September is National Service Dog Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and showing appreciation for the extraordinary work service animals do every day for the people in their care. National Service Dog Month honors these working dogs for making millions of lives better and safer.
They provide companionship, inspire confidence, and live to serve, protect, and assist their handlers. Guide dogs, seeing eye dogs, service pets, and assistance animals are helping their humans perform tasks, accomplish lifelong goals, embark on adventures, overcome debilitating mental illnesses, and safeguard military bases across the country and around the world.
As partners and companions to our human species, dogs understand us and can read our emotions. They have intrinsic therapeutic capabilities. Even an untrained dog can be an emotional anchor for a person with anxiety or depression, but a trained service dog can bring specific techniques to bear.
Originally known as National Guide Dog Month, National Service Dog Month was first established in 2008 by actor, animal advocate, and Natural Balance Pet Foods founder Dick Van Patten. Inspired by what he experienced during a life-changing visit to the Guide Dogs of the Desert facility in Palm Springs, California, Van Patten launched a fundraising drive to benefit guide and service dog training schools throughout the country.
What started as one fundraiser has transformed into an annual celebration honoring the extraordinary work service animals do each and every day to help the people in their care. According to the Petco Foundation, the honorary celebration has since been expanded to include service and assistance animals of all kinds, everything from service pot-bellied pigs to therapy bunnies and autism assistance felines.
And lets not forget the dogs who assist our brave service men and women — both on and off the battlefield. Military Working Dogs — dogs who put their lives on the line to detect explosives, find contraband, and protect military posts — and companion animals prescribed to U.S. military veterans for various physical and psychological conditions, including traumatic brain injuries, mobility issues, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
So this September, celebrate National Service Dog Month the right way — consider donating your time or money to a local service animal training and advocacy organization. Or consider helping Natural Balance Pet Foods and the Petco Foundation reach their fundraising goal of 1 million dollars to support service dog programs all over the U.S. and beyond.
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