When Wilma Melville retired from her career as a gym teacher in New Jersey, she never imagined that her second career was about to take off.
Melville used her newfound free time to pursue her dream of owning a highly-trained dog, and enrolled in FEMA’s Advanced Search Dog certification program, a process that can take three to five years and can cost up to $15,000. Soon after receiving her certification, Melville was asked to assist with finding victims in the rubble following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
“This disaster made it clear that there were too few certified search dog-handler teams,” Melville writes on the website of the Search Dog Foundation (SDF), the California-based nonprofit she started after that experience. “Out of this heartbreaking experience came a determination to find a better way to create highly skilled canine search teams.”
When Melville began her efforts, there were only 15 dog-and-handler pairs with advanced training across the country. Today, there are more than 250, according to David Karas of the Christian Science Monitor. Of those, SDF has trained 150 teams, providing their services for no cost to any community that needs them.
But search-and-rescue missions aren’t the Search Dog Foundation’s only mission. Melville’s organization exclusively trains dogs adopted from shelters — transforming rescued pets into rescuers. An effective team requires “the right dog, matched with the right handler, and professional training for both,” Melville told Karas.
“I never expected to found and lead an agency that would make a significant difference nationally in how dogs are selected, plus how handlers and dogs are trained for this specific work,” she said. After she knew she “could make a giant sized contribution,” she said, “I never looked back.”
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Tag: dogs
This Service Dog Has a Mission Beyond Helping Just One Vet
For the past several years, we’ve heard a lot about veterans suffering from PTSD after returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. And we’ve heard the stories about the various (sometimes interesting) methods to help them — from biofeedback to gardening to nudity. But one approach that’s helping thousands of soldiers is a basic one: Pairing them with man’s best friend.
Jake Fish of Port Angeles, Washington, was medically discharged from the Marine Corps in 1997. But in recent years, he continued to struggle with PTSD. Coming to his rescue was the service dog Megan, a two-year-old golden retriever, who was trained by the local nonprofit New Leash on Life.
New Leash on Life trains dogs and puppies left at the Clallam Humane Society to become service animals — ultimately providing them to veterans and people with disabilities.
Fish told the Peninsula Daily News, “The biggest thing about having Megan is that I’m not lonely. She gives me a feeling of companionship. I also know for a fact that she lowers my stress levels. She puts me in a good mood when I don’t want to be in one.”
As soon as Fish was paired with Megan, he began bringing her to the Northwest Veterans Resource Center, where he volunteers to help other vets access their benefits from the VA. Megan decided to volunteer for duty, too.
“Vets will come into the office, and we’ll start going over the paperwork, which means talking about all the vets’ pain and issues they have. It can get kind of tense,” Fish said. “Megan will get up from behind my desk and go to the person, and they just relax. She’s so happy and soft, they forget what they’re talking about that happened to them when they’re petting her. She lessens their anxiety of talking about stuff.”
“I feel like helping others as a service officer is a continuation of my duty,” Fish said. Megan clearly has figured out that helping more than just her veteran owner is a continuation of her duty, too.
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While Her Owner Serves Overseas, This Dog Serves Her Country at Home
To say that the Cook family has a deep responsibility for national service is an understatement.
Alan Cook is an Air Force veteran. His daughter Danielle Cook is currently a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force. Danielle’s mother and grandfather served too. And the line of service in this family doesn’t stop there — now that Danielle is deployed overseas in Afghanistan, her dog Harper helps veterans suffering PTSD through a program called Circle of Change.
Harper lives with Danielle’s dad and visits the Dog Den, a doggy daycare center in Madison while Sergeant Cook is gone. Workers at the Dog Den thought Harper would be a good candidate for the Circle of Change program. “She is very shy and fearful, but at the same time she is gentle. She’s the perfect dog for our veterans program,” Dog Den employee Deborah Crawley told Gordon Severson of WAOW.
In Circle of Change classes, veterans suffering from PTSD teach dogs who have behavioral problems how to relax and follow commands. This training helps the dogs overcome their fears. Another beneficial outcome? The veterans find their PTSD symptoms are often eased by working with the animals, too.
Desert Storm veteran Mike Weber, a participant in the first six-week Circle of Change course, said working with the dogs helped him feel better. “My way of handling my problem was just to avoid everything. This has really helped me come back out and kind of get me back on track,” Weber told Severson. “It’s such a great program and it really has helped me bond with not only the animals, but other vets and volunteers.”
