Dogs Are Very Important to Society

        Dogs have been around for millions of years and have been domesticated to help man. Man has also learned to use dogs for protection. Man has even used dogs to help people in danger. Dogs love people no matter what. Even if you had a bad, day a dog is always there to comfort you. Dogs have helped handicapped people, participate in many activities, and love people a lot.

Dogs can participate in many activities such as agility competitions. “Since the late 1970’s dog agility has became more popular. The dogs have to complete a number of obstacles to achieve a good time. During the dog’s competition their handler is usually their owner” (“All about Dog Agility” 2).  Every year the agility competition gets new attention. It tests the dog’s athleticism and the dog’s human relationship to guide the dog through the obstacles. “The dog’s typical obstacles are ramps, hurdle jumping, seesaw, weave pools and tunnels” (“All about Dog Agility” 3). The dogs are competing in a tournament for usually a prize. Even though it is competitive, it is fun and any type of breed can do it with the right training.

        Dogs have also been used for hunting. “Hunting dogs were used to retrieve water fowl birds, small mammals and sometimes fish. They were also used to scare birds or animals out of hiding so the hunter could take a shoot at the game.” (“Hunting Dogs” 1). There are a category of sight hounds that use their eyes to see. They are fast and muscular to catch the prey. The scent hounds hunt their prey by smelling them. They have large noses with loose skin to capture the smells. They were used to catch fleeing suspects, escaping prisoners and to track missing people (“Hunting Dogs” 2).

         Dogs help many people that have seizures regularly. They are called seizure alert/response dogs and are trained to help people with epilepsy or other seizure disorders. “They also have been trained to recognize that the person is going to have a seizure and provide them with an advanced warning” (“How Do Service Dogs Help People with Disabilities” 5). The dog gets its partner to a safe place or a place to take their medication to stop the seizure. The seizure response dogs respond while it’s happening.  “If the person is having a seizure the dog will put its body over the persons to prevent injury” (“How Do Service Dogs Help People with Disabilities” 5). After the seizure is over the dog will comfort the person so they are not scared. Seizure dogs help many people that have problems.

        Medical assistance service dogs are very important to many people. Medical assistance service dogs help people with medical conditions from asthma to cancer and from ataxia to Alzheimer’s (“How Do Service Dogs Help People with Disabilities” 6). Dogs also go to hospitals to help people that that have medical problems and to help them cope with these problems. These dogs make the conditions easier to live with and the people at the hospital to have a good day.  Medical assistance dogs help many people.