Training Area For Dog Program

The Harvard Lions Club has always been a dedicated service group, putting much-appreciated time and energy into assisting local organizations and causes. The club’s latest project was in Devens, building an outdoor service dog training area for Clear Path for Veterans New England (Clear Path NE). The training area was unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and service dog graduation last Saturday.

Before the Lions Club built the outdoor training area, the Clear Path NE facility had only an indoor one in the basement. This new outdoor training space is a large fenced area that will allow the dogs to be trained outside while being safely off-leash, said Donna Bulger, vice president of Clear Path NE.

Clear Path for Veterans is a nonprofit organization that promotes the well-being of veterans, and pairing veterans with a service dog is one of its many programs. Bulger explained that the dogs go through about two years of training before becoming certified service dogs, and that the organization strives to train 10 service dogs a year. Starting training early as puppies, the dogs go through an imprinting phase for the first three months. The next six to nine months involve socialization, where the puppies are brought to different places so they become used to new people and environments. Bulger said that since service dogs are not supposed to react to unfamiliar situations, this period of socialization is particularly important.

In the second year of training, the dogs learn specific tasks with which they will assist their paired veteran. Bulger said that to be certified, a service dog must be able to perform assistance in three areas, such as mobility, anxiety, and nightmares. The organization supports both the dogs and the veterans through this lengthy training process and continues to offer support even after the dogs have been certified and matched with a veteran. For veterans who already have a dog, Bulger explained that Clear Path NE offers free obedience training as well.

Harvard Lions Club member Bill Johnson said the club has been “returning to its original roots” over the past few years by participating in more “sweat equity projects.” In addition to Clear Path NE’s new service dog training area, such labor-based volunteer projects have included making and donating face shields and face masks, renovating the WHEAT Community Cafe and Food Pantry in Clinton, and building a fenced playground for a transitional living facility.

Johnson said the Lions Club stepped in when Clear Path NE ran short of funds to expand the facility. Building the training area took four days, a team of determined Harvard Lions Club members, and donations of supplies and time from several local companies. “We were blown away by the audaciousness of the project here,” Johnson said. “It’s just incredible how boldly [Clear Path is] moving to try to serve the veterans.” Building the training area entailed digging 31 holes for the fence posts and then constructing the fencing and setting the posts with concrete. Miller Fence and the American Fence Association donated the fencing materials, Moore Lumber donated a cement mixer, and Sterling Concrete donated pre-mixed concrete, Johnson explained. The project also required landscaping—the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association helped the Lions Club organize a donation of 29 large shrubs from Bigelow Nurseries to be planted along the outside of the fence. Omasta Landscaping and Yellow Ribbon Trucking helped the volunteers with the planting. The donations added up to about $25,000, Johnson said, adding later that he had not anticipated the “over-the-top support.”

For the ribbon-cutting ceremony, a crowd of Harvard Lions Club and Clear Path NE members gathered in front of the new training area, along with three soon-to-be-certified service dogs. Johnson spoke about the project and the Lions Club’s commitment to service and praised Clear Path NE for the work it does to support veterans. “We’ve developed a fairly deep relationship with the folks here at Clear Path,” he said. “What drew us here was not only the incredible mission they have taken on to serve those who have served us, but also the bold and audacious way they are going about doing it.”

Bulger and Jeannine Germain, executive officer at Clear Path NE, handed out plaques to each of the organizations that helped make building the outdoor training area possible. “It takes a village, and we are so fortunate to have met the Harvard Lions,” Bulger said. The two then introduced three veterans, Chuck, Kelly, and Mike, and their black Labrador retrievers Harry, Fitch, and Spirit, respectively. These three service dogs have finished their two-year training and are ready to begin assisting their new families. Bulger and Germain presented the pairs with plaques officially certifying the service dogs and commemorating their graduation from training. “It’s an honor to be able to share these certifications with a group so that we can recognize publicly the hard work that goes into service dog training,” Bulger said.

The Harvard Lions Club will continue to assist Clear Path NE, Johnson added. Not only will the club be donating handmade face masks, but it will be renovating two wellness rooms in the building. Bulger said one room will be a yoga and mindfulness studio, and the other will be dedicated to treatments such as reiki, acupuncture, and art therapy.

