Humans are indebted to dogs. We train them to do many of the jobs we find difficult or impossible. They save our lives, uphold the law, protect our borders, find our missing, comfort our sick and elderly, see and hear for us, watch over our families, move our stock, entertain us and keep us warm – all for a food treat, the tug of a toy and a pat at the end of the day. In Dogs in Action: Working Dogs and Their Stories, Maria Alomajan shows that dogs should be revered for their remarkable achievements in improving human life. She tells the stories of a great variety of dogs, from their initial selection for work to their training, work experiences and relationships with their handlers and masters.
Each story is fleshed out with colourful and sometimes surprising anecdotes based on her interviews with the owners of the animals. From tracking poachers across the great African reserves to digging for avalanche survivors on the snow-covered slopes of Switzerland; from finding endangered whale excrement in the North Atlantic to locating lost families in the South Pacific; from leading the blind in Australia to assisting with scientific research in Thailand; from detecting hidden explosives in war-torn Afghanistan to comforting the elderly in New Zealand, the dogs in Dogs in Action: Working Dogs and Their Stories will both impress and amaze you.
Maria Alomajan is a freelance writer based in Auckland, New Zealand, having previously lived in England, Australia and the USA. She is passionate about animals and their welfare, and when she can, she shares her time with as many dogs as possible through rescue work, rehabilitation and training. Her own dogs appear in this book.