“We’re a military family all the way down to the dog now,” Alan Cook told Severson. “My daughter is just so proud of Harper and thinks it’s a great thing. It gives her something to do while my daughter is away overseas.”
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Veterans Receive Donations From an Unlikely Source: A 12-Year-Old Girl
Whereas most teenagers want clothing or a new smartphone for their birthday, Katy Sell wanted something, well, let’s say, quite different, for her 12th birthday. She wanted to help U.S. veterans.
After Katy’s mother challenged her to do something kind for others on her birthday, Katy, who lives in Deubrook, South Dakota, came up with a bigger idea than her mom ever imagined: She decided to donate all of her presents to the California-based Big Paws Canine Academy and Foundation, a nonprofit that trains service animals for veterans and has a Midwest branch in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
According to the Big Paws website, Katy and her mother Julie Sell, a Navy veteran, were homeless seven years ago. It was that tough experience that gave them extra motivation to help others.
When people heard about Katy’s generosity, her school friends and many others chipped in additional donations to help the nonprofit. At Katy’s birthday party, several veterans brought their service animals to meet the generous teen and her friends. Ricky Crudden told Denise DePaolo of KSFY, “I lost the use of my legs due to a stroke because of COPD.” Big Paws matched him with his service dog Tracer. Crudden said, “He saved my life. He woke me up in the middle of the night.”
During the party, one veteran received the dog he’d been waiting for — giving Katy the experience of seeing the first moments of a new relationship. “It gives me a good, tingly feeling inside because I know I’m helping a lot of people,” Sell told DePaolo.
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These Reading Programs Are Going to the Dogs
Early readers need encouragement, not judgement. And what’s more reassuring than a wagging tail, sweet puppy dog eyes, and a rapt audience that will never utter a discouraging word?
Nothing that we can think of. And that’s exactly why innovative programs across the country are bringing man’s best friend into schools and libraries for reading lessons. The well-trained, albeit furry, audience members give kids an outlet for their newfound phonics, and the pooches — with their toddler-like need for attention — lap it up.
In Augusta, Wisconsin, the Tail Waggin’ Tutors visited Augusta Elementary School, giving children 15-minute stints to read to a pooch. “We look for every possible way to motivate kids to love to read,” reading specialist Nancy Forseth told the local Leader-Telegram. “Who doesn’t love dogs?” Clearly, most children, as some 90 kids signed up for the program, she said.
In Anchorage, Alaska, through the Pawsitive Reading Program, pets visit a local library once a month, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The kids don’t even realize they’re working and learning sometimes. “She thinks she’s helping the dogs to read,” one mom says, of her precocious tyke.
The added bonus? (Beyond the reading thing, that is.) Shy kids, and those fearful of dogs, slowly start to come out of their shell.
For both dogs and their owners, these programs are staffed solely with volunteers. But for those involved, the petting, hugs, and smiling kids are certainly payment enough.
Plus, who can resist the photo from the Kasson, Minnesota, Post-Bulletin of a kid reading the modern classic adventures of Pete the Cat to an attentive, dog-show-worthy border collie?
Certainly not us.
This Organization Knows How to Simultaneously Save Veterans and Dogs
Sometimes all someone needs is a best friend. And that’s exactly how several nonprofits are changing veterans lives — whether it’s by pairing them with service animals or reuniting them with the dogs they befriended in Afghanistan. And now, Canines for Veterans is doing the same for both incarcerated service members and those injured and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The unique program works like this: Program coordinators search for dogs through pet rescue organizations. These animals are then paired with veterans serving time at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. After completing a service-dog training course, each inmate is assigned a dog, selects a name for it and lives with it, training the animal to perform such tasks as opening a refrigerator or loading a washing machine for a disabled veteran or comforting one suffering from PTSD. After nine to 12 months of training, Canines for Veterans reviews applications from veterans who’d like a service animal, then pairs each dog with the veteran. The veteran then visits Charleston to learn how to work with the dog. Eventually, the pair goes home together.
“The prisoner in some cases has never completed anything (before),” Rick Hairston, president and CEO of Canines for Service told Mike Spencer of the Star News. “They haven’t been able to complete their military service. They’re looking for somebody who wants to give them a chance and this program does it.” He hopes the dog training program provides prisoners with job skills and a sense of accomplishment that will pave the way to a more promising future when they leave the facility.
