Sgt. Kyle Evans, a wounded soldier, has a new way to deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder -- his new therapy dog Marley.
From CFNews13 ORLANDO- A wounded soldier has a new way to deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
A therapy dog was flown into Orlando Executive Airport from North Carolina Wednesday morning.
The dog is trained specially for him.
Sgt. Kyle Evans was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress.
He escaped a near death experience in Iraq when a bomb exploded under his military-convoy vehicle.
“Nobody likes to be alone,” Evans said. “Especially when you’ve had your own issues. Makes it harder.”
Evans has a wife and two kids to support him.
But when they aren’t around, he will have “Marley.”
“It’s a special bond,” Evans said. “It’s to relax. It’s to help sooth and comfort. When they’re at the movies or when she has the kids out doing something, it’s that comfort zone. You can’t replace it.”
The 14-month-old Golden Retriever was trained by David “Fly-Dog” Cantara.
A veterinarian that works at the University of Florida bought Alachua County Sheriff K9 units some much needed protection vests. The great part is the that veterinary ophthalmologist Dennis Brooks got the idea when his fiancee was pulled over by a K9 officer. How many people think of ways they can help and protect cops after being pulled over? Thank you Mr. Brooks for your generosity and showing some K9 Pride in your local K9 police dog units!
(Karen Voyles/Staff) Bear, one of the newest members of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office K9 team, was chosen to model one of the vests donated by University of Florida veterinary ophthalmologist Dennis Brooks.
Rookie members of the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit got some new, state-of-the-art gear on Tuesday morning.
The four youngest dogs on the team were outfitted with bulletproof vests, courtesy of a University of Florida specialist.
Veterinary ophthalmologist Dennis Brooks said he decided to donate the vests because he recently won an award that included some cash for his work on equine ophthalmology.
“It was good fortune for me, and they (the dogs) needed help so I used it to buy the vests,” Brooks said. He got a discounted price of $850 per vest because he was buying more than one, Brooks said.
Sheriff Sadie Darnell and the supervisor of the K9 unit, Lt. Bella Blizzard, said the vests went to the newest dogs in the agency, including Bear. It was Bear, an 18-month-old German shepherd, who was chosen to model one of the new vests during a Tuesday morning press conference.
Bear’s handler, Deputy Bill Arnold, said it takes about 60 seconds to put the five-pound vest on the approximately 65-pound dog.
“He won’t be wearing it all the time — it will be based on the call,” Arnold said. For example, calls to scenes where guns, knives or violence are possible are calls where Bear would wear a vest, Arnold said.
A year ago, Brooks donated the first vest to a member of the K9 unit, Razar, the dog trained in bomb sniffing.
“This all got started because my fiancee got a speeding ticket in Alachua 10 years ago,” Brooks said. A K9 handler pulled her over, and she had one of the couple’s many dogs in the car with her. As she and the K9 handler began to talk, the dogs were allowed to get out of the car and romp and the ticket writing process that could have been – and often is – adversarial became a friendlier event. Brooks, a lifelong dog lover, said the episode got his family to thinking about what they could do to benefit the sheriff’s K9s.
“You guys are protecting me and my family,” Brooks told Sheriff Darnell on Tuesday morning, “and we wanted to do something to help protect you.”
Just having a dog around is therapeutic for most people, especially those that face challenging times in their lives. Troops that come home with PTSD, adults battling illness, and elderly needing companionship often all rely on a four legged friend to help cope with the stress and bring them joy. Well if there’s anyone who appreciates having a dog around as much as anyone it’s kids. Children recovering in the Dallas area hospitals are being visited by Ryan Townsend and his yellow labrador named Trigger. The therapy dog can often be found visiting the children while also bringing them toys. Ryan’s bond with Trigger is so strong that he made him the best man, I mean best dog, at his wedding.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Benjamin Seekell and Charlie, his military working dog, were wounded in Afghanistan. They both survived and are now recovering. Thanks to some Vietnam dog handlers, Staff Sergeant Seekell was able to take his mind off of his recovery for a while and enjoyed watching a local police K9 unit demonstrate their capabilities in honor of them. Glad to see both Staff Sgt. Seekell and his dog Charlie will recover.
Our troops face so much stress in combat, but for some, they may face stress within their own units. Soldier Tracy Cooper-Harris had to endure both. After serving honorably, and transitioning back to the civilian world, a lot of the stress and tough memories carried on with her. Thanks to her rescue dog turned service dog, Blaze, life has become less stressful and more joyful, for the both of them.
US Army Iraqi War veteran Tracey Cooper-Harris takes a break with Blaze during his training at the Sam Simon Foundation in Malibu, Ca. Blaze began his training with Assistance Dog Program Instructor Lori Ramey several months earlier before Harris began working with Ramey and Blaze. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)
They’re a team now, best friends – the tall, good-looking rescued dog and the Iraq War veteran battling post-traumatic stress disorder.
Wherever Tracey Cooper-Harris goes these days she knows Blaze has her back.
