Dogs

Article Title: Dogs Dig up More Ways to Serve

Article Source: Leslie Mann, "Dogs Dig up More Ways to Serve," The Chicago Tribune, December 24, 2006, 13-7.

1. I chose this article because:

This article is certainly interesting to me because it is about dogs that help people with disabilities or health problems. I am disabled myself, with deafness. I am also a huge dog-lover. I have one dog, a Shih-Tzu at home named Cocoa Puff, and I miss her terribly. I always believed that dogs have more abilities than they are given credit for, and this article proves that.

2. The main themes of this article were:

There are some organizations that train dogs to help people with issues such as: deafness, muscular dystrophy, SARS, cerebral palsy, polio, autism, spinal-cord injuries. Now, trainers are figuring out that dogs also have the abilities to: detect a person with a high risk for heart attack, alert a person that he/she is soon to have a seizure, and tell their diabetic partners when their insulin is too high or low. Training dogs are extremely expensive; however, there are some organizations that are generous enough to pick up the tab. Most trainers prefer Golden Retrievers or Labrador Retrievers. That is simply because of their excellent work ethic, and that they are accepted by the public. Dogs have the abilities to make lives much easier for people with health issues or disabilities.

3. Name several ways this article has or will help you in the future.

If I end up having a kid with a disability or health issue in the future, I will seriously consider buying a trained dog to make our lives easier. Also, because of the fact that I am a dog-lover, this article