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Showing posts with the label ASSISTANCE DOGS

International Guide Dog Day - April 26

International Guide Dog Day on Wednesday 26th April , celebrates the incredibly important role Guide Dogs play in the community and acknowledges the amazing difference they make to the lives of people who are blind or vision impaired. HISTORY References to service animals in literature date at least as far back as the mid-16th century. In a 19th-century novel by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the title character remarks, "The blind man walks wherever the dog pulls ... And so I answered." Dogs were first used to guide people who were blind in 1819 when Johann Whilhelm Klein founded an institute for the blind in Vienna, Austria. His ideas were later put into practice in 1916, when Dr Gerhard Stalling established a school to train dogs to assist German soldiers who had been blinded in the First World War.  But interest in service animals outside of Germany did not become widespread until  Dorothy Eustis , an American dog breeder living in Switzerland, wrote a first-hand accoun...

Assistance Dogs Reunite with Governor-General

On April Fool’s Day the Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove reunited with some canine friends when they hosted a very special morning tea at Admiralty House. Two years ago, two black Labrador puppies were named General  and Cosgrove  (or Cossie ) after one of Australia's most senior military officers, Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, in a ceremony in Sydney. "I think the fact that a dog is undemanding but always there and always connecting with you, that must be great comfort to somebody who sometimes feels alienated from the rest of society.   Charlie , Benji and General are graduating today: their loyalty will be unconditional and they will help break the ice in social situations. If we all had an Assistance Dog, the world would be a better place" said Sir Peter Cosgrove. Whilst General  passed his tests with flying colours, Cossie  has a long way to go but the Governor-General encouraged him to "stick with it, mate! This is not a sprin...