We’ve had dogs in our house for over 20 years, and we will likely have dogs in our house for another 20 years.
One of the reasons for this is that I find dogs to be amazing creatures. Here is a list of things that dogs can do, classified by types of dogs:
- therapy dogs – provide comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, disaster areas, and to people with learning difficulties
- search and rescue dogs – useful in wilderness tracking, natural disasters, mass casualty events, and in locating missing people
- assistance dogs – fall into one of three general types: guide (for visually impaired individuals), hearing, and service (see below)
- service dogs – help individuals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), seizures, ambulatory issues, mental illness, diabetes, autism, and more
- working dogs – learn and perform tasks to assist and/or entertain its human companions, such as herding livestock
- “medical” dogs – can possibly detect cancer, low blood sugar, and anticipate seizures
- shelter and rescued dogs (our kind of dog) – a friend you can always count on, willing to go anywhere, do anything you want
Among all animals, I think dogs have the most special relationship with people. And when you look at that list above, it’s hard to imagine anyone who could not benefit from having a dog.
So thank you Chauncey, Murphy, Cagney, and Butters; I may not always let you know this, but it’s been great having you as part of our family.
Borden's Blather 
Butters? I’d love to know the story behind that!
In case you don’t know by reading my blog, our dogs are Salsa and Pepper, and we call them the Spice Dogs. They are my babies. They are not official “therapy dogs,” but they sure do perform mental therapy on me. My hubby and I always say, “Who needs entertainment when you have dogs?”
I’ve known and loved many, many dogs in my lifetime. Thanks for paying tribute here. (Wish I knew how to make a paw-shaped emoticon.) 🙂
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Thanks Suzy for commenting, and I couldn’t agree more about the fun and support that dogs provide. As to Butters, he was a dog that my son and his roommates adopted while in college. Upon graduation, my son was the only one willing to take the dog home, and we were thrilled to have both of them move in with us. When my son had to move for a job, he had to leave the dog behind, and we couldn’t imagine Butters not being around. As to his name, I believe it is the name of a dog on the cartoon show “South Park”.
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