The 6 Coolest Jobs for Dogs!
There are lots of unusual jobs out there for people, and there are just as many for dogs! We may be familiar with the herding, hunting and retrieving breeds, and breeds that are good at search and rescue or as service dogs, but what about other cool jobs that only dogs can do?
- Lifeguard Dogs. We all have a dog in our lives who can’t get enough of the water. But some dogs are being trained to be lifeguards! In Italy, the Italian School for Rescue Dogs trains dogs to swim to a victim with a buoy or a raft. If that’s not impressive enough, the dogs are also trained to jump out of a helicopter or boat to reach a person in distress!
- Anti-Poaching Pooches. You’ve probably heard stories about animals in African countries heading to near extinction due to poaching. But have you heard of dogs being used to track down and apprehend poachers? Since the program started, progress is being made to protect several species, including rhinos, elephants, cheetahs and lions.
- Pest Detectors. No one wants to find bed bugs in their home, but as a growing problem in some cities across the United States, it can happen. Cue pest detector dogs! Pest-detecting dogs can smell tiny bed bug fecal droppings. They’re so good at it that they have 97.5% accuracy!
- Airport Runway Wildlife Control. You’ve probably seen detection dogs inside the airport, sniffing for guns, drugs or other contraband, but did you know that dogs work out on the runway, too? By chasing birds off the runway, they can prevent bird strikes, which can pose a serious safety hazard to aircraft during take off.
- Disease Detectors. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, UPenn’s School of Veterinary Medicine trained eight Labrador retrievers to sniff out the disease. Hardly a new phenomenon, disease-detecting dogs have been trained to sniff out different forms of cancer and C. difficile, which is a bacterium that causes serious illness.
- Wine Inspectors. No one wants to open a bottle of wine only to get that tell-tale “musty basement” smell! A chemical known as TCA sometimes found in wine barrels is responsible for the musty smell and taste. Since 2010, The Natinga Project has trained Labrador retrievers to detect TCA in barrel production facilities more effectively and reliably than modern technology. Cheers to that!
Now let’s shine a spotlight on Service Dogs and how they help their handlers. >>
