who rescued whom? words and pictures by Anna Cooke
“We had never trained a tripod to be a service dog,” said Mary Peter, CEO and founder of K9 Partners For Patriots. The Brooksville, Florida program is helping veterans win the war against suicide, depression and anxiety through the experience of training their own service dog. The dog Mary was referring to, a Jack Russell Terrier mix, had been pulled from a kill shelter by Spring Hill’s, Furever Friendz Rescue Inc. When volunteers picked him up, he was jaundiced with an infection in his right leg and parts of his right shoulder. He looked as if he’d been to hell and back. Once his caregivers nursed him back to health, including treating his infections, he was sched- uled for surgery to try and save his leg. During surgery, the doctor discovered that the injury to the dog’s leg was so severe, amputation would be the best solution. The happy little guy rehabbed really well, hardly noticing the
difference. Furever Friendz Rescue Inc. made him available for adoption.
INWAR, THERE ARE NO UNWOUNDED SOLDIERS. Every veteran has a story. Sometimes, it’s the wounds that are unseen that hurt the most. The conditions of Post Traumatic Stress Disease (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are often invisible to other service members, family and society. Each condi- tion affects mood, thoughts and behavior. Yet, these wounds often go unrecognized and unacknowledged. Roughly 20 veterans a day commit suicide nationwide, according to new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The problem is particularly worrisome among female veterans, who saw their suicide rates rise more than 85 percent between 2001 and 2014. The first step to helping our veterans is to educate them about
PTSD and what is going on inside of them. “They need to stop seeing themselves as broken, instead understanding that their brain did exactly what it was supposed to do to keep them safe in com- bat. They trained for combat; now they need to train to be home,” said Diane Scotland-Coogan, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Saint Leo University. She provides counseling for many veterans with PTSD. Two major U.S. government studies are investigating the ways
that trained service dogs may help veterans with TBI and/or PTSD. The following is from a recent article in Military Times. “The
32 THE NEW BARKER
I’ve Got Your 6.
unconditional love of a canine companion heals the soul, reaching into the heart to cross canyons of loneliness and despair. Military researchers now are trying to learn if there’s real science behind that semi- mystical link and if so, whether it can help treat the signature
wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The first study is underway at the Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Participating troops are paired with puppies that they will raise for two years to serve as assistance dogs for other injured veterans. A second study, conducted by the VA, has taken several years
and is almost complete. The focus of the study is to determine if “there are things a dog can do for a veteran with PTSD that would qualify the animal as a service dog for PTSD.” K9 Partners for Patriots is participating in the study.
WE ALL HAVE A DESTINY. Mike, a retired veteran, has been through many tours of duty, including theatres in Desert Storm and Panama. Daily, he faces the mental, emotional and physical challenges as a result. Like many graduates of the K9 Partners for Patriots program, Mike returns to volunteer his services, wherever needed. His wife Lana volunteers as well. The day we met Mike, he was recovering from knee replacement surgery. Standing next to him was Lt. Dan, the aforementioned tripod Jack Russell Terrier mix. Mike named the dog after the character in the movie Forest Gump. Lt. Dan is now Mike’s service dog. It turns out this burly man with the imposing presence has a soft spot for the feisty little breed. When Lana first found the three-legged dog on the Furever
Friendz Rescue website, she called her husband. “Honey, I’ve found a Jack Russell but, there might be one problem; he only has three legs.” Mike didn’t miss a beat. “Not a problem. Let’s bring him home,” he told her. Once home, the dog instinctively began alerting Mike to
oncoming anxiety attacks. Mike’s wife noticed the overall calming effect Lt. Dan had on her husband and wondered if he could be trained to do more as a service dog. Lt. Dan passed the preliminary tests conducted by the trainers
at K9 Partners for Patriots. He and Mike were immediately enrolled in the 19-week program.
www.TheNewBarker.com Continued.g
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