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Letter to Editor
ShareDoesn’t everyone love canines?
By Herb Harry - Advocate news services
Published: October 07, 2008 8:45 AM
Updated: October 09, 2008 10:40 AM
The more I am around dogs, the more I am intrigued and impressed by these animals.
I’ve always thought every person should experience having a dog - no matter what age, even as old or older than me.
Dogs have long been a part of my life. It was only during my college days and my first couple of years out of college while living in an apartment that I had no dog. Otherwise, a furry creature has been a best friend for more than 50 years.
Canines have served that niche for thousands of years. A descendant of the wolf family, dogs not only have been companions but have been trained to help their human counterparts. Some recent research indicates dogs want to please their masters and evolved that way. They quite likely are the most intelligent of animals. You would get no argument on that count from me.
Scanning some recent stories about dogs shows just how intelligent they are.
Buddy, a German Shepherd, dialed 911 in Phoenix and saved his owner, Joe Stalnaker, who was having a seizure. At the age of eight weeks, Buddy began training at the Wayland, Mich.-based Paws With a Cause, which trains assistance dogs. He was trained to get the phone if Stalnaker began to have seizure symptoms.
Cash, another German Shepherd, stayed by his master’s side for six weeks after the man killed himself in a remote part of Colorado.
The dog remained there and reportedly ate mice and rabbits before authorities found his master’s body.
A dog’s nose is so sensitive, it can smell in layers. As an example, researchers say if you are cooking chili, you know from the smell that it is chili.
However, a dog can smell each layer of that chili meaning if there are seven ingredients in the pot, it can differentiate between all seven.
Herb Harry writes for The Crescent-News in Ohio.
