So many wounded warriors have wounds that are visible but so many more have inner wounds like PTSD and TBI that are just as important to treat. Thanks to the organization, This Able Veteran, a new Veterans Affairs facility will have another tool to treat veterans and their battles with these issues. Teddy, a service dog that will be their new “therapist.”
Service Dog will help veterans at new Marion VA PTSD facility
By Carly O’Keefe-KFVS12
After experiencing the horrors of war, the newly constructed Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Facility will be a safe place for veterans.
It’ll be a one-of-a-kind program in the U.S. with a very unique member of the staff that doctors hope will help veterans reclaim their lives from PTSD and depression.
A dog named Teddy will be their guardian, their friend, and in a way – their therapist.
Great to see the military realizing the huge positive impact therapy dogs bring in helping our wounded warriors. There are several organizations that provide service dogs for veterans and every time I talk to a wounded service member that receives a dog, they all say how great it is having them around. Being in a positive state of mind is crucial in the healing process and these dogs have the ability to instantly makes these troops feel good.
WASHINGTON – A blast from a suicide bomber on a motorcycle in Afghanistan gave Joshua Endicott injuries from his head to toes.
Doctors and the medical staff at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington worked to heal most of those wounds.
But 10 months after Endicott, 20, of Columbus, was hit and ultimately evacuated from Afghanistan, the emotional scars remain.
Joshua Endicott thinks a canine companion could ease his post-traumatic stress disorder.
Endicott, like many coming back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, lives now with post-traumatic stress disorder. Previously outgoing and carefree, the Purple Heart recipient now says he’s constantly “stressed out” and always alert. Once an avid runner and swimmer, he now can do neither because of his injuries. “I don’t feel safe, ever,” he said.
For the first few months of his recovery, Endicott was assigned what the military calls a “non-medical assistant” – in this case, his brother-in-law, Jack Brock, who stayed with him as he navigated the recovery process. But in late May, Brock had to go home.
Endicott was alone.
But he has an idea of what might help him. He’d seen dogs aiding other injured veterans and had read about dogs helping victims of PTSD. Alone in Washington, he believes a companion dog might be what he needs.
“I have nothing,” Endicott said. “A companion dog would be perfect for me.”
Jennifer Stotts of Frazeysburg holds a newborn Labrador retriever. Stotts breeds dogs for Puppies Behind Bars, which trains them as service dogs.(JONATHAN QUILTER | DISPATCH)
I hope more police departments take notice. Rescue dogs can become great detection dogs as Milwaukee Police Department’s new detection dog, Shaka, has proven! She is new to the force and has already proven how valuable she is. Great story…
A second leash on life
Milwaukee acquires new drug detection dog, Shaka, a pit bull who was saved from euthanasia BY RAYMOND RENDLEMAN The Clackamas Review, Jun 22, 2011
Just five years ago, Shaka wasn’t content to wait on a New York pound’s death row, and her natural love of playing fetch caught the eye of a pit-bull advocate and catapulted her to eventual stardom among Milwaukee police as the force’s best new tool for tracking down drugs.
Officer Billy Wells is handler for Shaka, the Milwaukee Police Department's new drug detection dog.(RAYMOND RENDLEMAN / CLACKAMAS REVIEW)
Since her original owner abandoned her without a trace, no one is sure whether Shaka is five and a half or six years old. Shaka is not the only American Staffordshire Terrier-type pit bull who has demonstrated a tracking ability, but her skill is without peer nationally.
Out of the 20 times that Shaka has been deployed in her first few months at MPD, she’s found drugs in 18 cases. Officer Billy Wells certified Shaka through the Oregon Police Canine Association, based in Oregon City, but it might be more accurate to say that Shaka got her handler state certification in scoring 100 percent. (more…)
When disasters strike and people are missing, many will start searching through the rubble and mess left behind. Some of those searching bring a dog. Search and rescue teams(SAR) are one of the greatest assets in locating people quickly that have been buried in the debris, here is the story of one of those teams!
Location: Encinitas, CaliforniaDedication: April 16th, 2011Sculptor/Design: Honor Life
The Military Working Dog Memorial at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas California is the result of the inspiration RCHS president Jim Silveira felt after visiting Arlington National Cemetary with other military working dog teams. He went with animal advocate Madeleine Pickens and her retired military working dog Chyba that she adopted when Chyba retired from service. The memorial is modeled after Chyba who is living the good life now with Madeleine and her husband T. Boone Pickens. (more…)
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In 1984, the death of Ventura K-9 Sonny was a catalyst for the passage of an amendment that made it a felony to kill a police animal. This week, Sonny will be honored during a memorial for law enforcement dogs at UC Davis in Northern California. (Photo by Adrian Byrne)
VENTURA, Calif. — Veteran of crime scenes and classrooms with power, long hair that earned him the nickname ‘lightning dust mop’ and a playful disposition, Sonny was a beloved member of the Ventura Police Department when he was fatally shot in 1984 while chasing a wanted parolee.
The 6-year-old German shepherd’s death was the catalyst for a 1985 amendment to California law that made it a felony to kill a police animal, and this week he will be honored during a memorial for law enforcement dogs at UC Davis in Northern California, officials said.
Sonny’s name will be among five added to the Faithful Partner monument at the university’s School of Veterinary Medicine Wednesday during a memorial ceremony for police dogs killed in the line of duty, according to a statement from the Western States Police Canine Association. Those names will join plaques honoring 34 other police dogs killed in California since 1960, according to the canine association, which sponsors the memorial.
Erected in 2002 with donated funds, the monument is a black granite star topped by a bronze, life-size German shepherd, according to the canine association.
The ceremony will include an honor guard, pipers, a motorcade and a procession of more than 60 police and sheriff’s K-9 teams, according to the canine association.
Sonny’s partner, Vern Alstot, and all four officer and dog teams from the Ventura police K-9 unit were among those who traveled to Davis to attend the ceremony.
Then a Ventura police officer, Alstot had been Sonny’s partner for three years when the canine was shot on Aug. 26, 1984.
Alstot and two other police were chasing a wanted parolee who had kidnapped his girlfriend when Sonny was sent to apprehend the suspect. The man drew a gun and fired twice, fatally wounding the 60-pound police dog.
The suspect later pleaded guilty and served six months of a one-year sentence, according to the canine association. Harming a police dog was a misdemeanor at the time, and outrage about the incident led lawmakers to change it to a felony, said Alstot.
Sonny’s death deeply affected Alstot, leading him to consider public safety jobs further from violence, he said. Alstot joined the Ventura Fire Department in 1985 and served there until his retirement in late 2009.
Together constantly at work and home, K-9 handlers and their four legged partners have a special relationship that goes far beyond master and pet, Alstot said.
“He is almost your alter ego,” Alstot said. “I can’t think of a more lonesome time that I felt in my police career then when I went back to duty in a police car without a dog.”
K-9s also protect officers in a way humans can’t, Alstot said, adding that Sonny once kept him from being shot.
Alstot and Sonny were patrolling midtown Ventura about 2 a.m. one day in 1983 when Sonny perked up, alerting the officer to two men carrying items down the street in the dark, Alstot recalled. He arrested the men with Sonny’s help, and later learned the suspects had just robbed two women. One of the victims had been sexually assaulted.
During a later interview, one of the suspects told police they would have shot the officer, but they were afraid the police dog would kill them, Alstot said.
“Sonny made a huge difference in my outcome,” he said.
