From around the World

Part IV

Reading Therapy Dogs

Now, I must admit I thought I had seen almost everything we can train dogs to do, but I missed this one.

Now, we all know that these dogs are involved in every conceivable type of therapy, from helping children in hospitals to helping pensioners in retirement homes. Their primary function is to provide emotional support, as opposed to assistance dogs, which assist those who need physical help with their everyday needs. But helping children to read now was a new one for me. How does this work? I asked because, as we all know, the canine has not reached that stage in its evolution that allows it to read or understand the intricacies of the English language. It appears that some children, particularly from dysfunctional homes, struggle with reading and are very reluctant to read directly in front of an adult. They are happy to have an adult in the room but only for assistance with a difficult word, however laying on the floor alongside a well behaved, calm, relaxed dog appears to create the environment that causes the children to forget the issues that cause them to be disruptive.

This works by teaching the therapy dog to lie down quietly as the child reads the book out loud. Teachers, particularly those working with disadvantaged children, say that the results are amazing. Children who were disruptive and refusing to read now happily engage in this endeavour. As we all know, the ability to read is critical to a normal life, and yet again, our furry friends are in the vanguard of another new concept.

A Bona Fido Hero

(I would like to claim authorship of this headline, but I am indebted to Fox News!)

Whilst this is a serious issue and, as always, a true story, there is a happy ending, and that happy ending is entirely due to the family pet dog.

I guess most of you reading this have the same question. Why do people abuse children and animals? What pleasure do they obtain? Are they born sadistic? Is it in their DNA? Are they missing a chromosome? Well, I attempted to research this issue, but it appears that it is so complicated that it takes the combined skills of several experts to get anywhere close. It would help if you had Psychologists, Behaviourists, Psychiatrists, Social workers, Psychoanalysts and others. I counted 25 major separate reasons why somebody would engage in this sort of behaviour, and that is only a start. It is so complicated that I admit that I gave up.

Benjamin and Hope Jordan needed a baby minder for their son Finn, so they interviewed and did background checks and decided to employ one 22-year-old, Alexis Khan. In the beginning, all appeared well, but as the weeks and months passed, the behaviour of the family pet dog became disturbing. Killian started to become very protective towards baby Finn, and this developed into aggressive tendencies toward the baby minder, which became so bad that the dog had to be physically restrained from attacking Khan.

To those of us who work with dogs, the warning signs were there. If a dog starts to show naked aggression to one individual, there has to be a reason. Normally, dogs do not select one person to show hostility without due cause. Being a pack animal, it will react not only to those who show unacceptable behaviour to them personally but to those who show hostility to members of their pack, which we call family. Fortunately, the Jordans didn’t ignore the signs and decided to hide an iPhone under the couch.

One can only imagine their distress when they heard profanities, followed by slapping and the sound of their baby crying in pain. It appears that their baby minder was abusing their child. The babysitter was arrested, sentenced to between one to three years in prison and placed in a child abuse register, ensuring she has no contact with children.

As for Killian, he has gained hero status and is making the most of it!

Floki

Footvolley, again, is new to me. It is a combination of Volleyball and Football, but this unique game has a new superstar.

Forget Pele, Ronaldo or Messi. The new name to remember is Floki, a three-year-old border collie who plays on the beaches around Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Now, for those of you who are unaware of the rules, Footvolley is the same as Beach Volley, except the net is lower, and the participants are not allowed the use of arms and hands.

Floki has a full-time Footvolley coach, who just happens to be his owner, Gustavo Rodrigues. Although Gustavo claims that he had no intention of training Floki for stardom, he just pushed his way in when the team were practising.

When playing, Floki attracts hundreds of spectators, all of whom are eager to take photos and videos. With endorsements and thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok, it appears that Floki is the next sporting superstar. Soon, it could be that you walk down the road and see some kid wearing a shirt with Floki emblazoned on the back.