A New Type Of Service Dog

[w8liftinglady]

http://lezgetreal.com/2011/05/a-new-type-of-service-dog/

We are all familiar with service dogs. We see them on streets leading the blind, hearing traffic and street sounds for the deaf. We’ve seen TV shows about them as they becomes the limbs for the disabled. A new type of service dog is being trained to assist our veterans with post traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD is a complex condition, manifesting differently in each soldier who has the condition. In my grandfather’s time they called it “shell shock,” in my father’s “battle fatigue.” They had very little in terms of treatment in those days. They only started identifying it as a severe psychological condition after Vietnam. The most basic way to describe it is a haunting. Have you ever caught a scent in the air and it conjures a memory? In a PTSD sufferer, that’s not a childhood memory of your dad using his table saw or your mother baking. It’s the memory of battle, or bombardment, or torture, or death. It causes a surge of fear and panic. How the veteran copes or doesn’t cope defines PTSD. What to us are perfectly normal activities, standing in a line, watching a parade, attending a barbeque can trigger this response. Two of those three effect a friend of mine who can no longer be in crowds or smell meat burning.

There are several organizations now that are training dogs to assist the psychologically wounded the way they assist the physically wounded and disabled. Dennis McCarthy of the Los Angeles Times profiled one such dog and the woman he is helping to live in society again.

His name is Blaze. He’s as large as an Irish Setter and almost the same color. He was found in a shelter, a stray, around a year old. Trainer Lori Ramey of the Sam Simon Foundation was very impressed with Blaze’s calm demeanor and self-control when she found him at the Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo early in 2010. Blaze is a beautiful dog, and several people wanted him. Ramey won the lottery the shelter held for him. Then, she discovered that what he was in a cage was not what Blaze was in the open. Lively, alert, affectionate and all over the place, it took time to train Blaze, but there was a special patient who needed him.

Tracey Cooper-Harris’ PTSD has a deeper cause than just her time in Iraq. She is a lesbian. When she began her Army career over a decade ago, her secret was discovered by a particularly sadistic group of fellow soldiers who said they would keep her secret in exchange for sexual services. It’s a very common story for lesbian soldiers serving during the years of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell – put out or we will tell. Tracey was just 19.

Since leaving the service, she has been attending college and attending constant therapy sessions. Last December, Blaze was ready to be all that he could be – for Tracey. It was instant bonding.

[hlthe2b]

1. I think we are still at the infancy of appreciating all that dogs can do

with us and for us. I pity those who have no appreciation for the noble dog. Even their name bespeaks an enlightened presence. ;)

[DBoon]

2. Dogs are humans perfected

nt

[tblue37]

3. No good without pictures!

Here's the pretty doggie:





Also, you should edit the OP to comply with the 4-paragraph limit, to avoid copyright infringement problems!