He’s the eyes in the back of her head. Her 24-hour protector and comfort blanket, all rolled into one. He’s her hero.
Lori Ramey, a trainer for the Sam Simon Foundation, which provides rescued dogs for the deaf, found Blaze sitting alone in a kennel at the Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo early last year.
He was a stray found wandering the streets. Shelter workers told her he was probably a backyard dog with little or no human contact. They put his age at around a year and named him Blaze for his bright red coat.
“He was so calm and composed just sitting there, exactly the kind of dog I was looking for,” Ramey said.
Her job for the Simon Foundation was to find the perfect dog to train as a psychiatric service dog for an Army veteran suffering from PTSD.
Ramey wanted Blaze, but there was one problem. So did a lot of other people. The shelter held a lottery.
“Every once in awhile, fate intervenes,” Ramey said. “I won.”
It didn’t take Blaze long to show his real colors once she sprung him from the shelter. He wasn’t the mellow dog Ramey thought he was.
“He began jumping on everything in sight, grabbing anything he could get in his mouth, and wildly running around chasing
squirrels and birds,” she said.
“He had conned me. All that calm demeanor was a lie.”
It took Ramey almost a year to calm Blaze down and teach him the tasks Cooper-Harris would need done.
To stand behind her at the ATM and make sure nobody got too close to her on the streets. To turn on the lights in her apartment so she wouldn’t be walking into a dark room at night, the worst time for her.
To find her cellphone and keys and bring them to her in case there was an emergency and she couldn’t get them.
To become her Man Friday.
While Ramey trained Blaze, Cooper-Harris spent her days going to classes at California State University, Northridge, before heading over to the Sepulveda VA for her PTSD counseling sessions with doctors.
By December of 2010, it was finally time for Blaze and Cooper-Harris to meet. It was love at first sight. Blaze jumped all over her, licking her face, his tail frantically wagging, knocking over everything in sight.
“It was like fate decided these two should be together,” Ramey said.
In April, after three months of hard work at the foundation in Malibu bonding with Blaze, Cooper-Harris brought him home to her apartment in Pasadena.
“He’s my de-stresser, my constant physical reminder that I’m here in the present, and not to let my mind wander back to the past,” she said last week.
“When I wake up in the middle of the night the first thing I look for is Blaze. He’s usually knocked out in the corner snoring. But just seeing him there makes me feel safe and stay in the present, not the past.”
read the rest of the article by clicking here…Daily News
A police department using seized drug money to pay for a new drug sniffing dog, thanks for helping out your local law enforcement bad guys!!
TROTWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) – Trotwood police unveiled the department’s newest member of the force, a police dog named Atos.
The announcement was made at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
Atos is the second dog on the force and he was paid for by money seized during drug raids.
“It’s his first week out, and the dog recovered some drugs and has already been a benefit to not only our department but to other jurisdictions in the county,” said Trotwood Police Chief Quincy Pope. Article courtesy of WDTN
Great to see more and more veterans being paired with therapy dogs to help them cope with issues they have after coming home from their deployments, especially PTSD.
Mark Jeffrey, an Iraqi war veteran, received his service dog, Gainor, through the Aid for Wounded Warriors program. / Provided/Jenny Jeffrey
HARRISON TWP. – The benevolence of a Northern Virginia charity and a yellow Labrador retriever is helping a local veteran recover from injuries received in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mark Jeffrey, 50, of Harrison Township is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), both conditions attributed to injuries he received while a soldier and civilian contractor in Iraq from 2003 to 2005.
Jeffrey, a former captain in the United States Army Reserve with the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion, suffers from short-term memory loss, sleeplessness and literally running away when confronted with large crowds, said his wife of 30 years, Jenny Jeffrey.
It was while attending a local TBI support group that the idea of a service dog for Jeffrey was conceived. He had retreated physically and emotionally from the meeting, his wife said, until a fellow veteran’s dog laid its head in his lap, read the full article here…service dog helps veteran
I consider myself to be very fortunate to have been able to deploy with my military working dog Rex. Every time troops would see Rex they would just want to pet, play, and talk about their pet dogs back home and how much they missed them. I know how much they miss their own personal dogs and how tough it is to say goodbye to them when going on deployment, and for some troops their dog is all they have to come home to. So it is no wonder they can’t wait to see their best furry friends when they get home. Not to mention dogs are the best at helping cope with all the stress troops incur and bring home from deployments. Thank you Lt. Matthew Shaw for you r service and I’m happy to see you came home safe and able to see and play with your dog Hunter as if you never left.
How great is this story from The Ledger? A 12 year old girl named Tori Lynn Wilson reads an article about a police dog that recently helped track down a criminal, and is now retiring. However, the department needs to raise money for a new police dog so she donates her own money to help make it happen as she felt inspired by the work police dogs do. Way to show K9 PRIDE for your local law enforcement K9 unit Tori!
(RICK RUNION | THE LEDGER) Lynn Wilson, 12, plays with Winter Haven police dog Dano at the Police Department on Friday Tori raised $301.00 for the department's K-9 unit.
