No matter where you are right now, where you travel, where you call home, where you punch a time clock, every place is better with a dog by your side. As we go to press it happens to be national “take your dog to work” week, but of course that’s every week around here. In fact, the dogs at the Bay Woof office are hard at work right now (or so they say). We don’t really view “morning naps” as work but, hey, who are we to judge?
Much to their disappointment, Stella and Dietrich didn’t make it into this annual Working Dogs issue, which is all about dogs with actual jobs — ambassadors, search and rescue dogs, and canines trained in the fine art of good service.
First off, Bay Woof is thrilled to welcome new Assistant Editor, Deborah C.Z. Hirsch of Palm Springs, to our monthly pages. In this issue Deb writes about ambassador dogs who, with charm and grace, represent breeds often misunderstood.
Author Dana Hopkins gives us a glimpse of life with her hard-working service dog Wilbur, dispelling the myth that service dogs are only for those with visible/physical disabilities.
The Bay Area is host to many excellent working dog organizations with many different areas of focus. Bergin University in Rohnert Park is one such place, where people learn to “advance the human-canine partnership” by training specially selected puppies to be full-fledged service dogs, able to work beside their humans wherever they may go, aiding and assisting without fail. See Pamela S. Hogle’s article about Bergin U here.
Thanks to the hard and compassionate efforts of many humans, dogs all over the world can experience love and caring. Local training luminary Sandi Thompson, for instance, took a trip to Thailand for the purpose of saving dogs displaced by devastating floods. See the first installment of her two-part report here.
You’ll want to check out our stellar line-up of monthly columns written by local professionals. Good Dog! by Kathryn Stewart, is about training search and rescue dogs for sometimes dangerous and always rewarding jobs. Dr. Chris Lundy of Pets Unlimited writes Ask Dr. Dog, all about the dreaded kennel cough (which is having an unfortunate upswing lately). Shelter Zone concerns the upcoming benefit concert for Rocket Dog Rescue featuring the legendary Emmylou Harris, a passionate dog savior in her own right.
Don’t miss the important action alert: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting public comments about its proposed tighter regulations for puppy mills through July 16. Read the details and do your dog-loving duty by voicing your support.
As always, we’re happy to bring you The Monthly Woof column by training gurus Ian and Kelly Dunbar. There’s so much happening for dogs and their people in our lovely corner of the globe that it’s hard to keep track – see the Calendar of Events to stay in the woof.
As per usual, you can find all the month’s wisdom on baywoof.com, updated the first of every month. And utilizing our social networking presence on FaceBook and Twitter, you can avoid your own job stress by joining us whenever you like.
Whether you find us online or in print, thank you for being a pal of Bay Woof. Now get back to work.
— M Rocket, publisher
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