therapy dogs Archives - Page 2 of 3

Grrr: UPS Driver Kicks Therapy Dog, Injures Owner’s Rib

Based on a shocking video released yesterday, you might think UPS stands for Unnecessarily Pugnacious Scoundrels.

In late May, a surveillance camera outside of an assisted-living facility in Atascadero, Calif., captured a UPS driver kicking Patch, a small, 10-year-old American Eskimo dog. Patch let out a cry as she was sent tumbling backward.

When Patch’s dog dad, Timothy Paulsen, ran up to the driver, the driver shoved him in the chest, apparently dislocating and re-breaking a rib that had been previously broken in a motorcycle accident.

“This assault was completely unprovoked,” Paulsen told Cal Coast News yesterday. “I nor my dogs did anything to deserve this attack. The driver threatened to kick me as I tried to calm the situation down.”

Although Paulsen’s fist is clenched in the video, he told KSBY he was just pointing his thumb at himself in a non-threatening manner.

“It was a reaction. I said, ‘Hey man, I was sitting right there,’” Paulsen said. “And that’s when he just clobbered me.”

Paulsen regularly brings Patch and his other dog, a Scottish Terrier named Bonnie Bell, to the facility to interact with the residents, many of whom suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

A resident who asked to be identified only as Richard told Cal Coast News the dogs are always friendly. He said Patch was not acting aggressively toward the UPS driver.

“The dogs were just barking and did not attack anyone,” Richard said. “He kicked the dog twice and it screamed.”

Paulsen contacted the Atascadero Police Department and filed battery charges against the driver. Cmdr. Joe Allen told Cal Coast News the police department is preparing a report to be sent to the San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office.

The UPS driver, who has not been identified, told police he felt threatened by Patch, who was not on a leash, and by Paulsen.

In an email to KSBY, UPS spokesman Dan Cardillo said the company trains its drivers to be cautious when confronted by dogs and to protect themselves if necessary.

However, “UPS does not condone this driver’s behavior and took disciplinary action,” Cardillo said. “We have contacted the customer and apologized.”

Cardillo did not specify what disciplinary action was taken. Paulsen told KSBY he doesn’t want the driver fired, but hopes UPS will “reevaluate” him.

“He definitely needs some sort of therapy,” Paulsen said.

Many of the comments on the Cal Coast News and KSBY stories support the UPS driver, saying he was just trying to defend himself. What do you think? Please leave a comment below.

Photo via YouTube

San Diego Cop Kills Pit Bull Therapy Dog ‘For No Reason’

Burberry, a 6-year-old Pit Bull, worked with children with Down syndrome as well as with his dog dad, Ian Anderson of Pacific Beach, Calif., to help them through rough times.

The therapy dog was always there “to put [his head] on your lap and you know everything is going to be okay. There’s just no way to explain the bond,” Anderson told NBC 7.

But Burberry is no longer around to work his magic. When two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call knocked on Anderson’s door — apparently the wrong address — early Sunday morning, Burberry began barking. Anderson told NBC 7 he let Burberry outside, where he stopped barking.

In a surveillance video, one of the officers can even be seen patting Burberry’s head.

“The other officer yelled and screamed at the dog for no reason to get inside,” Anderson said. “It startled the dog.”

In the video, Burberry can be seen running and jumping at the other officer, who was running backwards. The officer shot Burberry in the head, instantly killing him.

“The preservation of life is our top priority and this includes the lives of animals,” the San Diego Police Department said in a statement. “This incident is currently being investigated as any Officer Involved Shooting would be to assure proper procedures were followed. Any further comments prior to the completion of the investigation would simply be premature.”

NBC 7 reporter Omari Fleming said he talked to several people in the neighborhood who knew Burberry. All of them said he was “such a cool dog.”

“I have known this dog since it was little … This dog would never hurt a fly!!!!” wrote Nicole Jacobs in a comment on the NBC 7 story. “My heart is broken. Burberry was amazing!”

