They’re normally used to support people with disabilities, but assistance dogs will be helping their fellow furry friends in need this weekend.
Eleven dogs-in-training will give blood to benefit other canines undergoing surgery or who require treatment for trauma or disease.
The service pups and their foster families will be at NAIT’s animal blood clinic this Sat., June 22.
The institute is a collection site for the main Canadian Animal Blood Bank in Winnipeg. NAIT has been collecting donations from eligible dogs since 2002, but this is the first time these service dogs will donate.
"The demand for blood is higher than the supply," said Dr. Elaine Degrandpre, senior veterinary medical officer at NAIT. "It always surprises me how many people don’t know why dogs would need a blood transfusion."
The service dogs donating this weekend are part of the non-profit society Dogs with Wings, which pairs the animals with people needing assistance.
“We didn’t know the dog blood bank existed. We saw a story on the news last year,” said Dogs with Wings executive director Doreen Slessor. “We thought, ‘How do we get involved?’”
The local chapter of the society reached out to NAIT.
“We have the best dogs, smart, healthy, why wouldn’t they donate?” said Slessor.
Dogs with Wings only accepts Labrador retrievers in its program.
It has a total of 130 dogs placed with clients. This year 50 new dogs are in training.
Slessor said she hopes if everything works well this weekend, more service dogs could donate blood annually.
“We could even help one of our own,” she added.
This Saturday’s event is separate from the clinics NAIT holds for the public where non-service dogs can donate blood. The next regular clinic is Aug. 24.
There are some restrictions on eligibility on which dogs can donate. For more information, go to NAIT’s website.
