Real Talk About Service Dogs, Emotional Support Dogs, and Therapy Dogs
Release Date: 08/08/2019
The Individual Animal
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Dr. Lisa Gunter, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, discusses her journey into animal welfare research, including her work on breed labels, fostering, and field trips for shelter dogs. She shares insights on the impact of these programs and the importance of individualized care for shelter animals. Dr. Lisa Gunter discusses her work at Virginia Tech, including a hybrid fostering program for dogs and a shelter training program for students. She also shares insights into a collaborative study on post-adoption outcomes for dogs with biting behavior. Dr. Gunter emphasizes the importance of...
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In this conversation, Nikki and Kate discuss their experiences in animal welfare and their work at different shelters. They talk about their past internships, the challenges of working in animal shelters, and the importance of community engagement. Kate shares her role as the volunteer and community engagement coordinator at MADACC and the various initiatives she has implemented to increase adoptions and engage with the community. They also discuss the difficulties of the current dog overpopulation crisis and the need for innovative adoption programs Show Notes: Training...
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Mike shares his journey in animal welfare, starting as a kennel attendant and working his way up to becoming the Chief Operating Officer of Brandywine Valley SPCA. He emphasizes the importance of advocating for oneself and taking opportunities to learn and grow in the field. Mike discusses the impact of the stressful shelter environment on dogs' behavior and highlights the need for social interaction, exercise, and mental stimulation.
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Hi everyone, there won't be a full episode this week. However, if you're going to the HSUS Expo, we'd love it if you could visit our table and say hello to Ashley and Nikki! We have a bunch of fantastic resources to share, as well as some cool giveaways.
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In this conversation, Jessica Hekman, DVM, PhD discusses the work of the Functional Dog Collaborative (FDC) and the need to improve dog breeding practices in North America. She highlights the issues with current breeding practices, including the prevalence of large-scale commercial kennels. Jessica emphasizes the importance of moving the needle towards responsible breeding practices and reducing the number of dogs ending up in shelters. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the concept of heritability and its implications for selective breeding. In this conversation, Jessica Hekman...
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In this conversation, veterinarian and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Amy Marder discusses the importance of recognizing that every dog is an individual and that behavior evaluations should be tailored to each dog's unique needs. She emphasizes the need for guidelines and observational methods to understand a dog's behavior and provide appropriate support. The conversation also touches on the stress levels in shelters, the benefits of foster homes, and the importance of considering a dog's behavior in their previous home when making adoption decisions. Shelter Medicine Courses - ...
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Join us this week as we chat with Amanda Kopec and Mindy Naticchioni from Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter and discuss the positive impacts playgroups have had on their organization. Instagram Facebook Tik tok Website The stats for Cuyahoga County we mention in the episode are: Dynamic Stats: Cuyahoga County Shelter Director reported stats since Playgroup implementation: • 176% increase in volunteer hours • 62% decrease in bites • 20% decrease in LOS = average of 4.2 days/dog • 20% increase in adoption rate • 3.8% decrease in Returned Adoptions
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Join us this week as we review the outcome of reintroducing breed labels to our online listings. Additionally, we have the opportunity to speak with Chrissy Blake, the Director of the , in Fredrickburgh VA, and discuss her shelters experiences with removal labels and other exciting projects she is involved in.
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Learn valuable marketing tips and tricks for animal shelters on this week's episode, featuring the special guest, Caitlin Quinn. Some links based on our convo: Top 5 Animal Shelteing Organization to Follow: HeARTs Speak is launching some learn-at-your-own pace courses this spring so keep an eye out for those and, in the meantime, they are always adding more tools to the Marketing Resource Center.
info_outlineHi and welcome to the latest episode of the Individual Animal a podcast about dogs, people, and discrimination. Nikki and Regina discuss animal welfare, canine science, discrimination, and other issues facing dogs and people. There’s often witty banter and sarcasm, even for the serious subjects - because that’s who we are and how we cope.
After a brief hiatus, we’re back! After some banter, we get into the difference between service dogs, emotional support animals, and therapy dogs.
We all know people with disabilities face discrimination, even more so when they have a service dog - and you can triple that discrimination when they have a dog who does not match people’s expectations of what a service dog should look like.
We’ve written before about why people need emotional support animals. Not respecting that need is also discrimination. We’ve seen that play out with Delta’s ban on service and emotional support dogs visually identified as “pit bulls.”
Tackling the individual subjects of service dogs and emotional support animals requires a lot of unpacking. Before we do a deep dive, we wanted to lay the groundwork and establish some basics.
There is a difference between an emotional support animal and a service dog - a difference that the media and the public often do not understand. Sometimes, the term therapy dog gets thrown around as if it were synonymous with both of those terms.
We also talk about our personal thoughts on the instances of people faking disabilities in order to take their dogs into non-dog friendly spaces. We touch on the importance of language here and why we need to stop saying “faking a service dog” and reframe it in the proper context, which is that people are actually faking a disability.
And on that topic, we want to make sure that business owners and employees know how they can protect their customers and protect the rights of people with disabilities.
As you can tell, we cover a lot of issues under this topic! Grab a drink and listen to us go on some tangents.
You can follow Pepe the Service Dog on Instagram and see some pics of service dog Koda on his person’s account. You can keep track of Regina’s guide dog on Facebook.
*There are some times in this episode where we reference that an emotional support animal is prescribed by a doctor or physician, but they can be prescribed by any mental health care professional.