Rottweilers in Service
Over the past century or so Rottweilers have been used in a variety of capacities, but one of particular interest to us is that of a service dog. For many years now we have been providing personal services for people with intellectual disabilities. During this time we have observed our rotties exercise an uncanny ability to sense the need to give our intellectual disabled friends lots of TLC. A few years back we took David swimming to a nearby lake with two of our rotties. One rottie ( CH Jacraila's Scotts Pride import from Scotland) would enter the water with David but would not leave his side until David was out of the water. Although our dogs have not been trained specifically for Service Dog duties, they definitely demonstrate a natural instinct to do so. Here is a picture of David with some of his friends.
While surfing the net I came across The Keystone Human Services / Susquehann Service Dogs. This wonderful organization trains and provides service dogs to people with a variety of disabilities. They place approximately 15 service dogs every year. Every dog undergoes an intense training program before being placed. The dogs are taught to respond to a variety of commands for specific behaviors. Service dogs are able to open and close doors, find a phone, turn lights on and off etc. Hearing dogs alert the owner when someone knocks on the door, telephones, alarms go off etc. Some dogs are trained to help people with psychiatric disorders, autism, etc. You could read all about this organization at the following address. Needless to say there are other organizations around North America that provide similar services. http://www.keystonehumanservices.org/ssd/ssd.php
Here are three small video clips featuring service dogs posted on YouTube
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hsIg5eQB1Co
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EKkzRJJm2S0