Why Dogs are Our Best Friends
The story of humanity is a long one. Over time, as we progressed and domesticated horses and cows, and farmed sheep, goats and pigs, dogs found their place. Not as food, but as protectors and finders of food. This is not incidental but specifically because of their infinite versatility. Their keen smell, sharp hearing, agility, and mobility gave them the edge above any other domesticated animal or pet and enabled the dog to fulfil any role required from them.
Later on there came a shift in purpose with the emphasis on protecting the household, or warning the owner of danger. However, as humankind progressed through the ages, another shift in purpose developed, namely to be companions or friends taking on a social responsibility which also include assisting humans to deal with disabilities.
The best example here is the guide dogs for the blind, making them the best service animals. They have also been functioning as ears for the hearing impaired and even as arms and legs for the physically disabled. However, these dogs function as far more than replacements or limbs or senses. May be more important, they provide tremendous psychological support to their companions, who often find social and emotional barriers far more difficult to overcome than physical ones.
Guide dogs not only offer their human friends greater mobility, but also give them an increased capability to cope with their blindness. But, most importantly, a guide dog gives the blind owner a new lease on life. There is a positive acceptance of the disability, of life and risk taking, expression of feelings, assertiveness, personal achievement, and orientation to the present, relaxation, improved body image, security, self-control, self-awareness, and opportunities for social growth and interaction.
Hearing dogs assist deaf and hearing-impaired persons by responding to the telephone, the fire alarm, and other specialized needs such as the timer on a microwave oven or a crying baby. The greatest benefit however, is that the owners of such dogs experience a decreased dependency on hearing people and a new found freedom that may allow them to live alone or free from anxiety when the hearing spouse or partner has to leave the impaired person to go to work, etc.
More specialised than the ordinary hearing dogs, are the so-called signal dogs, which act as the ears of the deaf. A signal dog is trained to respond to the slightest sound, for example, after a deaf young woman received a signal dog she became confident enough to start a family. The woman’s husband had normal hearing but worked a late shift, and she feared she would be unable to hear her baby’s cries in the night. With the signal dog, she could put her mind at ease. Another signal dog, whose owner has a dental laboratory, alerted his master to all the timers and sounds of the electronic equipment, he worked on.
A companion dog is one who is trained to support their recipient in home environments. These dogs are not necessarily only for the disabled, but also for those in need of assistance in and around the house, for instance the elderly, the lonely, or the isolated persons in life. These dogs are there to assist with picking up dropped items, opening and closing doors, wardrobes, and drawers, removing items of clothing like socks, emergency bark if their owner is in danger, offer emotional support, including love and friendship and most importantly, assists in breaking down barriers and reducing social isolation.
The bond between dog and humankind that began centuries ago still exists today. Over all these centuries, dogs made extraordinary impact on many aspects of the human life. They certainly deserve the title ‘a human being’s best friend’!
This can better be described with this joke: ‘to see who your best friend is, lock both your dog and your so-called best human friend in the trunk of your car and open them after an hour and see who is coming out wagging his tail and licking your hand’!
