Dogs are extremely clever animals and often, their unique traits and skills make them ideal for performing certain tasks. For example, a dog’s sense of smell is up to 40x greater than our own. This is because our furry pals have up to 300 million smell receptors in their nose, compared to around just 6 million in our own!
Sometimes these special aptitudes make our doggo’s particularly good at certain jobs – often much better than us humans could be.
Here are some amazing dogs with special jobs to show you just how talented man’s best friend really is!
Service dogs
Most people are familiar with service dogs. These special doggos have been specially trained to assist people with certain disabilities. Since their owners are so reliant on them for their day-to-day activities, helping them to do basic things like navigate a shopping centre, cross a road or even alert other people to the fact that they are having a medical emergency, their training is crucial. Service dogs show exemplary behaviour at all times. Some examples of service dogs include:
- Guide dogs for people who are visually impaired
- Mobility-assistance dogs
- Seizure and other medical assistance dogs
- Hearing dogs for people are hearing impaired
Breeds who respond extremely well to training are the most popular choice for service dogs, with Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, Poodles and German Shepherds being particularly commonly used.
Search and rescue dogs
You’ve probably also heard of search and rescue dogs. These furry champions have outstanding smell and hearing, as well as being very strong and agile. These talents make them perfect creatures for tracking down people, and even other animals, who are lost and/or injured. They usually work closely with human search at rescue teams, stationed in national parks, mountain ranges and other areas with challenging terrain that is some distance from towns and villages. Some common breeds trained as search and rescue dogs include German Shepherds, Labrador and Golden Retrievers and Border Collies.
Water rescue dogs
Some breeds of dog are particularly good at swimming. For many years, the Italian School for Rescue Dogs has been training dogs to rescue distressed swimmers and bring them safely to shore. Some of these life-saving canines work with the coast guard, while others patrol beaches along with human lifeguards. Many different breeds can learn to do this, but Newfoundlands are particularly popular since they are very strong and have a water-resistant outer coat of fur.
Therapy dogs
Therapy dogs have become more common in recent years. The empathetic and patient dogs are trained and certified to offer therapeutic, emotional support to people with certain disabilities, such as autism or Down Syndrome. Therapy dogs also often visit hospitals, nursing homes and hospices to provide companionship and emotional benefits to patients and their families. Studies have shown that spending time stroking a dog can lower stress levels and blood pressure and boost natural feel-good chemicals within the body. Therapy dogs can be any breed or size, but must be very friendly, sociable and east to train.
Police dogs
Law enforcement isn’t only for humans. Most forces also have a canine division – often referred to as K9 – where handlers and dogs are deployed to do one of several things. This could be to chase down and detain a criminal who has tried to run, or to sniff out a substance such as illegal drugs contained within a vehicle that’s been stopped. Police dogs also protect their handlers, who they have an extremely close relationship with. Generally, police dogs are larger breeds, with German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois being the most popular choices.
Detection dogs
If you’ve ever passed through a busy public area like an airport, train station or concert venue, you may have seen detection dogs walking among the crowds. As their name suggests, these curious canines are specially trained to sniff out trouble – usually in the form of a particular group of substances. This could be anything from illegal drugs and those used to make explosives to blood and even human remains. More recently, detection dogs have also been trained to detect certain health issues in humans, since studies have shown that they can accurately tell when someone has a low blood sugar level or even some types of cancer. There are a few breeds that do particularly well as detection dogs, including Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Beagles and some types of Spaniel.
All of these dogs perform crucial jobs but of course that doesn't mean your own pet isn't just as amazing! To show them how amazing you are we have number of lovely scented colognes and shampoos to make your pooch feel it.
