P.H.A.R.M. dogs providing help to disabled farmers in Missouri

If you want proof that dogs are man’s best friend, meet Jackie Allenbrand’s Labrador retriever, “Odie,”

Odie has been trained to help disabled farmers under Allenband’s P.H.A.R.M. (Pets Helping Agriculture in Rural Missouri) program.

“We train dogs for persons who might have trouble doing their farm chores,” said Jackie, who lives near Carmack Junction in Gentry County.

P.H.A.R.M has placed some 15 border collies and labs with farmers in Missouri and Nebraska.

Odie came from a rescue situation but was a “pretty loving dog” from the start, Allenbrand told the Bethany Rotary Club last Thursday. The lab had been working with a farmer with a traumatic brain injury, but the farmer has been getting along so well that he decided to return Odie to Jackie to help someone more seriously in need. Now Odie mainly goes along with the P.H.A.R.M. director to demonstrate the program.

Alda Owen, a farm wife from DeKalb County who is partially blind, uses a border collie named “Sweet Baby Jo” who has made it possible for her to help her husband with cattle.

“She is my heart and soul,” Owen said in a recent interview with the Kansas City Star.

Allenbrand said the dogs are trained to respond to the individual needs of the farmer. One dog recently was trained to help a paralyzed Nebraska farmer to work with cattle.

The dog, Duke, quickly adapted to work on the farm. The farmer later called Duke his “ghost dog” because of his habit of disappearing at night when the chores had been completed.

“He is waiting by the pickup and ready to work when the farmer gets up in the morning,” Allenbrand said.

“Cattle respond to the dog better than him because he is sitting down low in a wheelchair,” the P.H.A.R.M. founder says.

The P.H.A.R.M. dogs usually have to spend some time with the cattle while the livestock gets used to the dogs.

“You want to work with each farmer’s individual needs,” she said. “Our main goal is for the dog to stay with the farmer so he can remain on the farm.”

Some dogs are trained as service dogs and others, mainly border collies, are used for herding livestock.

During Jackie’s program at the Rotary Club, she led Odie through a demonstration of his service skills. She commanded Odie to bring her a pair of pliers. She also had Odie retrieve a water bottle and a bucket. He performed his tasks perfectly.

A recent feature story in the Kansas City newspaper helped spread the word. There have been other stories in specialty farm publications.

“We are now starting to get some calls from the national media,” Allenbrand said.

For more information, contact Allenbrand at 660-235-0128 or visit her website at www.pharmdog.org.