A friend in need
As well as bringing enormous pleasure to people as companions and pets, dogs perform innumerable services for us. Certain breeds are so intelligent and trustworthy that they can be trained to guide blind people around obstacles and through city streets. They even disobey orders that might lead their owners into danger. As well, they can be trained to help the disabled with household chores.
Because dogs have a keener sense of smell and hearing than us, they can do certain tasks better than we can – tracking down lost people, stolen goods or the thieves that stole them. They can sniff out explosives or harmful drugs hidden in innocent looking containers, saving lives and hours of police work.
Many individuals have been saved from drowning by dogs who even if they cannot swim to the rescue will run to alert those who can. And where people have been buried in avalanches or earthquakes dogs will not only locate them, but help to dig them out also.
Scientists have also taken advantage of the dog. Thousands are used in research each year, the most famous of all being the dog who became the world’s first traveller in space yet sadly never came back.