Part XIII — Working, service, and sport dogs

13.1 Service dogs

• Guide dogs (blind assistance) — Golden Retriever, Labrador, German Shepherd, Labradoodle. India: Blind People's Association (Ahmedabad) trains and places.
• Hearing dogs — various breeds; alert to specific sounds.
• Medical alert dogs — trained to detect blood glucose changes, impending seizures, cardiac events.
• Mobility assistance dogs — Golden, Labrador, Standard Poodle. Support balance, retrieve items, open doors.
• Psychiatric service dogs — PTSD, anxiety disorders. Growing legitimate use, unfortunately also increasingly abused as 'emotional support' claims by owners who have not been assessed.

13.2 Therapy dogs (visiting)

• Therapy dogs are NOT service dogs — different legal status.
• Roles: hospital / hospice visits; school reading programmes; elderly-care visits.
• Certification via therapy-dog organisations; requires temperament testing.
• A growing programme in cities worldwide.

13.3 Police and military K9

• Indian Army — the Mudhol Hound (see II-A) has been the designated Indian Army breed since 2016; German Shepherd Dog and Belgian Malinois are widely used.
• Detection — narcotics, explosives, currency (Belgian Malinois predominant).
• Attack / protection — trained in protection sports first (Schutzhund / IPO / IGP); Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd.
• Search and rescue — Labrador, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois.

13.4 Detection dogs (specialised)

• Explosives detection — airport and law-enforcement use worldwide.
• Narcotics — border and customs agencies.
• Cadaver / human-remains detection — search-and-rescue after natural disasters.
• Wildlife conservation — trained dogs detect illegal ivory, pangolin scales, rhino horn at ports worldwide.
• Medical detection — cancer, diabetes hypoglycaemia, epilepsy onset; increasingly evidence-based.

13.5 Canine sport disciplines

• Agility — timed obstacle course. All breeds compete; Border Collie and Shetland Sheepdog dominate the top tiers.
• Obedience — precision-scored heel, stay, retrieve, etc.
• Rally obedience — course-based lower-formality obedience.
• Flyball — team relay over jumps.
• Dock diving — long jump into water.
• Herding trials — evaluates working ability; Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, Australian Cattle Dog dominate.
• Protection sports (Schutzhund / IPO / IGP) — tracking, obedience, protection. Predominantly Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Doberman.
• Lure coursing — sighthounds pursue a mechanical lure.
• Weight pulling — controlled pulling of weighted sled; Alaskan Malamute, American Pit Bull Terrier, Siberian Husky.
• Canicross — cross-country running with the dog.
• Bikejoring / scooter-joring — dog pulling human on bike / scooter.