Below is an example of creative nonfiction I did for my journalism class my senior year. 

The unexpected help

I had seen that stare hundreds of times, the blank gaze like she had no idea what was happening, she was having a seizer. She begins to lose her balance so I walk behind her to steady her. After I set her down I began the process I do so many times. I started with getting her water and medicine, ready to answer the 101 questions of “where am I?”, “who are you?”, “Who am I?” But this time when I walked back into the living room he was on her lap making sure she didn’t move and calmed down. She is my mom and he is our 7 month old boxer, Tucker. For the last two years my mom has been battling every day with a brain tumor. This past winter she finally had surgery and while she stayed home for four months, it was just her and Tucker. Every day he stayed with her, he would walk her down the stairs and would stand behind her when she got into bed for balance. This sparked the question to me “Do dogs understand human emotions and have a relationship with humans?”

In today’s society you can have a service dog for almost anything, from being blind to just being emotionally unstable. Some people have said that dogs are not capable of understanding human emotions and cannot register them unless they have been properly trained like service dogs. Training to be a service dogs takes from anywhere from 18 to 24 months. They focus on three basic areas of training: manners, obedience, and task training. A service dogs commands are very different from a regular trained dogs commands. While a dog is given the command to sit and will be rewarded afterwards a service dog may be asked to hold a sit position for sometimes four hours. They do this to teach discipline to the dogs and to not expect a treat in return, this is a job. 

I asked some of my friends if they thought everyday dogs understood emotions without the training of service dogs. Hannah Scott said “To an extent. I mean if I fell and hurt myself my dog would have no idea what to do. She probably wouldn’t even notice.” Others said they do believe dogs understand emotion and can tell when you are upset or happy and react to that. Emma Kleymeyer described a time her dog saw her crying in her room and slowly walked up to her and just sat next to her. Though this is not the same instincts a service dog would have in that moment it did prove a point, dogs may understand basic emotions from humans. 

Even though every dog may not be able to hold the sitting position for  hours at a time and lead the blind, I believe they do have an understanding of human emotions. They show us love and protection when we need it most. Tucker may run from birds in the yard, but he knows when my mom is having a seizer or just needs him there. Dogs are the unexpected help in today’s society and people are slowly realizing it.