Civil Service Dogs - meeting August 21st

The gang on the way to the park!

Periodically a bunch of dog owners meet in various locations around Stokholm. This time it was on Kungsholmen, in a small park near the canal of Karlberg. This is hardly a normal dog gang - no, here is a high level of education. On the owners? Well, that I don’t know - it is irrelevant in this context. It is the dogs who are highly educated! If we're talking human language, we’re talking University graduates!
For these are the so-called Civil Service Dogs.

Most people know what a guide dog is (not a blind dog, which many people say – the dogs are not blind, it is the owners who are blind - or rather, visually impaired ...). These dogs wear white service covers (in the shape of a harness, a vest or a backpack).
These dogs all have a slightly different education and specialty and their titles thus differ. It is a jungle of terms in English and Swedish – a consequence of the fact that they are not all gathered under a common organization, either abroad or in Sweden.

Their service covers are different -but alas, yet so alike!

For the layman, the various tags seem completely impossible to tell apart - so all you really need to remember is that the service cover with the black box, means "PAT ME!" And the service cover without the black box means, "DO NOT TOUCH ME!".
Ok, so why do you get to pat some dogs and not others? Well, it all depends on what assignment they have. It's that simple.

"at work" it says on the service cover - but if you work hard, then you have to rest when the chance oarise ...

Take for example Jack and Trouble. They are two handsome gentlemen of the breeds Newfoundland and Mastiff. Their owners, both named Lena, have different back and neck injuries. Their dog’s size is a help in itself, since they also serve as a robust support when the pain takes over and their owners have to lean on and seek support from something. These dogs help their owners and no one else - so ASK before if you want to pat them! For they are obviously not aggressive towards other people - but they know where their focus should lie, at all times.

Atlas apparently is a Service Dog.

Then we have Britta and Atlas - not only Sweden’s but also Europe's first Epilepsy Dog (Seizure Alert dog)! His job is to alert Britta when she is about to have an epileptic seizure. This he many times senses even before Britta herself feels it coming. By nudging her, Atlas can for example get Britta’s attention and if she has enough presence of mind and realizes what's going on, she has time to lie down or call for help. If she doesn’t have enough presence of mind, but collapses and goes into convulsions, Atlas will remain by her side. If nobody is around to help her, he can alert the ambulance. Atlas simply pulls the strap that hangs on the side of his service cover and via the blue little device that Britta is showing, an alarm goes off at the emergency central station. A built-in GPS shows where exactly Britta is so the ambulance can find its way. In Atlas service cover is also located medicine and a small container of water. The idea is that passersby can help Britta by administering her medicine and water. Atlas will not prevent anyone from helping his owner!
So, with Atlas, the same goes as with Jack and Trouble - ASK first, if you want to pat!

Learoy has his own ID card attached to the service cover!

Most qualified in this gang is yet another giant, a Rottweiler named Learoy. He has many titles: Assistant Dog, Service Dog, Mulle Dog (Swedish term), Trauma Dog, Emergency Dog, Visiting Dog and Therapy Dog. He is known as a Combination IRD-dog. IRD stands for International Rehabilitation Dog and Combination Dog means he helps both his owner and other people. He therefore has many different work areas. Foremost he is his owner Katja's aid as she has fibromyalgia. But he is also trained to assist, in contact with different sick people. Everything from patients with senile dementia to patients with Alzheimer. Leroy is also called in at various traumatic events involving children. So some of Leroy's work centers around different hospitals in Stockholm! And with his black service cover he signals TOUCH ME, HUG ME, TALK TO ME. He is used to this and not only that, he loves to be pampered and petted. Big as he is. He is comforting to hug when you're scared. Or lean on when you are sad. He always listens. He never snitches.

No service cover before you are tested and approved!

Then we have the youth in the gang. Nah, I’m not thinking about the owner Ella. I’m thinking about Lady, yet another Collie. She is in training and will be Ella's helping hand - or rather, mouth and paws. She is trained to facilitate the life of Ella: pick things up off the floor, fetch one of the assistants if Ella gets an epileptic seizure, and so on. She too will be an ASK-dog.

This gang meets regularly to exchange ideas and experiences about their dogs. Someone might need tips to solve a specific problem that has arisen. Someone else might only need to meet other people in the same situation as themselves.

Documentation is in progress.

The group had a distinguished guest this time, when Rintaro from Tokyo was on a study tour in Stockholm. He researches on the relationship between man and dog and being an epileptic himself, he is particularly interested in Epilepsy Dogs (for example, Atlas!). In Japan, they apparently have not come so far in terms of understanding the dog's role in these aforementioned areas, the so-called Civil Service Dogs. Rintaros ambition is to initiate training of such dogs and foremost the Epilepsy Dog in Japan.

DOGS ARE GREAT - for BUSINESS and PLEASURE can really be said in this context. You want to know more? Then go to for instance www.assistenthunden.se.