Pets do have an impact on PTSD related stress! (Many Psych articles and also first hand knowledge.) Many pets are able to calm a person into returning back to their frontal lobe during panic attacks, as opposed to being in fight or flight "lizard brain". There is less attachment for pets to our emotionality, so they seem unaffected by us. We perceive this as unconditional love and respond with happy thoughts. (To put it simply)

:-)

I think it has something to do with dogs being unclean in the Islamic religion. I remember a story where a kid, here in the U.S., brought a dog to school for show-and-tell. The Islamic students used a sheet of paper to protect their hands from the dog but still allowed the kids to pet it.

Yes, when I took Arabic in college our professor told us that Muslim scholars have found that (and I'm quoting him from memory here, but he said this more or less) even if you wash a plate 6 times w/ sand you still cannot get the germs off from a dog. So they don't see them as house pets. Now the misconception is that they hate dogs. They don't hate dogs, they just don't interact w/ dogs like we do in America. They have no problem w/ working dogs for things like herding or policing. What they find weird is when we Americans do stuff like cuddle w/ our dogs and feed our dogs off our plates and let our dogs sleep in our beds and all that stuff. And also it depends on the region of the Middle East you're in. Places like Dubai are far more Western in their approach to dogs than places like Iraq (where my professor was from).

well, one article i just read mentions a relation between the Dog and Satan, but as a starting point for maybe further reading, Wikipedia has a section on it under Islam and Animals, and a separate, stubby entry on just dogs. they seem to be duplicates, but the second one does cover the issue of guide dogs.

Interesting piece in Wikipedia, Tomm - as well as somewhat schizophrenic. Islamic thought seems to consider dogs both as ritually unclean and as embodiments of self-sacrificing virtue. I am somewhat more informed than earlier, but no less confused.

My own mother disliked our cuddling and kissing dogs (nobody ever accused her of Islamic thought, I guarrantee it!) but that was because she was afraid we might be bitten in the face. Now that I'm a grownup, I understand her point of view and behave more carefully with unfamiliar dogs.

I have met many dogs in my lifetime whose company I prefer to many of the people I know: they are more intelligent, less noisy and smell better!

Well it's a rather Western thing to love your animals as pets. Most Eastern cultures don't have the same type of attachment to their animals as we do, although that's not specific to every Eastern culture (just to be fair here). I wanted to say they look at dogs similarly to how we look at pigs, but I know people who love their pigs. Was going to say then they look at them like we do cows, but my grandma was a rancher and she loved all of her cows and kept several as pets. Then was going to say horses, then chickens, lol you see the problem? It's just a very different way of viewing animals. We here in the US, of course, have a lot of problems interacting w/ one another. I read an article in People magazine a long time ago about how the attachment to pets we have here in the US might actually be a very bad thing for us because we're more attached to them than we are people. I know for several periods in my life the only friend I had was a dog or a cat. Maybe that's not such a good thing. FTR I realize I'm coming across as condescending and I don't mean to be. Every culture has their own unique way of looking at the world and I am just trying to describe it from my understanding (I could always be wrong, of course).

MM: our attitudes toward our non-human companions are interesting, aren't they? Up at the beginning of the comments, our Cora asked about therapy animals for PTSD sufferers and it turns out that dogs are helpful in that role also - although I'm betting that one's cultural background has a great deal to do with the success of therapy.

Critters of all kinds seem to know that I'm a "good" human. Horses, dogs, cats - even farm animals that you wouldn't normally think would register sympathies - all seem to trust me. I didn't try to be this way but once I realized I possessed the gift, I learned more about approaching and handling unfamiliar animals safely. I work with rescue Boxers and have adopted 4 in the past 10 years. 3 of them needed serious rehab and retraining; all of them became sweethearts once they learned to trust humans again.

They also use dogs to rehabilitate criminals. It's one of only a handful of programs that has actually worked to break the revolving door system of crime. Sadly only a handful of prisons nationally participate in dog therapy programs and even the ones that do only allow certain inmates to participate. It's very interesting, isn't it? I'd imagine that if you went to Afghanistan or Iraq you wouldn't see the Afghanis or Iraqis cuddling w/ their work dogs. However I bet our Marines, soldiers, airmen, and sailors do (like they are in the picture). In fact I bet just having the dog there as a companion makes fighting in war a whole lot more sustainable for our men and women.

MM: Carolina Canines is one of the great organizations of the world. They provide service dogs for returning veterans and train therapy dogs, as well as foster rescue dogs with some local prisoners in a special care program. Read here about their successes and offerings: http://www.carolinacanines.org/

ooo thank you for sharing *reading now*

Miss C

I love organizations such as this. I have a friend who trains service/therapy dogs. Thank you for posting this.

all day long getting to play w/ S.E.A.L.s? =)

... oh. :|

LOL no no not those seals...although that is where the Navy SEAL training center is (one portion of it, anywho).

I highly doubt you're going to find a dog that "enjoys" parachuting.

Looks like they are jumping off the back of a boat into the water yes?

