nomadwilly wrote:
However I think dogs in public places is a bad idea*** .... and totally unacceptable in the work place.
Well, you would hate England, then, as dogs are allowed in pubs over there.* One of my favorite visuals is from one of our canal trips when we went to a pub in a tiny village in the Lake District.* It was hill farm sheep country and the pub was the evening hangout for the local farmers.* In addition to the bar there were a bunch of round tables in the room.* When we walked in there were two farmers at this table, three at that one, four at another one, and so on.* Just quietly talking and enjoying a local brew.*
And if there were three farmers at a table, under the table curled up and behaving*themselves perfectly were three border collies.* At the table with four farmers, there were four border collies curled up under the table.* And so on, at every table.
We were staying*on a*local sheep farm at the time*and I asked the farmer why he*took a dog everywhere he went, even to the pub in the evening.* He said that you never know when you might come across someone's sheep that had*gotten out onto the road or somewhere they weren't supposed to be and the only way you*could put them back was with a dog.* So every farmer always had one with him no matter where he went.
As to the work place, it might interest you to know that Amazon.com has a company policy that allows employees to bring their dogs to work as long as they are housebroken and behaved.* I believe Google does, too.**As to the service dogs in training, Boeing is a big supoprter of programs like this as service dogs bring a huge improvement*to the quality of life of invalids, the*elderly, and*mentally ill patients as Carey described above.* When they are young these service-dogs-in-training have to be acclimated to all sorts of environments including offices, elevators, other people, and so on.* Boeing acknowledges the value of service dogs by allowing employees who particiapate in the training programs to bring the dogs to work as part of the dog's training.
And here is a true factoid for you.* Petting a dog will lower your blood pressure significantly.
I've posted this here before I think, but this is our current boating buddy.* Actually, it's his boat in the background.* But he can't reach the wheel so he lets us use the boat, too, if we'll steer.