One prisoner who trains dogs said, “It’s good for me because it helps my time here go by fast and it gives me the feeling of helping someone…They put their lives on the line for us and the only way I can thank them is by training this dog.”
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Canines for Veterans Offers A Second Chance for Vets in Prison
Canines for Veterans Teaches Imprisoned Vets how to Train Service Dogs for Disabled Vets
This Nonprofit Reunites Veterans With the Four-Legged Friends They Made Overseas
When U.S. soldiers are far from home on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, they often befriend stray dogs living in the area. Some even go so far as to adopt the furry friends as pets. With some servicemen and women, this bond with their animals becomes so tight that when they return home, they want to bring them back to America. But there’s often a (costly) roadblock.
It can cost several thousand dollars to transport a dog from overseas, and this expensive bill usually prevents such a reunion stateside. That’s where Guardians of Rescue, a Long Island-based charity dedicated to helping stray animals and veterans, steps in. The nonprofit’s No Buddy Left Behind Program identifies soldiers who have befriended dogs in foreign lands and raises money to bring the animals to the United States through social media and crowd funding websites including GoFundMe and YouCaring.
One such story that captured the attention of many was that of a mother dog named Sheba and her litter of seven puppies that a New York National Guard unit looked after in Afghanistan. Guardians of Rescue raised the money required to quarantine the dogs in the Kabul facilities of Nowzad (an international animal rescue organization), vaccinate and spay or neuter the dogs, fly them to Dubai, and from there to the United States.
Another Guardians of Rescue program, Paws of War, pairs specially trained dogs with soldiers that suffer from PTSD and other conditions. “If the veteran suffers from hyper-vigilance or claustrophobia, we will train the dog to face outward towards the door,” Dori Scofield, the Vice President of Guardians of Rescue told Arielle Brechisci of Newsday. “Some are trained to wake you up when the alarm goes off.”
Paws of War paired PTSD-suffering Iraq veteran Paul Zimmerman of North Babylon, New York with a boxer named Kona. “It certainly is the best medicine I’ve ever had,” Zimmerman said. “Just having him just being there for you is tremendous.”
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Here’s an Awesome Program That Proves the Healing Power of Man’s Best Friend
For many war veterans, the biggest battle doesn’t take place overseas. It happens stateside, after returning home and attempting to readjust to civilian life. Justin Morseth, a military veteran who was honorably discharged in 2003 after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in Iraq, knows this all too well.
In 2006, after his wife, Megan, gave birth to their first child — a son — Justin was overcome with crippling anxiety, which was later attributed to severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (aka PTSD). “It suddenly brought back repressed memories of some children that had died in Iraq,” Megan told the Indy Star. “It just kind of exploded everything in him.”
But even as the Morseths struggled to cope with Justin’s PTSD, there was one aspect of their lives that could always keep the former soldier centered: His rescue dog, Samson. The couple credits Samson for pulling Justin out of his terrifying flashbacks and keeping him calm in the face of stress. “I definitely think Samson saved his life,” Megan said.
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Inspired by the healing power of Samson (who has since passed away), the Morseths created a program called Pets Healing Vets, which pairs shelter dogs to Indiana veterans who suffer from PTSD or have had traumatic injuries. The adoption, training and medical care of the dog is completely free — for life.
In partnership with the Humane Society for Hamilton County, Pets for Vets has paired 13 veterans with dogs since the program started in 2012. And so far, it’s been a wagging success. Greg Sexton, an Army veteran who was injured in Iraq, got a black Labrador retriever through the program, which he says has been a “huge help”, especially in crowds, where he can easily get overwhelmed. “You get to rescue a dog,” Sexton said about his experience. “And the dog kind of gets to rescue you.”
Pets for Vets has been so successful that the Morseths, who now have two rescue dogs, and the area’s Humane Society wants to see the program grow. They have expanded it to law enforcement officers who also suffer from PTSD and are actively seeking veterans to take part in it. After all, if anyone deserves an unwavering loyal best friend, it’s our nation’s veterans. “Bringing those two together is Kismet. It’s the way that it should be,” Megan said.
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Abused Dogs Are Getting a Second Chance at a Happy Life with Help From At-Risk Youth
For dogs rescued from abusive homes, the nightmare isn’t over with the arrest of a neglectful human. Many of these animals end up at animal control, where they can become aggressive and distant from humans. They’re often kept alone in cages, lost in a system that doesn’t have the means to assess, treat and train them in order to safely place them in good homes. Sadly, victims of animal abuse and neglect often end up being euthanized. Cynthia Bathurst, founder and executive director Safe Humane Chicago, has made it her life’s work to end this cycle. And to do so, she has connected at-risk dogs with another group that can feel discarded by society: juveniles in the criminal justice system.
