"Dogs at Work"

Dogs and humans share a special bond.

The U.S. Postal Service celebrates the enduring partnership between dogs and people with the Dogs at Work issuance. This set of four stamps depicts four hard-working canines: a guide dog assisting a woman who is blind, a tracking dog on the trail of a scent, a therapy dog visiting an elderly woman in her home, and a search and rescue dog standing in a field, ready to tackle the next assignment.

Artist John M. Thompson created original paintings for the stamps, which were designed by art director Howard E. Paine.

Dogs today excel at a variety of jobs. Currently, some 10,000 guide dogs in the U.S. and Canada serve as an extra set of eyes for people who are blind. Therapy dogs, chosen for their friendly dispositions, bring comfort and joy to the elderly and the ill. Dogs that work with police and military personnel are trained to detect drugs, guns, and explosives. Search and rescue dogs speed up search efforts, increasing the odds of survival for disaster victims.

Therapy Dog

I came across a book, Moments with Baxter by Melissa Joseph, which definitely pulls at your heart strings.

Baxter was a Therapy Dog at the San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine. Baxter helped hundreds of patients ease out of their lives with dignity and peace.

Melissa rescued Baxter when he was two years old. Her rehabilitation technique was to take Baxter everywhere with her which eventually lead to joining her as a hospice volunteer.

Melissa and Baxter
The book is a collection of 36 touching, true stories between Baxter and the hospice patients and their families and friends to whom he brought comfort and love. According to Melissa, Baxter had a calmness and a resolve about him, and an intuitiveness that would take the most intensely negative situation and literally turn it into complete serenity.

Watch a video about this very special dog at nineteen still helping others.