If you’ve ever known anyone who was the victim of a crime, you know that the most painful and often nerve-wracking part of the whole ordeal is having to speak in front of a group of people that you don’t even know about what happened to you. When it comes to children victims, things get even tougher, as they often break down in tears and are unable to even speak due to the massive stress this experience causes. That’s where Pella, a trained therapy dog, comes in.
Pella is a therapy dog that is specifically trained to help young children in courtrooms. She sits next to them and helps them relax a bit and feel like there’s someone supportive right there next to them. Adults can’t be next to the kid because of the fear of them influencing the testimony, but everyone is fine with a dog because these animals are obviously neutral and can’t manipulate the children. However, there was some controversy around Pella, due to fears of judges and defense attorneys that the beautiful dog will end up biasing the jury in favor of the child’s testimony. But these fears have not been proven to be true.
This Black Labrador Helps Save Bees
Bees are one of the most useful insects in the world, as a third of the world's food production depends on their pollination. Unfortunately, they are on the verge of extinction due to both human actions and various diseases that threaten their population. One of these diseases is called the American Foulbrood Disease. Luckily for us, a smart and devoted Australian beekeeper, Josh Kennet, found a potential solution for this problem that’s cheap, scalable, and quite entertaining.
The Australian beekeeper trained his dog, Bazz, who is a black Labrador, to sniff out the scent that this deadly disease produces. This helps the beekeeper quarantine bees that have contracted this disease, effectively saving the rest of them from being killed by it. Bazz is suited with a custom-made beekeeper outfit that helps him stay safe while tracking down infected bees. The two work together amazingly and prove just how productive human and dog relationships can be when used for good measures.
This Golden Retriever is a Service Dog to a Blind King Charles Spaniel
It’s not every day that we see a blind person with a service dog companion, as these are quite an uncommon sight due to the rarity of the phenomena. Golden Retrievers and Labradors are some of the most popular dogs for this purpose, due to their easy and loving nature and high receptivity to training. Imagine if instead of seeing a service dog who helps a blind person walk the street, you see a service dog who works for a blind King Charles Spaniel!
Ginger, the Golden Retriever, is owned by a loving family who has a thing for animals. A few years ago, the family decided to adopt another dog but weren’t sure which type to go for, so they decided to take Ginger along to the shelter in order to help them make a decision. She was immediately enamored by a fellow Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Kimchi, so the family also took an interest in him. The only catch? He was completely blind. This didn’t stop the family from adopting him, and they trained Ginger to help take Kimchi out on walks and make sure he doesn’t stumble or get into dangerous situations.
Dogs Are Often Sent to Disaster Sights In Search of Victims and Survivors
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, one of the first things that rescue operators do is to send in tracking dogs that are specifically trained to find survivors and help rescue them. Unfortunately, another part of the search mission is also to look for cadavers so that they can be accounted for and hopefully be given a proper burial. During the recent Northern California fires, a dog named Amelia “Mia” Earhart was sent to help find survivors, missing people, and cadavers at the wildfire site in Paradise, California.
Mia was specifically trained to find cadavers and managed to help find countless people that were either survivors or victims of the horrible natural disaster. She did an amazing job and helped save many lives, as well as accounting for many missing people. Many of the dogs sent to the site were volunteers, which just goes to show how amazing the bond between humans and dogs is. At the end of the search, 67 people were discovered by the dogs, and the list of missing people dropped from a few thousand to less than thirty.
Dogs Can Find Historically Significant Artifacts
A very luxurious form of theft is that of historical artifacts. One interesting solution to this predicament was proposed by the Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research group. They decided to form a unit called the K-9 Artifact Finders, which is comprised of dogs who are specially trained in locating missing artifacts that were stolen from museums or archaeological sites.
These dogs use scents to find missing items. The program has only just begun, which means that there aren’t any major results just yes. Despite their initial stages, the Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research group is certain that its dogs will do an amazing job tracking down expensive artifacts. They plan to put these dogs in airports with the goal of intercepting the smuggling while it is occurring.