Helping Dog

Asistance Dog - what's this ?

updated January 6, 2018

I believe in animals having a soul just like human beings, so let me mention right at the beginning some remarks already the great Leonardo da Vinci once made:
"A time will come when a crime against an animal will be pursued in the same way as a crime against a human being."

L i z

Five points of freedom for animals

1. Freedom from discomfort,
2. from hunger and thurst,
3. from fear and suffer,
4. from pain, injury and sickness,
5. and the freedom to show a normal behaviour.

(Working) animals are creatures with feelings. This also realized the EU (Europaean Union) and tries balancing between economic interests and protection of creature.
Lars Hoelgard, an EU-expert announced, from January 1, 2007 on, farmers who do not carry out the minimum standard for protection of animals, will not be entitled to aid anymore.
"Our whip will strike and the farmers will be punished if they don't follow to it."

quote: 'Salzburger Nachrichten', Friday, March 31, 2006

"Betsie"

What is a Helping Dog or Partner-Hund?

Perhaps you've heard about Mark Twain when he gave his dogs very strange names like "I Know", "You Know" or "Don't Know"?
The Helping Dog - Assistant Dog I'm mainly talking about on here simply was named "Betsie" as written on her animal ID, born on August 7, 1997 - you can see her on the picture above, but also below in the gallery. Only when eight years old I became the owner, until then she belonged to the organisation 'Partner-Hunde Österreich', but was living with me.
At first, when the puppies are eight or nine weeks old, Helping Dogs live in a specially picked family for twelve to eighteen months where they are tought the basic concept of behavior, what is to prove in a weekly meeting at the 'dogs farm' of this organisation. After that time they will be specially trained as partners for multiple disabled, deaf, mentally handicapped, and wheelchaired people.
Those dogs also bring much joy to sick or elderly people when the organization takes some of them to visit children hospitals or other sozial institutions - they get money for this from the city.
I could be of some help for this organization to establish the law in the city of Salzburg (this already exists for a long time in Vienna or other cities): As long as such Helping Dogs wear their special harness, they are allowed to accompany their disabled owners in every facility like schools, theatres, restaurants, shopping centres etc.

My Betsie is/was a breeding dog and after my husband died, she also became somewhat a partner for me living in our family. Originally born in Great Britain, bought from the organization when three years old to become a breeding dog, her puppies were trained to become Helping Dogs after they got their health certificate.
The contract one has to sign when taking over such a dog states each time for having puppies a breeding dog has to be brought to the dogs farm of this organization for about 7-10 weeks, what means a lot of emotional stress for a sensitive bitch, taken away from her usual home.
Finally when a bitch had its young three times in her life - or otherwise when she reached the age of eight - she then belongs to the family who took care of her for all those years. This is a contractual signed agreement and calls for careful consideration before signing. Betsie and I luckily could experience her giving birth to eight healthy puppies when my home was good enough because at that time the dogs farm was under construction. The coming years though troubles came up when the contract had to be fullfilled and the dog each time when having puppies had to leave her home. Of course this caused mental and stress problems what not only made my doubts come true but also an university report about this what exists already since a long time. But this is a different story ...
Want to know more about rights on both sides in such agreements? Do you have other questions?
Please contact me.

More pictures - altre foto - noch mehr Fotos