Training Cops Not to Shoot Dogs

San Diego AWOL (Animals Worthy of Life) is a non-profit organization that trains police officers in an effort to reduce the number of dogs killed. “There seems to be no question here that this incident did not have to happen,” it wrote on its Facebook page today.

“Our organization has been in conversation with the San Diego Police Department for over 16 months to get them into our TOTALLY FREE Safe Dog Encounter Training. As yet they have not seen the importance of this training for their agency.”

In response to the shocking, viral 2013 video of a Hawthorne, Calif., police officer shooting a Rottweiler named Max as his owner begged him not to, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) began offering the class “Dog Behavior for Law Enforcement” to all police departments in California. Hawthorne police officers took the class in January.

“When an officer shoots a pet dog, it is traumatic for the officer, the animal and the community — something we want to mitigate as much as is possible,” spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein said in a press release.

It is also, of course, extremely traumatic for the dog’s owner. Anderson is waiting for the San Diego Police Department to return Burberry’s body to him, so he can give his beloved dog a proper burial.

“He was the best dog in the entire world,” Anderson told NBC 7. “I would do anything to have him back right now. Absolutely anything.”

Anderson has created a “Justice for Burberry” Facebook page, and an online petition has been started that asks for nationwide police training in animal behavior.

Photo via Twitter

Blind Puppy-Mill Survivor Smiley Helps People with Special Needs

“Dogs can come back from anything. They forget their past,” Joanne George, dog mom to a 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Smiley, told CBS News. “We as humans, dwell on the past.”

The past that Smiley bounced back from included spending the first couple years of his life in a puppy mill. If that alone wasn’t bad enough, Smiley was born with dwarfism — and without eyes.

George, a dog trainer who lives in Stouffville, Canada, rescued Smiley when he was 2 years old.

“He was very scared,” she told ABC News. “[The dogs] had never been out of that barn.”

Smiley was very anxious about living in a home, George wrote on her Training the K9 Way website. “He cowered at the sound of another dog eating. The scars on his face and ears told me the stories of what it was like living with so many dogs in such deplorable conditions.”

Smiley soon bonded with George’s other dog, Tyler, a partially deaf Great Dane.

“Tyler was so bouncy and crazy and happy-go-lucky, and [Smiley] turned into the same dog,” George told ABC News. “He came out from underneath the tables where he was always hiding.”

As Smiley blossomed, George said she noticed the positive effect he had on people.

“People were so drawn to him, so inspired by him. I realized this dog has to be a therapy dog — I have to share him,” she told CBS News.

Smiley did just that. He and George joined the St. John Ambulance therapy dog program in Ontario. Smiley helps special-needs children learn to read through a library literacy program, and also works at funeral homes and nursing homes.

The employees of one nursing home had never seen a mute patient named Teddy express any emotion, until Smiley came along.

“One day, Smiley put his feet up in front of [Teddy], and he started smiling and making noise,” George told CBS News. “All of the nurses rushed into the room and said they’ve never seen him smile — never seen any kind of reaction.”

Teddy is now the first patient Smiley visits whenever he goes to that nursing home.

“I think that’s when I realized how truly inspiring he can be,” George told CBS News.

Her advice for pet parents of blind dogs: “Don’t be his eyes, don’t run his life, don’t keep him in a bubble.”

Smiley is able to get around without much difficulty, George told ABC News. He raises his feet as he walks.

“He’s feeling with his feet,” she explained. “Does he bump into things? Of course he does. But he does it very carefully.”

(Silvie Bordeaux, dog mom of Muffin, a blind Toy Poodle, invented the ingenious Muffin’s Halo Guide for Blind Dogs, which provides padding and prevents dogs from bumping into things or falling down stairs, as Muffin once did.)

Smiley is now 12 years old and starting to slow down, but, George told CBS News, his “tail will never stop wagging.”

