Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Liz Palika, CPDT, CABC, has been working with animals her whole life. She writes books and magazine articles about dogs, cats, and reptiles. She trains dogs in obedience, agility, herding, and other dog sports. And she works with dogs, cats, and horses in volunteer therapy work. Liz and her husband, Paul, share their home with three Australian Shepherds—Riker, Bashir, and Archer—and three cats—Xena, Pumpkin, and Squash. They also participated in reptile rescue for many years, and have a 25-year-old leopard tortoise named Pearl and several other reptiles.

Katherine Miller, PhD, CAAB, CPDT, is the assistant science advisor at the ASPCA and is a certifi ed applied animal behaviorist and a certifi ed pet dog trainer. Her love of animals began at around 6 years of age. Since then she has lived happily together with a variety of animal companions, including dogs, cats, hamsters, birds, mice, a rat, a rabbit, a hermit crab, and fish. Kat also has a strong interest in poultry. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband, Josh, cats named Grover and Ivy, and a newly adopted dog named Stella.

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Animals work hard to make ourworld a better place!

Animals are so much more than companions they make amazing contributions to the planet and to the human race. Here, you′ll learn about the dogs who are lending a paw to protect livestock, guide people who can′t see, pull sleds and wagons, and so much more. You′ll also get the scoop on the jobs other animals do, like horses who serve in the military and law enforcement, and even cats who control vermin and provide therapy to the sick and the elderly.

Loaded with lots of color photos and friendly information you can trust, the ASPCA® Kids books were written by animal lovers for animal lovers just like you.

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Animals at Work

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

People and animals first became friends more than 12,000 years ago. Those animals were wolves, and they started hanging around where the people were because people had food. After a while, people got used to the wolves being nearby and picking up their garbage. The wolves who were not afraid of people came the closest and therefore got the best free meals. Since they were the best fed, they were able to have the most babies. They also taught their cubs not to be afraid of people.

Perhaps someone found a wolf cub and raised him the way we raise puppies today. When that wolf grew up, he decided to stay close to the people and may even have helped them hunt. Eventually a friendship grew, and companionship with people became just as important as food to these animals.

Dogs today are very different from those wolves, but they are still our first animal friends. They are also valuable working partners and do many different jobs.

Herding Farm Animals

Jake is a handsome black and white Border Collie. This breed is best known for its skills in herding sheep, but Jake is different. He herds geese. (Herding means helping to gather and move animals where the farmer wishes them to go.) Geese can be difficult because they are big, and they will peck at and bite dogs. Geese don't have teeth, but they pinch quite hard when they bite. Dogs who herd geese need to be quick to move out of the way when the geese are upset.

Jake's job is to take the geese out of the pen where they spend the night and gently herd them to the grass pasture where they spend their days. Then, in the evening, Jake needs to move them back from the pasture to their pen.

When the geese want to go to their pen, his job is easy. But the geese don't always want to go, and then Jake's job is difficult. He has to run in a circle around all the geese, gathering them together, and then walk behind them. The geese move away from Jake, so when he walks behind them, they move in the direction he wants them to go. Without Jake, the farmer would have to do this all by himself, and the job would be much harder.

Dogs have been herding livestock (farm animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, geese, and ducks) for as long as farmers have kept animals. The dogs may work as Jake does and move the animals from one place to another. They may also gather the animals all together. This is important when the farmer needs to milk the cows or care for the livestock.

When Jake isn't busy herding geese, he plays with the family kids or sleeps in the house. He's a working dog, but he's also a member of the family.

The breeds of dogs used most often today to herd farm animals include Border Collies like Jake, English Shepherds, Australian Shepherds, Australian Cattle Dogs, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Bearded Collies.

The word breed is used to describe dogs (and other animals) who share similar body types and other characteristics. Dogs of a certain breed also have certain working instincts. Australian Cattle Dogs, for example, were bred to help cattle farmers in Australia herd their cattle. Shetland Sheepdogs are small and were bred to herd small sheep on the Shetland Islands in Great Britain.

Protecting Livestock

Predators (animals-wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions, for example-who eat other animals) often try to kill farm animals because they are easier to catch than wild animals such as deer or rabbits. Farmers want to keep predators away from their livestock so they often have dogs known as livestock guardian dogs. These dogs are big-sometimes bigger than the predators-and they protect the livestock from attacks.

Benjamin is a 120-pound Great Pyrenees dog. He is white with cream-color ears, and he has a thick, rough coat. When he was 12 weeks old, the farmer he lives with introduced him to two baby lambs. Ben and the lambs sniffed each other, chased each other back and forth, and then took a nap together. The puppy spent a part of each day with the lambs, getting to know them and beginning to think of them as part of his pack, or family. Dogs are naturally protective of their pack, and Ben was learning that sheep also should be protected.

As he grew up, Ben began spending the night with the flock of sheep. He learned his job by following his mother, Jessie, as she walked around the flock paying attention to the smells and sounds around her, looking for any signs of predators. During the day, Ben and Jessie spend their time with the farmer keeping him company or inside the house with the rest of the family. But each night, Ben is back at work, making sure the sheep are safe from predators.

Barking to Warn Us

Does your dog bark when people knock on your door or ring your doorbell? Most dogs do. One of the first jobs dogs did for people was barking to tell us that other people were approaching.

Dogs who bark when strangers approach are often called watchdogs or alarm dogs. This is because they watch for people and let their families know someone is approaching. For this job, the size of the dog isn't important. Although most people think that large dogs, such as German Shepherds, are the best watchdogs, even small dogs can bark enough to get their family's attention. In fact, many small dogs are more likely to bark than big dogs and so make much better "doorbell dogs"!

Cosmo is a Shih Tzu, a small, fluffy breed of dog. He weighs only 12 pounds, but he has a loud bark. He likes people and is very friendly, but people who come to his family's house may not know that. His barking makes sure they won't enter the house or yard until his human mom, Joanne, gives them permission.

Cosmo is a doorbell dog. He's Joanne's pet. But some dogs work as professional guard dogs protecting property when people aren't around. These dogs are more like employees than pets. The dogs stay in the building or in the business yard, often after it is closed for the day, and bark when anyone approaches. Guard dogs may be trained to bite anyone who breaks in. These dogs are not mean, though. They are valued employees who must be treated with respect, given comfortable quarters and companionship, and rewarded for the hard work that they do.

Finding People Who Are Lost

A dog's nose is much more sensitive than a person's nose. If you sniff a salt shaker, you won't smell anything at all because to us salt has no scent. But dogs can smell salt. In fact, their ability to identify scents is so good that they can even smell salt that has been added to water. This sense of smell makes dogs very good at search-and-rescue work. These dogs search for lost people by using their ability to smell where the people have been. Then the dog's handler (the person who trains the dog and then works with him) calls for help to rescue the lost person.

Michi (pronounced MEE-chee), a big tan and black German Shepherd, is an air-scenting search-and-rescue dog. That means he follows scents that are floating in the air. Scents are created by your body, small pieces of skin (called dander) that fall off, tiny bits of fabric from your clothes, and even the smell of the food you have eaten. All these smells become your own personal scent.

Other breeds, especially Bloodhounds, are trailing or tracking dogs. They follow scents on the ground. When people walk over grass, they drop bits of their personal scent. The grass is also bent and broken and produces its own scents. A...