Clear Path NE is located in a large brick building that was a military hospital in the 1930s. With what was once an operating room upstairs and rooms that had been a jail and a morgue in the basement, the building has interesting historical roots and military ties, but it needs to be redone inside to accommodate its new purpose, Germain said. The renovation project is well underway, however, especially due to help from organizations like the Harvard Lions Club.

“The sky’s the limit,” Germain said. “We’ll plug in the ideas as we come up with them. We have plenty of space to do it all.”

During a tour of the facility, Germain explained the many programs the organization will offer once the building is renovated. For instance, there is a wellness wing with office space for clinical health care tenants, and where the Lions Club will be expanding the space to include the two new wellness rooms. The building also has the indoor service dog training area, a kitchen to offer culinary classes, a function hall for serving meals and hosting large events, and space for food and toiletry donations, as well as space for a future dog grooming facility, barber shop, and resiliency gym.

Together, Bulger and Johnson cut the ribbon hanging across the entrance of the new fence, officially opening the outdoor training area and a new opportunity for Clear Path.

Trainer Changes Lives

Seizures have affected Bre Upmeyer’s life since the third grade.

Her epilepsy diagnosis changed how her peers viewed her, it changed how she learned, it made her the last of her friends to get a drivers license. But it didn’t change her dreams.

Upmeyer had always dreamed of following in her mother’s footsteps and becoming a cosmetologist.

“This has been my dream job ever since I was little,” Upmeyer said.

Upmeyer struggled academically in high school, but graduated from cosmetology school and began to thrive working at a hair salon. She was able to move into an apartment with a roommate and start living her own life.

But this summer Upmeyer’s seizures got worse. In August she had such a severe seizure that she had to stop working and move back in with her parents. She couldn’t drive and was constantly in fear of when she would have her next seizure.

“Being a 22 year old, it’s hard living with your parents,” Upmeyer said. “My parents are awesome and very very supportive with this.”

That’s when Upmeyer decided it was time to get a service dog to warn her of oncoming seizures and hopefully give her back some of her independence.

Despite business being bad during the pandemic, owner of K9 Country Club Nick Lungu offered to train Upmeyer’s dog, Oakley, for free if she could cover the costs of boarding the dog while he’s being trained.

K9 Country Club in Spokane Valley offers basic dog training along with more intense training for service animals. They also have an on-site veterinary clinic, a doggie day care, and animal boarding facilities.

During the pandemic the usually full facility has struggled to make ends meet with customers working from home and not traveling boarding and daycare use has dropped off.

“We have multiple departments that are barely sustaining us,” Lungu said.

But Lungu wanted to keep his employees on and give back to community so he took on a few extra dogs pro bono.

“I try to take on two to three charity cases a year,” Lungu said. “That’s our way of blessing the community back.”

Upmeyer came to K9 Country Club having already purchased her dog Oakley, a Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle mix, known as a Bernedoodle. Lungu evaluated Oakley and found that he had already bonded with Upmeyer, even as a young puppy.

They began training in September and Lungu hopes the entire process will take about a year and a half. Lungu and some of his staff members are donating their time to train the dog, while Upmeyer covers the cost of boarding Oakley four days a week. Normally training a service dog like this would cost tens of thousands of dollars for training alone, Lungu said.

Upmeyer was diagnosed with epilepsy after she started having absence seizures, that involved staring spells during a brief abnormal electrical activity in the brain, in third grade. About five years later she began having tonic-clonic seizures, that caused her to lose consciousness and convulse. They also took even longer to recover from.

A lot of things trigger Upmeyer’s seizures, she said, from stress to how spicy her food is. After seven years of adjusting her medication, Upmeyer finally settled into a good regimen she said.

Then when she was 20, Upmeyer’s seizures worsened. She was at home one evening when she had a severe seizure.

“I actually had broken my whole face,” she said.

She was sitting down to have dinner with her family when she fell face first out of her chair hitting her teeth on the hardwood floors, Upmeyer said.

“At our house we have two teeth marks on our hardwood floors because I hit so hard,” Upmeyer said with a chuckle.

