Spotlight on Assistance Dogs

Presented by Devon from Canada

Airs The 3rd Friday of the month at 17:30 UTC, repeated Saturday at 06:30 UTC and Monday at 16:30 UTC

Join Devon for a busy half-hour of articles and music about assistance dogs.

Recent Shows

March 2024

For this month’s edition of Spotlight on Assistance Dogs, we reach back almost five years to April 19, 2019. Back then, there was an event in Charleston, South Carolina called Top Dogs. One of the panel discussions that weekend was about various types of service dogs.

February 2024

February is Pet Dental Month. In honour of that, and as a good reminder of how we should be looking after the oral health of our guide and service dogs, we revisit a lecture by Dr. Jordan Ford that we first heard in 2022.

January 2024

If you’re a fan of old-time radio, you’ll know that every once in a while, you run into an episode of a program about guide dogs. Unfortunately, the concept of service dogs hadn’t been thought of back then. This month, we revisit an episode of Tales of The Texas Rangers from many moons ago called Blind Justice.

December 2023

Festive music, stories, and poetry about dogs always brings smiles to listeners’ faces, and this half-hour return to December, 2021 all about guide and service dogs is no exception. We do hope you can take the time to add some furry joy to your Christmas season.

November 2023

This month, we revisit a show from August of 2022, in which we learn about the Prison Pup Program at Leader Dog for The Blind in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

October 2023

Early in 2022, the Canadian National Institute for The Blind received a grant from Accessible Standards Canada to fund research into the barriers that people with guide dogs face on a daily basis. I spoke with Peter Field from his home in Victoria, British Columbia about what the research has revealed thus far.

September 2023

This month, we hear part one of a presentation delivered at this past June’s Annual General Meeting of Guide Dog Users of Canada. The presentation is entitled Your Guide Dog’s Health Care. It was presented by Lisa Cooper, a veterinary technician with CNIB Guide Dogs in Canada.

August 2023

This month, we dig back into the archives for an interview we did back in March, 2019 with Keith McGregor, director of the program for Deafblind clients at Leader Dogs for The Blind in Rawchester Hills, Michigan.

July 2023

This month, we speak with Scott Rees from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. On July 23, weather permitting, he will undertake to do a 30-kilometre swim of Georgia Strait from Vancouver to Nanaimo, BC. The reason for the swim is to raise funds for Canadian Guide Dogs for The Blind in Manotick, Ontario, located 20 miles south of Ottawa.

June 2023

Early Summer is always convention season, especially in the world of guide dogs in the United States. Devon from Canada speaks with Penny Reeder, past president of Guide Dog Users Incorporated, and Maria Hansen, First Vice President of GDUI and Convention Program Co-ordinator about the speakers who will be presenting at the convention that will take place just outside of Chicago later in June and in early July.

May 2023

This month is a repeat of Spotlight from September 2020. A lady named Katie Mertens is the last speaker to address the annual convention of Guide Dog Users of Canada that year. She’s reflecting on the massaging she did on dogs during the most recent Iditarod.

April 2023

When Devon needed training with her fifth guide dog, Canadian Guide Dogs for The Blind sent Nadja, who travelled from Germany to Canada on a 3-year working visa. Devon seized the opportunity to discuss the differences and similarities of training techniques between the two countries.

March 2023

The International Association of Assistance Dog Partners—IAADP is now sporting a brand spanking new website. This month, We're re-airing this episode which first aired in September 2022, in which I speak with IAADP’s treasurer and webmaster, Megan Kennedy about what you can expect to find on the new site.

February 2023

January 2023


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