Classes help disabled train dogs

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.19.2006

Everyone needs a little help now and then.

Handi-Dogs Inc. offers classes that are designed to help people with a wide range of physical disabilities and/or hearing impairments train their dogs to assist them in their daily activities.

Registration for winter classes is now open. All levels of training are offered. Dogs of all breeds are welcome.

Winter classes will be held at the Alamo Reaves Service Dog Training Center, 75 S. Montego Drive, beginning Jan. 8; and at the Marana Senior Center, 13250 N. Lon Adams Road, beginning Jan. 9. Call 326-3412 for times and registration information.

Scent rolling

Q: I have four dogs, and every time they go outside, they look for particular spots in the yard and throw themselves on their backs and start rolling around for several minutes at a time. When one dog finishes rolling around in the spot the next dog will walk over and do the exact same thing in the exact same spot. Do you have any idea what they're doing? — C.J., Akron, Ohio

A: If your dogs were hunters in yesteryear, the scout would travel ahead of the pack, discover a herd of bison, roll in their poop and return with the news all over them, said Marilyn McCort, a veterinarian with Sigler Animal Hospital. "Hello, there's a bison herd ahead." These days it's more about ecstasy, the joy of the sniff.

It's called scent rolling. "Dogs will roll in anything that stinks," she said. "One of my dogs (Fireplug) pulled cat poop out of the litter box, dropped it on the floor in the living room in front of the TV and rolled in it."

To each his own tune.

Pet shorts

– Sherri Lacy-Miles – Akron Beacon Journal