If They Can't See Me, They Still Might Hear Me: Dogs Think About Sound When Stealing Treats (or Chasing Suspects?)

Canine sensitivity to human social and communicative cues has been the subject of significant research in a number of labs for several decades. Research has also looked at whether dogs are concerned with our attentional states, e.g., whether their behavior changes when we’re looking at them. If a dog is told not to eat a piece of food on the floor, the dog is more likely to obey if the human giving the command is watching the dog (and more likely...

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Guide Dog in Pompeian Fresco?

Perhaps the oldest depiction of a dog that might have been functioning as a guide dog is in a fresco from Pompeii (Plate 78. p. 140, Maiuri, A., Roman Painting, Milan, Skira Publishing, 1953). Unfortunately, the fresco is in very poor condition, which probably explains why it is more often referred to than reproduced. (See Fishman, G.A., When Your Eyes Have a Wet Nose: the Evolution of the Use of Guide Dogs and Establishing the Seeing Eye. Survey...

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IRS Affirms Deductibility of Psychiatric Service Animals - Comment with Three Addenda (So Far)

An Information Letter issued by the IRS to Representative John Tanner (Dem.-Tenn.) states: “The costs of buying, training, and maintaining a service animal to assist an individual with mental disabilities may qualify as medical care if the taxpayer can establish that the taxpayer is using the service animal primarily for medical care to alleviate a mental defect or illness and that the taxpayer would not have paid the expenses but for the disease or illness.” Letter of George Blaine, Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting) to Representative...

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Cancer Sniffers Perform Better with Some Cancers than Others, but Testing Parameters Need More Standardization

Two scientists, one from the New College of Florida and one from the Pine Street Foundation in San Anselmo, reviewed the current state of canine cancer detection research, finding 531 potentially relevant articles, but focusing their analysis on five articles and one unpublished manuscript. The studies looked at canine detection of the following cancers: 1. Bladder cancer detection from smelling urine of patients, with 41% success rate (compared with 14% expected by chance).1 2. Melanoma detection by smelling lesions on patients, with a success...

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Cruise Lines Must Accommodate Service Animals but Department of Transportation Seeks Comment on Emotional Support Animals (with Air Carrier Addendum)

The Department of Transportation has issued final rules on transportation for individuals with disabilities traveling on passenger vessels.[1] The rules are effective November 3, 2010. Comments are sought by October 4. In 1991, the Department of Transportation stated that the Americans with Disabilities Act covered passenger vessels, including cruise ships, but noted that cruise ships are a unique mode of transportation, consisting of “self-contained floating communities.” The Department described cruise ships as something of a hybrid between...

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Can a Macaque Be a Psychiatric Service Animal?

A recent case from a federal district court in Missouri highlights some of the issues that users of psychiatric service animals face in establishing their access rights. In the interest of full disclosure, I am on the advisory board of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, though the opinions I express here have not been approved by the Society and are not an attempt to reflect the Society's positions on any subject. The plaintiff, Debby Rose, sued Wal-Mart, an educational institution where she was taking classes (Cox Health Systems), and the county...

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