I promise, this is the last post in our Canine Heroes Blog Tour. But before we get into the recap, I’d like to share a little of why I started this project.

As a teen living with severe, life-threatening food allergies, I know the impact that a service dog can have when someone is trying to live a normal life with that condition. As an aspiring service dog trainer, I want to specialize in allergen detection dogs.

But part of training these dogs is raising awareness. Allergen detection dogs are fairly new, and the concept is constantly growing and changing. But service dog handlers already face public access issues, and food allergies aren’t often viewed as an invisible disability – or a disability at all. (When someone’s life is put at risk by anaphylaxis or a person could experience crippling, dangerous illness as a result of Celiac, it’s a disability.)

That said, many business owners may not appreciate a dog being permitted to “scent search” food for allergens. A hotel manager may object to a dog scent searching rooms before a person can enter. But these are the requirements of an allergen detection dog, and only by raising awareness can we normalize their life-saving task – their incredible ability to smell – and the invisible disability that requires it.

A dog could search out bombs, drugs, drowning victims, or just gluten hidden in a salad – but they all save lives. And until there’s a cure, that’s good enough for me.

I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in and followed the blog tour!!! I couldn’t have asked for better Q&A’s or a better guest post to raise awareness for service and therapy dogs. You guys are awesome!

Q&A with SD trainer Alicia Picon
Q&A with therapy dog trainer Abby Rose
Q&A with therapy dog trainer Kassie Angle
GUEST POST with service dog trainer/handler Pearl Willis

Thank you for making this blog tour not just worth the effort, but a success.   😊😊 I’m still so excited for how it turned out!

Any thoughts on our next blog tour???  🤔