Many dogs can be trained to sniff out particular items, such as bombs, missing people, arson offenders, drugs, mould and even bedbugs! Radar, an Australian shepherd, works at Magical Pest Control, where he is hired by real estate buyers and business owners alike to detect the creepy crawlers. In fact, Radar can detect bedbugs at close to 100% accuracy!

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If you have a dog who likes obedience training, he/she could be destined for the the big screen! Doggy actors need to behave and remain focused despite lots of distractions. Igor is a pug and most recently lent his talents to the film Life Doesn't Frighten Me alongside the legendary Gordon Pinsent. But that's not all: Igor is also a literacy dog and welcomes children to read to him!

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From guiding their handlers through their daily lives to getting them help when it's needed most, dog guides arguably have the most important job of all: helping people with disabilities. These canine caretakers provide specialized assistance in a variety of roles—from canine vision dog or hearing ear dog, to seizure-response dog or special-skills dog.

Crosby is a Dog Guides employee. As a special-skills dog, he works with people who have medical and physical disabilities. It takes $20,000 to train a service dog, and they are offered to the deserving public at no cost. If you'd like to help raise funds for this worthy organization, please consider joining a Purina Walk in a city near you.

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Julia Hammond practices veterinarian medicine in Toronto, splitting her time between the Birchmount Clinic and Greenwood Park Animal Hospital.