Dogs at work

'Toy poodle service dog!' spluttered TLOML. (At least as far as you can splutter in a text.) 'Put that in your blog and smoke it'.

Allow me to explain.

In Britain, there are five main service sectors in which dogs find gainful employment:

1. Guide Dogs for the Blind - self explanatory, this one
2. Hearing Dogs for the Deaf - pretty much does what it says on the tin
3. Sheepdogs - used to round up sheep and perform in sheepdog trials
4. Police Dogs - used to scare May Day protestors, sniff out drugs, and bite the arm of their handler in a display session
5. Guard Dogs - loud barking dogs that look like they might bite. The reason the postman puts all your post in next door's letter box. Prominently featured on gate signs.

Guide dog

Sheep dog

Police dog

In America, Service Dogs  also exist and find employment in those sectors. Good, hard working American dogs.

There's another working dog sector which gets TLOML all foamy at the mouth: service dogs for the depressed, sad, lonely, or just a bit gloomy-feeling.

If you can get a doctor who will sign off the fact that the treatment for your depression is a chiuaua you carry in your handbag, said chiuaua can live with you in an animal free building, and travel with you unleashed on a flight (while all the non-working dogs stay in cages in the hold).

Now I don't mean to sound unsympathetic. Depression is a serious, debilitating condition. A good companion antidepressant dog must be a real blessing for sufferers.

But a yappy little toy dog, with barely room in its skull for a single brain cell? Really?!

Unlikely service dog

You couldn't get away with it on the NHS. Just sayin'...