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Through the organization’s Lifetime Bonds program, volunteers take abused dogs that have been rehabilitated to the Illinois Youth Center, where they spend three months in training with a group of at-risk young men. These participants learn how to care for the animals, teaching them simple skills such as sit, down, and roll over, as well as more complicated skills, such as running agility courses. The young men also learn about animal welfare and safety through classroom-like discussions that focus on issues like overpopulation and dog fighting — an issue that is prevalent in gangs across the country. The goal of the Lifetime Bonds program is not only to teach these dogs how to trust humans again, but also to teach the human participants patience, confidence and skills that they can use upon their release. “We focus on the special bond between people and animals that helps build empathy and opportunity,” Bathurst told The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
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Lifetime Bonds is just one of the many programs that Safe Humane Chicago offers to help build safer communities through the proper treatment of animals. Research has proven that violence against animals is connected to violence against people. According to a report by The Humane Society of the United States, 65 percent of individuals in Chicago arrested for animal crimes between 2001 and 2004 had also been arrested for battery against another person. In another study, 46 percent of 36 convicted murderers admitted to committing acts of animal abuse during adolescence. With that in mind, Bathurst focuses her nonprofit on educating people about animal abuse, while also helping them realize the depth of interpersonal connections that can grow between animals and humans. Volunteers train law enforcement officers on the enforcement of animal-related laws, as well as the humane treatment of animals caught in the judicial system. They also have a Youth Leaders program offered in some Chicago Public Schools, which trains students to become ambassadors for the humane treatment of animals. The organization acts as court advocates for animals that have been abused, and has developed a program that provides behavioral support to these animals that end up at animal control. Their methods have been so successful that the organization is working with other states to develop similar programs, hopefully allowing more abused dogs — and at-risk youths — to enjoy a second chance.
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These Blind, Deaf Therapy Dogs Show Special Needs Children That Anything Is Possible
It was Serendipity that inspired animal behaviorist Erika Proctor to focus her life’s work on dogs with special needs. Seven years ago, Proctor watched as a small ball of white fluff was tossed from a truck window, landing on a nearby driveway. When she walked over to see what it was, she was amazed to find a beautiful, white Great Dane puppy. “She was as white as falling snow, and as soft as silk, but she was unresponsive to sound, and had what looked to be permanently squinted eyes,” Proctor told The Huffington Post. A veterinarian advised Proctor to euthanize the animal, saying that she couldn’t live a full life and might become vicious due to her disabilities. But Proctor wasn’t about to give up on the puppy, which she named Serendipity. “This most perfect, most pure white creature was just an impressionable infant, who could learn and flourish like any other pup with the proper care and guidance,” she said.
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After successfully training Serendipity to become a therapy dog — and seeing the extraordinary effect she has on everyone she meets — Proctor realized that there are many other special needs dogs that also deserve a chance at life. So she started Green Dogs Unleashed, a tax-exempt, volunteer-run nonprofit in Troy, Virginia, dedicated to saving, rehabilitating and finding homes for these animals. Since the rescue’s inception in 2013, the group has placed around 200 dogs — some with disabilities and some without — with the goal of training them to become therapy dogs. “These are mostly animals which communities around the country have thrown away like garbage. The majority are shelter dogs, that would otherwise be deemed unadoptable and euthanized,” Proctor said. “We rescue these precious creatures from shelters, rehabilitate and train them, using their special needs as a gift, not a burden.”
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The training is quite intensive. Dogs have to successfully complete basic obedience training before going through an additional six- to eight-week program to become a therapy dog. If the dog passes their evaluation, they become part of the therapy team, visiting seniors in assisted living communities and children in schools for students with special needs. Currently, 22 dogs are in the therapy program. “The kids just light up,” Proctor told local TV station CBS19. “They see that the dog is able to overcome what’s different about them and it makes them no less of a dog and they’re able to connect with them on that level.”
To help Proctor and the other volunteers in their mission to rescue and train special needs animals, visit Green Dogs Unleashed’s GoFundMe page. Funds will be used to pay veterinary bills and assist with transportation costs of saving dogs from across the U.S. If that doesn’t sway you, just take a look at these adorable photos of the dogs they’re trying to place in permanent homes.
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