Finally, the Working Dog has His Day… and a New Website!

June 30, 2010; Santa Fe, NM – Working Like Dogs is proud to announce the annual National Assistance Dog Week, August 8-14, 2010, in recognition of all the devoted, hardworking assistance dogs helping individuals mitigate their disability-related limitations. To commemorate National Assistance Dog Week and to honor working dogs everywhere, we’re launching a new website at www.assistancedogweek.org.

In communities across the nation, assistance dog organizations and individuals will be holding events to raise awareness about these very special animals. The new website has resources to help them create and promote their events, and allows them to post their events online. Everyone is invited to www.assistancedogweek.org see what events are going to take place near them, or to learn more about assistance dogs.

Assistance Dogs transform the lives of their human partners with physical and mental disabilities by serving as their companion, helper, best friend and close member of their family. They are specifically trained to perform many tasks for their partners, and are generally classified as:

Guide Dogs – Assist people with vision loss, leading these individuals around physical obstacles and to destinations such as seating, crossing streets, entering or exiting doorways, elevators and stairways.

Service Dogs – Assist people with disabilities with walking, balance, dressing, transferring from place to place, retrieving and carrying items, opening doors and drawers, pushing buttons, pulling wheelchairs and aiding with household chores, such as putting in and removing clothes from the washer and dryer.

Hearing Alert Dogs – Alert people with a hearing loss to the presence of specific sounds such as doorbells, telephones, crying babies, sirens, another person, buzzing timers or sensors, knocks at the door or smoke, fire and clock alarms.

Seizure and Medical Alert/Seizure Response Dogs – Alert to medical conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, epilepsy, panic attack, anxiety attack, post-traumatic stress and seizures.

All of these types of assistance dogs are dedicated to their humans, who rely on them to achieve and exceed their daily function. Please celebrate the selfless love and devotion these dogs so humbly provide by participating in National Assistance Dog Week.

National Assistance Dog Week was established due to the efforts of Marcie Davis, a paraplegic for over 35 years and CEO of Davis Innovations, a consulting firm based in Santa Fe, NM. Davis is the author of Working Like Dogs: The Service Dog Guidebook, and she is the host of the Internet radio program, Working Like Dogs, at www.petliferadio.com. As a member of a service dog team, she founded Working Like Dogs to honor assistance dogs around the world and is sponsoring National Assistance Dog Week.

For more information, contact Marcie Davis at 505-982-1977.