No. They are jumping out of a C series aircraft into water. They are in the sky. No open chute means they are doing a HALO practice jump, if I had to guess.

found it

a U.S. soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group and his dog leap off the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during water training over the Gulf of Mexico as part of exercise Emerald Warrior on March 1.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/04/war_dog?page=0,0

So that is a canine life jacket?

Oh so it's whatever they call it when they jump in w/o a chute. Was gonna say repel, but that is using a rope. I don't remember what they call a straight jump. That means they aren't at high altitude. That would make more sense (if I had thought before I commented I would've realized that the water is creating a wake *facepalm*) Lol. So yeah they are jumping right into the water and then I would assume that's what the thing on the dog's back is. I assumed- in my above post I mean- that it was the parachute, but yeah it's probably a lifevest

I've never heard of a parachute jump by an animal...does that happen?

Well that's what was in the other picture. You see how he has an oxygen mask on? The dog (it's kind've hard to tell from the photo because it's head is turned, but the brown thing over it's mouth) also has an oxygen mask and the soldier is holding on to the dog while they jump. That's a HAHO jump (high altitude, high open). That type of jump- the one where you have to wear an oxygen mask- is taken at like I think 30+ thousand feet in the air. You literally will pass out if you don't have the oxygen mask on, you can also pop blood vessels and everything else. A HAHO is the type of jump you think of when you think of sky-diving. Apologies here because I got the two mixed up. A HALO is the one where the chute opens as you're leaving the aircraft. A HAHO is the one where you deploy the chute at a later time. They also do that w/ LALO jumps I believe too, which is where I was getting confused (was confusing HALO and LALO).

In this photo, I am pretty sure that is a muzzle cage over the dog's nose....I'd like to see the other photo...got link?

I've actually jumped out of a perfectly good flying aircraft at four thousand feet to get over my fear of heights...was fun ... once. :) Was what they called a static jump in that I did not pull the cord... the jump master did...but it was solo...not tandem where we did a free fall.

No no referring to the second photo; click the slideshow link TRMS provided. There is a NEXT button below the description. It's the second photo that shows up.

Maggie, I did the same as you years ago, to get over my fear of heights. Also did the hang glider thing. Do you know what I learned? That I have amazing amounts of trust in parachutes, planes, gliders and the like. It's the tall buildings and mountains that I don't trust! Skydiving and hang gliding were absolutely wonderful, and I would love to do them again, (but my wife, being much wiser than me, has forbidden it).

On that second photo....WOW...amazing

Uffy...no desire to do it again...but it did resolve my fear of heights. I did that before I had my kids...so...now...ugggh...I didn't have a great landing...chute dumped sideways on a thermal updraft thingy....not cool.

My boss went skydiving with me....and broke his ankle in the process, which required me to take over most of his work while he recovered. With the hang glider, I had a bit of a crash on one of my flights, (got a bit confused on the concept of turning), but since I just plowed into one of the dunes at Kitty Hawk, there was no significant damage to me or the glider. I got scraped up a bit, and the hang glider got bent up a bit. I put some bandaids on, and then I helped unbend the glider. Not exactly a day to make the Wright Brothers proud, but I sure loved it.

Can you imagine trying to get a cat to jump off an airplane into water? LMAO!!!

...While giving said cat a pill?! :-D

It'd be a catastrophe!

Now you're just gettin' silly...

Very nice, thanks Tomm.

Not really, huffpo got that titanium teeth thing from an article in "the daily", but as a dog owner, I can tell you it doesn't pass the "smell check" (pun intended)...

Check out wired: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/no-navy-seal-dogs-dont-have-titanium-teeth/

And K9 magazine: http://www.k9magazinefree.com/k9_perspective/iss14p19.shtml

American Veterinary Dental Society: http://www.avds-online.org/info/crowntherapy.html

So the SEALs might cap damaged teeth of their K9s but they certainly aren't replacing their teeth entirely (which isn't physically possible).

If something that can't pull the cord is being released from the plane they usually do so by an automatic open (where the chute opens up as the item (or in this case the doggie) is leaving the plane). In the first picture they are doing a free fall jump, so in all likelihood they aren't that high above the water. In other instances (such as in the second photo) it appears the SEAL or whomever carries the dog w/ him while jumping. I gotta imagine the dog doesn't enjoy it that much though lol. I remember trying to get mine into a boat just sos we could go fishing. He was not down w/ the boat not staying still lol.

Mickey

But would wouldn't it be for the dog jumping be like the ultimate head out of the window of the car while it's moving? I think a dog may enjoy that very much!

Most dogs are afraid of heights. Have you ever put a dog on a glass floor (so he could see through to the bottom)? 9:10 he's going to freak on the floor. Something about how unnatural it is I guess? Remember it's not like their brain was wired to do this stuff- we as humans are taking advantage of their naturally evolved state, but they aren't necessarily psychologically prepped for this stuff. Did you see the episode of the Dog Whisperer w/ Gavin the ATF k9? I have to imagine these dogs suffer similar experiences. Not saying that it's immoral to use them (please no one misconstrue my argument), but rather that even dogs aren't immune to shock. BUT I could get wrong. I have never had the personal pleasure of working w/ hero dogs. I'd LOVE to (wouldn't everyone?). So maybe you're right. Maybe he jumps and is like "weee!"