MOBILITY OF PETS AND PEOPLE

By Lawrence Gerson, VMD

PHYSICIANS AND VETERINARIANS SHARE MANY common concerns. One of the big issues we have is overweight patients. After consuming too many calories it is common for pets, like people, to become obese.

Some estimates suggest that more than half of pets are carrying too much weight. Discussing a body condition score at a veterinary annual exam is so important for good pet health. A score of 5 on a scale of 9 is a perfect weight. One to four is too thin and six to nine is too heavy. It is common for pet parents to be in denial about overweight pets.

A simple solution for dogs and their owners is to get off the couch and take a walk. Walking is a low impact exercise that almost everyone can start and continue long term for better health. Walking as exercise is easy and can progress to an active lifestyle.

All that is necessary to walk for exercise are comfortable shoes, a leash, a plastic bag for picking up waste, and a flashlight for night walks. Squirrel Hill has beautiful walking trails in Frick and Schenley Parks and is within walking distance to Mellon Park. If walking does not increase your heart rate enough, add some hills to the routine.

Beyond its exercise benefits, walking with a dog is a fantastic way to experience the bond between people and animals. Another example of the human-animal bond is the relationship between people who are blind, have low vision, or are hard of hearing and their trained service dogs. My favorite patients were dogs who literally had the life of the owner in their control.

Service dogs are specifically trained for assisting people with lifesaving help in everyday activities. Guide dogs go through rigorous training for years to help people navigate in their environment. It is important to not pet or distract guide dogs. They are working dogs, and it is best to admire their skills from a distance.

Declaring pets as emotional support pets is not the same as having a trained service animal. Even airline travel has been impacted by people who claim that emotional support pets have the right to travel in the passenger compartment. Recent clarification of the rights of service animals hopefully will differentiate between true service dogs and emotional support pets.

With the help of guide dogs, people who have lost their vision or hearing can gain independence to live a fuller life. Together, they can enjoy simple pleasures like going for a walk. Sometimes, efforts to make the city more accessible to bicycles, scooters, and skateboards end up making travel more difficult for some citizens. Traffic circles where traffic never stops create difficulty for guide dogs, people with disabilities, children, and elderly that are attempting to cross streets. Other obstructions—like scooters left lying on sidewalks and street curbs—create trip hazards for everyone. More attention must be paid to safe movement for all.

SERVICE DOGS

Bonnet and Cupid nuzzled, wrestled, and wagged their tails like any two Golden Retrievers would. This was their down time, a chance to relax. At other times, Bonnet and Cupid work as guide dogs for Joyce Driben of Greenfield and Eddie Reid of Squirrel Hill. Now, though, the two human friends had removed their dogs’ harnesses to let them play.

“Once you have a [guide] dog, your whole life changes,” said Reid. There’s the special partnership you develop with the animal and a new way of moving through the world.

For people who are blind or visually impaired, a guide dog brings mobility and independence, but there are always challenges. These include uneven sidewalks; cars that turn right on red without stopping; and drivers that speed into a parking lot without looking, carelessly entering a space that is already difficult for a guide dog to navigate.

And then there are the dog-lovers who want to pet Bonnet while she’s working, or feed her a treat, or give her commands. Doing so, according to Driben, “is like taking the wheel from the hands of a driver.” It’s just not safe.

Joyce Driben and her guide dog Bonnet.

Sometimes, though, it’s the dog that seeks out the treat. Once, Driben recalls, she was riding a bus when her previous guide dog began to sniff a pizza box held by another passenger. While Driben tried to separate the canine from the delicious meal, she warned her fellow bus-rider, “You might end up sharing it, if you don’t move away!”

A working dog needs to focus, so if you encounter Bonnet, Cupid, or any other guide dog in a harness, remember that they are on the job and should not be distracted. While they may look like a pet, they play a different role in the lives of their handlers.