“The quote, ‘The dogs we really need are the ones that come to us,’ is very true in this case,” George told Head-Lites. “I am a better human being and mother because of him.”

Photo via Twitter

Former Vick Dog Jonny Justice is ASPCA Dog of the Year

When Jonny Justice was rescued in 2007 from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier forced to fight had likely had no positive interactions with people or other dogs during his short lifetime.

At the time, Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle said Jonny and the other rescued dogs would never be suitable as pets and should all be euthanized.

Fortunately, dog experts at BAD RAP and Best Friends Animal Society disagreed with Pacelle.

These non-profit organizations took in the dogs, rehabilitated them and found loving forever homes in which many of these “unadoptable” survivors thrived.

Just one year after he was rescued from Vick’s house of horrors, Jonny Justice became a therapy dog. His pet parents, Cris Cohen and Jennifer Long of San Francisco, had noticed how well he got along with children.

Since 2008, Jonny has been visiting terminally ill children receiving medical treatment, providing them with love and support (and probably lots of soothing Staffie smooches). Jonny has also helped improve literacy by participating in programs in which kids practice reading aloud to him.

In honor of Jonny’s service, this year the ASPCA is awarding him with its highest accolade: Dog of the Year. Jonny will receive the award tomorrow at a luncheon in New York City.

The annual ASPCA Humane Awards recognize animal heroes who have demonstrated extraordinary efforts as well as people who have shown great commitment to animal welfare during the previous year.

“The 2014 Humane Awards winners represent stories of tremendous courage and determination, but also remind us how important animals are to our lives, and the care and protection we can give them in return,” said ASPCA President and CEO Matthew Bershadker in a press release.

“We are proud to honor these winners, and hope their journeys inspire more humane action across the country.”

This isn’t the first honor bestowed upon Jonny. In 2012 he was named the grand prize winner and Most Beautiful Dog in a Facebook photo contest held by stuffed-animal manufacturer GUND.

One of the prizes? GUND created a limited-edition plush toy in his likeness.

(Reminder: There are fewer than 40 shopping days until Christmas!)

Photos via Facebook

Hero War Dogs to Be Honored for First Time in NYC Veterans Day Parade

For the first time ever, the 2014 America’s Parade in New York City — the largest Veterans Day event in the country — will have two floats honoring four-legged war heroes on Tuesday.

“This showcases that age-old human-dog bond at its best,” Ryan Hegg, deputy director of the United War Veterans Council, which produces the parade, told the New York Daily News.

Riding on one of the floats will be six military dogs and their handlers, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Along for the ride will be veteran/rapper/actor Ice-T and his wife, Coco.

“I served in the Army and know the life-saving heroism of these dogs,” Ice-T said in a press release. “It is time that we recognize both our human veterans who sacrificed so much and our four-legged veterans who save lives on the battlefield – and at home – every day.”

The float is being sponsored by the American Humane Association and a generous donation from Lois Pope, a singer and heiress to the National Enquirer.

The military dogs “are heroes,” Pope told the Daily News. “They save so many lives.”

The other new float will feature therapy dogs who are working with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

That float is sponsored by the A&E Network, which is also premiering the new documentary series “Dogs of War” on Veterans Day. Each episode will focus on a veteran with PTSD going through the process of working with a therapy dog who has been rescued from a shelter.

“This series is full of raw, real and intensely emotional moments that don’t often get a spotlight in mainstream media,” David McKillop, the A&E Network’s general manager and executive vice president, said in a press release.

Hegg told the Daily News he hopes the two new America’s Parade floats will be “another way to get folks aware of military issues.”

The 2014 America’s Parade begins at 11 a.m. at Park Avenue and 26th Street. It will be broadcast live on FOX5 (WNYW) and streamed on myfoxny.com. A one-hour special about the parade will air Nov. 16 on these channels across the country.

“Dogs of War” premieres on the A&E Network at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Nov. 11, then moves to Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT starting Nov. 16.

Photos via Facebook and unitedwarveterans.org