By Jed Weisberger
IWDBA Communications
If you are a baseball fan, you have likely seen a Spring Training game or two of your favorite team televised. If you happen to be a part of a growing group of IWDBA fans, you likely have noticed the first of our “You Can Be Featured” stories on both our website and various Social Media pages.
Assembling our features lineup is quite similar to the teams in Florida or Arizona building theirs for Opening Day in a few weeks. We began with a strong leadoff performer in IWDBA member Dr. Lucia Lazarowski, an Assistant Research Professor, Canine Performance Sciences at Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Lazarowski spoke with us about her involvement working with a group that recently received a 5-year, $24 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to advance, according to a release, “detection canine sciences and enhance operational threat detection capabilities.”
The grant will support Auburn’s recently established Detection Science Innovation Technology (DCSITE) program, which, as explained by an Auburn news release, “will define and deploy science-based and science-driven standards of practice through comprehensive research and development efforts; foster technological innovation; sharpen responsiveness to emerging threats; develop and deliver formal educational programs; and provide a centralized hub for expertise and knowledge in the field.”
Needless to say, Dr. Lazarowski and her work at Auburn hit one out of the park. We have scheduled two other features in what will be a growing list that will help us build the lineup we are looking for.
Our next feature, which will be posted Tuesday, March 29, will center on IWDBA member Meghan Ramos VMD, a Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation resident at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia. Ramos, who spoke at IWDC 2021, spotlighting the “Dog Center Fit To Work” program she is involved in, will continue along that line in her feature article.
As we move into April, IWDBA member Brenda S. Kennedy DVM MS, who is the Director of Canine health and Research at Canine Companions, which provides service dogs to adults, children and veterans with disabilities and facility dogs to professionals working in healthcare, criminal justice and educational settings, will explain her work with Dr. Emily Bray, who studies how puppies’ earliest interaction can affect if that individual canine will have the temperament to be a service or working dog.
Brenda and Emily will be featured Tuesday, April 12.
We are in the process of arranging more features of your fellow IWDBA members, highlighting their special work with the dogs we love. These are 500-word, bi-weekly stories, and, if you would like to contribute to our strong lineup, contact our “dugout” at jed.weisberger@iwdba.org