Saturday, September 04, 2010

...dogpaddling lifeguards









WOW! these are the most cool dogs ever! (click pic to enlarge) they jump out of coast guard helicopters and speeding boats and they help swimmers who get in trouble and could drown. they work with the coast guard in italy mostly at beaches. theyre called the corps of canine lifeguards and theyve got special training in saving swimmers.

lifedogs wear harnesses or tow boys and swimmers can grab onto them. sometimes they pull a raft to a swimmer so he could climb on and then they pull it back to the beach. the italian coast guard says theyve got hundreds of lifedogs working and every year the coast guard rescues at least 3,000 people and lots of them get saved by these neat dogs.

it takes three years to get a lifedog trained to be a really good life saver and right now theres 300 that are on duty. they get trained at the italian school of cainine lifeguards at a town outside rome. the school trains any breed but they gotta weigh up to at least 66 pounds. labradors, newfoundlands and golden retrievers are used the most because theyre water dogs and love swimming and retrieving.

lifedogs help the lifeguard to not get so tired in the water and get people to the shore a lot faster. theyre real smart and can go in the water and help a person and get him back to the shore all by themselves. they know how to chose the most safe place on the beach and how to swim through the most safe currents.

the dogs love their job and because of being natural retrievers they cant wait to get in the water and get a human and bring him back to the beach. for them saving lives isnt hard work its just a game and a really fun day at the beach.
x
hooray for lifedogs!

…smiles and hugs from lenny

34 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh. That is the coolest thing I've ever heard! I had no idea dogs could do this. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. That is amazing!! Its neat they can help this way. Animals can do so many great things!

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  3. Wow. I didn't know dogs could do that. Thanks, Lenny. :)

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  4. man! i've heard of all kinds of dog jobs, but this is a new one! that's wonderful!!! dogs are amazing!

    we had a housefire a little over a year ago, it was in my son's room. his dog woke him up, and pushed him out of the room, and saved his (and all the rest of our) lives!!! brownie is our hero!!

    dogs are AMAZING!!

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  5. Newfoundlands are amazing dogs! They also do rescues in avalanches...

    Nice paragraphs, Lenny! I can tell you are really "listening" as you are reading your book. :)

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  6. Wow, they are really cool. I love it when dogs have jobs and jobs that help people.

    miss clarissa

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  7. OH! I want one! ;-)

    Jobs who have animals helping them are my favorites. I would love to go to work everyday with my four-legged friend and make a difference in someone's life.

    ~JD

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  8. Hooray for LifeDogs indeed! :)
    Love this post.

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  9. I had no idea that dogs could be trained as lifeguards. How cool is that?!

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  10. I agree, hooray for life dogs! They're amazing. I have to show and read this post to my daughter when she returns home from school.

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  11. Yay for lifedogs! They're amazing!

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  12. Dogs are such intellegent creatures and sure do help the world out around here! Even in some of the most unexpecting places. I think it's amazing what they're capable of, I know there are plenty of seeing-eye dogs but this is news to me! Very cool Lenny, thanks for sharing!

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  13. Hi! I hopped over here from Sharon Mayhew's blog :) I haven't heard about lifedogs before; they're really awesome. I read a story the other day about a dog who saved a young boy from bees. Aren't dogs amazing?

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  14. I read that story about the dog saving the boy from bees, too. Animals are really amazing. I've never heard about dogs as lifesavers, before. You really share some fun stuff, Lenny.

    We had a little African Basenji that someone dumped off at our house an' she became part of our family. I think she even thought she was just a short person.


    ~ Yaya

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  15. Hey Lenny! I'm new here, but I've heard a lot about you and had to check you out. You have a really cool blog! I just loved the Lifedogs post. I had no idea that they could be lifeguards. I have to send this post to my sister in law. She just adores dogs and has two mini-pins.

    I look forward to reading more of your blog. Have a great week!

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  16. Don't we all wish we could have awesome jobs like these dogs, that we love and that help people? Thanks for sharing, Lenny! :)

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  17. Hey Lenny,
    Hooray for lifedogs! For sure. Wonderful post, Lenny. I love dogs and like all our friends in the animal world, they are precious and should be cherished. Have a wonderful week.
    Kind wishes and smiles, Gary :-)

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  18. Dogs are amazing animals. I enjoyed learning about the life dogs! Wow, 3 years of school, even. Thanks for sharing, :)

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  19. Such a great idea! I love dogs, they can do and be used for so many amazing things.

    Thanks for sharing, Lenny!

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  20. That is really cool! What amazing and brave dogs!

    I'll bet they don't use any German Shepherds. My German Shepherd hates to swim. She won't even get in our pool! Whoever heard of a dog that wouldn't get in a pool!

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  21. That is so cool Lenny! Dog really are so smart and brave.

    I just found your blog through a friend. It's so great to get to know you. =)

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  22. A friend of mine works with life saving dogs. Did you know that you can train dogs to recognize when someone with epilepsy is going to have a seizure. They can warn their owners before the attack ever starts.

    Dogs Rock!

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  23. Hi Lenny .. thanks for that info about the dog-savers .. aren't they amazing. Animals are so extraordinary .. they help us so much .. thanks for sharing .. lovely to be here .. Hilary

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  24. Hi Lenny,
    I've been sending lots of new friends your way...and lots of them are taking your pledge on my blog. :)

    Love,
    Lola

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  25. This is wonderful to read about dogs who help others. Obviously they love to swim! :)

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  26. That is so cool, Lenny! I've never heard of this before - thanks for letting us know about these awesome dogs. My Golden Retriever, Piper, is close to 80 pounds and she'd probably love this job!

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  27. Dogs are able to do so many things. I am always amazed when I learn of something else they can do. Thanks for such great information.

    Would you rather a different picture, Lenny?

    ~ Yaya

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  28. I always knew they were more than just man's best friend!

    Cinette
    http://cinettesmusings.blospot.com

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  29. I just showed this to my daughter. She's impressed.

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  30. Wow, how amazing Lenny, we really underestimate animals, and this shows just how special and brilliant they are!

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  31. Holy cow Lenny! These guys are so cool. My dog is a German Shepard, her name is Nesta, so she wouldn't be good at this because her instinct is not retrieving. She is really good at herding though, so she could probably save people from forest fires or something.

    Great post Lenny! Thanks for sharing!

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  32. Wow! This is very cool! I've heard of dogs being trained for all kinds of things, but never for life-guarding. I can see how they'd be very good at it, though. Now I want to write a book about this :)

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