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Program offers four-legged help to farmers with disabilities.

Mindy Ward, Editor, Missouri Ruralist

September 7, 2019

2 Min Read
: It is all about service dogs at the PHARM Dog booth at HHD
DOG DAYS: It is all about service dogs at the PHARM Dog booth at HHD. See what they can do for you or perhaps what you can do for them. The group is seeking funding for a training facility.

Dogs can help around the farm from herding to protecting. But for one group of farmers, these canine companions provide much more.

PHARM Dog began in 2005 to fill a need for farmers who have physical challenges. PHARM stands for Pets Helping Agriculture in Rural Missouri. Jackie Allenbrand, the organization’s founder, trains and places dogs with farmers for general assistance, such as carrying buckets, opening gates and picking up tools.

Dogs like Zip are a help to owner Bob Karbinas of Missouri. Karbinas was caught up in a PTO 30 years ago. Daily tasks on the farm are cumbersome, so last year Karbinas received some four-legged help around his cow-calf operation.

While based in Missouri, this program reaches far beyond the state borders. Farmers like Troy Balderston of Beaver City, Neb., also received a PHARM dog.

“We try to travel to the farm and stay with the farmer so they’re comfortable with the dog and understand commands and can get the dogs used to cattle and their surroundings,” says Allenbrand, who will be at the PHARM dog booth in the Hospitality Tent at Husker Harvest Days.

Over the years, Allenbrand has seen a change in the requests. “Farmers have larger cattle herds,” she says. “They need more than one dog to help out.” So, she works to meet their needs.

The organization is funded entirely by small grants and private donations, which can be a challenge due to the high demand for service dogs that are comfortable and competent in a farm setting. It requires training for the dog and trainer.

This year PHARM Dog is raising funds to build a training facility to expand the program. An inside facility would provide the instruction both farmer and dog need to make the companionship work.

To enter the program, farmers apply at pharmdog.org. When the application goes through, the organization trains a dog, either a Border collie for herding or a Labrador for retrieval and mobility purposes, based on the applicant’s needs.

“Farmers can always stay in contact with us by email [[email protected]] or calling,” Allenbrand says. “We don’t want to leave a dog with somebody if they’re not comfortable with it.”

These dogs not only provide physical support, but also emotional support. Allenbrand says the dogs become family. The animal-human bond, she says, lets farmers become more comfortable with their disability. 

About the Author(s)

Mindy Ward

Editor, Missouri Ruralist

Mindy resides on a small farm just outside of Holstein, Mo, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis.

After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism, she worked briefly at a public relations firm in Kansas City. Her husband’s career led the couple north to Minnesota.

There, she reported on large-scale production of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and dairy, as well as, biofuels for The Land. After 10 years, the couple returned to Missouri and she began covering agriculture in the Show-Me State.

“In all my 15 years of writing about agriculture, I have found some of the most progressive thinkers are farmers,” she says. “They are constantly searching for ways to do more with less, improve their land and leave their legacy to the next generation.”

Mindy and her husband, Stacy, together with their daughters, Elisa and Cassidy, operate Showtime Farms in southern Warren County. The family spends a great deal of time caring for and showing Dorset, Oxford and crossbred sheep.

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