Psychiatrists, psychologists, and other medical professionals are increasingly asked to provide letters for users of service and support animals that will help get the animals into apartment buildings, airplanes, and even restaurants, or sometimes to justify a tax deduction for the dog as a medical expense. Far too many professionals, faced with such a request, ask the patient to provide the letter for them to sign. The Department of Transportation has told airlines that they may require that such a letter be on the professional’s...
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
TSA’s Airport Canine Programs Need Better Management
Recent reports by the Government Accountability Office, the House Transportation Security Subcommittee, and the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security have highlighted a number of problems with the canine programs of the Transportation Security Administration. Although deficiencies in TSA programs for mass transportation and maritime environments are noted in some of the reports, the greatest concern comes from the failure...
Monday, February 11, 2013
Army Issues Formal Service Dog Policy, Keeps Ban on Dogs for PTSD
Army Directive 2013-01 (Guidance on the Acquisition and Use of Service Dogs by Soldiers), signed by John M. McHugh, Secretary of the Army, “sets forth policies and procedures for the acquisition and use of service dogs by wounded, ill and injured Soldiers with disabilities for whom a service dog is clinically indicated.” The Directive applies to all Soldiers “regardless of component or duty status.” The Directive defines a service dog as “a dog...
Friday, February 1, 2013
Canine Domestication May Have Begun 30,000 or More Years Ago
Canine domestication is only certain after the Last Glacial Maximum, though the increasing evidence of variant wolves living close to settlements of Eurasian hunter-gatherers in the Upper Paleolithic argues that it may have already begun 30,000 or more years ago. This proximity of species may have led to the sort of self-domestication described by the Coppingers (2001), though the size of the game may suggest that the wolves were initially...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
