Service dogs are friends in time of need

A veteran with his dog, Valor, in the documentary 'To Be Of Service'. — Aronson Film Associates

A group of veterans and their service dogs gathered recently at the Connecticut Capitol, the United States, with supporters of federal legislation that would help veterans obtain the trained dogs as part of their treatment for a psychological or physical injury.

There was Phil Bauer, 43, explaining how Champagne saved his life. That’s Lady Champagne, or Champ, his five-year-old Labrador-Dane mix who, after 1,500 hours of training, is capable of dozens of specific tasks.

Bauer was trapped for hours in a mangled Chinook after the helicopter was shot down outside Fallujah, Iraq, in October 2003, when he was a cavalry scout with the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment. His right leg was crushed and burning as he waited for rescuers with the Jaws of Life to pry some of the aircraft’s roof off his lower body. He lost the leg. Of the 30 people aboard, 15 died. He had been heading for a few days of leave.

After his discharge, Bauer found himself being pummelled by nightmares and flashes of anger, and he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression. He was spiralling downward, self-medicating with substances and withdrawing from the world. He attempted suicide.

Then Champ came into his life. He got her from a facility in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Then he got a job offer from Lu and Dale Picard, who run East Coast Assistance Dogs out of a 836sq m training academy on 5.6ha in Connecticut.

Bauer learned how to train the dogs, and then he learned how to help teach disadvantaged children so they in turn could train the dogs and derive a tremendous amount of gratification.

He found himself again.

“It has saved my life, ” said Bauer. “The dog gives you your life back, gives you a source of purpose, proves to you that you can love and trust again.”

Dogs for the disadvantaged

The Picards have heard many stories like Bauer’s, and these successes have kept the couple going for 25 years. Lu had trained her family dog to help her father after he had a stroke, and she saw how powerful the bond became and noticed how much more energy her father had when the dog was helping him.

She decided to spend the rest of her life training service dogs for others, and she brought her husband into the pursuit.

The Picards were in the forefront of a national movement to allow service dogs in court to help children and other vulnerable witnesses testify, and at one point they were training disadvantaged students at five residential schools in New York to work with service dogs.

Lu Picard said the dogs typically train for 18 months to two years and aren’t released to the owner until they can perform dozens of specific tasks. Dale Picard said those include alerting their owner if lifesaving equipment such as a respirator stops or malfunctions overnight, or sensing when an owner who has diabetes is experiencing a spike or drop in their insulin level.

The dogs can become almost indispensable.

They open doors, retrieve items, pull wheelchairs, alert when it’s time for an owner’s medications, provide a buffer in a crowd, turn lights on and off, and exert a calming influence in times of distress.

“She gets my leg when I leave it in the other room, ” said Bauer.

Congress is considering a bill, referred to as the PAWS Act of 2019, that would offer grants to private groups “for the provision of service dogs to eligible veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and for other purposes”.

Connecticut state Rep Robin Comey, who helped organise the recent gathering at the capitol that included a screening of the documentary To Be Of Service, said the availability of service dogs “is one piece of what must be a comprehensive care plan for our veterans. We want to make sure that any federal legislation is widely known. I can see it saving on health care costs and helping veterans to get their needs met.” – Tribune News Service/The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)/Josh Kovner