Development of Service Dog Concept
The Bergins then spent two years teaching in Australia followed by travel through Asia where she saw donkeys and burros carrying kitchen-wares for people who also used them as crutches while making their way to a street corner to sell their wares. Her experiences of this and seeing other disabled people in Asia struggling to fend for themselves led her to consider the possibility of using dogs to do tasks that would allow individuals with mobility limitations to live independently as a part of mainstream society.
With no formal knowledge of dog training, she tried to convince others of the validity of this vision. Many dog organizations and dog trainers with whom she shared her idea all said it would not work NS would be bad both for the dogs and for people with disabilities. She left teaching to work in a dog kennel for $2 an hour to learn about dogs and dog breeds after which she began the experiment that has resulted in the internationally acclaimed “service dog” concept.
Read more about this topic: Bonnie Bergin
Famous quotes containing the words development, service, dog and/or concept:
“America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?”
—Public Service Announcement.
“The little dog lay curled and did not rise
But slept the deeper as the ashes rose
And found the people incomplete,”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)
“the full analysis of the notions of saying something and understanding what one said inevitably involves a concept which, as I will show in detail, essentially corresponds to the Cartesian idea of thought.”
—Zeno Vendler (b. 1921)