Wal-Mart

Earlier in the week, Mango and I took a trip to the local Wal-Mart to get some groceries, and it went fairly well. We got to work on him interacting with other people and pulling. He still has a definite problem with pulling to get to see people, and just being fast-paced in general.

This trip went fairly normal in these regards, but I met a lady after I went through the check-out that approached me about Mango. She asked me the usual questions; what kind of dog is he, what is he being trained for, how old, ect. But then she asked me a few somewhat unusual questions.

She told me about her Sister, who has a problem with having frequent seizures. She told me that she had done some research, and heard about helper dogs who could sense when their owners were at risk of having one. She asked me for more information. Although I couldn't provide much, I explained to her briefly the difference between a Leader Dog and a dog with which she was describing.

"A Leader Dog is specifically trained to guide blind and visually impaired people. The act as "eyes", so that their owner can carry out day-to-day activities such as shopping, going to school and even something as simple as going for a walk. The type of dog that you are describing is a PAWS Dog, who do help people with frequent seizures and other illnesses such as severe asthma and whatnot."

I referred her to Paws With A Cause. If you are interested in learning more, follow the link.

Also, do not confuse with Paws for a Cause, the one-mile long dog walk benefit to cancer research.