For more information on service dogs, go to www.idaap.org.

For more information on other kinds of working dogs, go to www.workingdogs.com.

Questions or comments for Parker? Send them to call7forhelp@thedenverchannel.com.

Would you like more information about Canine Companions for Independence, or perhaps be a puppy raiser? Call 1-800-572-BARK or go to www.cci.org for details.