She lost a few of her teeth and broke her jaw. Upmeyer still deals with the injuries from that seizure including having ongoing dental work.

“Seizures have always impacted my life but after that one it made a really big impact on my life,” Upmeyer said.

Upmeyer hopes that with Oakley warning her of oncoming seizures she can go to a private safe place to experience a seizure and hopefully avoid severe injury in the future.

“My biggest fear is having other people see it,” Upmeyer said of other people witnessing her seizures. “Because it traumatizes them, it really, really does, especially if I hit my face or if I break something, you know, it just freaks them out.”

Knowing she’ll have a warning before experiencing a seizure also takes away the fear of the unknown, Upmeyer said. The constant stress of potentially having a seizure anytime added to the likelihood she would have one, she said.

“It will take so much stress off because he’ll be able to warn me,” she said. “I’ll go out and not have to worry about having one you know, and that’s already a huge part of it.”

While the largest expense of training is covered, the cost of boarding Oakley will still be thousands of dollars over the next year, Upmeyer said. She has been unable to return to work full time since her last seizure in August so Upmeyer created a GoFundMe in hopes of raising the rest of the money.

Even with the uncertainty of how she is going to finish paying for Oakley’s training, Upmeyer said she is thankful to have come this far.

“I’m really like thankful for being to have Oakley because he’s literally going to, like, save my life,” Upmeyer said. “They have just blessed me so much to the point where I am lucky.”

Love for mia she’s the best kind puppy I can ever have

Best photo of mia she’s the best kind puppy I can ever have she’s my BFF I love her with everything in me I hope everything could go good for her while she’s growing up

Emotional therapy dog

Chloe is emotional therapy dog and I wonder when I’m going get my card in the mail

Stolen Service Dog Reunites With Owner

Family Needs A Service Dog

Seven years ago, Avery Edwards was born with cytomegalovirus (CMV). The virus left him with long-term challenges, including hearing impairment. At age 4 he was diagnosed with prioproception (meaning he has difficulty determining where his body is in space) and vestibular dysfunction. More recently, he received a diagnosis of autism.

“When Avery is told he has to go to the doctor he is struck with fear that sometimes we cannot get him out the door,” the family writes. “This comes from the fact that he has had six surgeries and is only 7 years old. He is also very scared to try new things because of his sensory disorders (proprioception and vestibular dysfunction). These sensory issues cause issues with balance and being able to tell where your body is in its current space.”

As his parents researched ways to help Avery, they learned the family dog, Domino, could be trained as a service dog, providing assistance with Avery’s various challenges.

Avery had already developed a strong bond with Domino. As the family began looking into local trainers that could help Domino become a service dog, they got in touch with trainer Katie Ashby of Legendary Service Dogs. Both Avery and Domino were evaluated for service work and told that they were good candidates for training. It was great news for the Edwards family—except that the training would cost $8,000, an expense not covered at all by insurance.

So in addition to her parenting responsibilities and new at-home dog-training regimen, Avery’s mom Chelsey Edwards also became a fund-raiser.

Avery’s family has tirelessly sought ways to raise money for Domino’s training. But none has gotten the results they hope for. Smiths and Walmart will not let you set up fundraisers on their property unless you’re affiliated with a larger organization, Chelsey said. They set up a fundraiser with Waffle Love in Jordan Landing, where a percentage of each order would be donated to the family when a customer mentioned the “service dog fundraiser.” But “nobody showed up.” They’ve run a similar fundraiser with Beans and Brews, where donors win gift cards but without many takers. They’ve created a GoFundMe (which to date has raised just under $400) and a Facebook page to document Domino’s training and raise funds. Donors there have given about $200. Most of what they’ve raised so far is from friends and family.

Chelsey Edwards understands why donations have been so difficult to come by. “The economy is bad; many are unemployed,” she said. “COVID has caused delayed donations.”

And though they’re grateful for each donation, they’re still far from their $8,000 goal after months of effort. “I’m not really sure how to get the word out there,” Chelsey said.

The family has foregone little luxuries like ordering out or going to a movie so that any extra funds can go toward Domino’s training. “It’s exhausting, and it’s tiring,” she said. “I just keep hoping that we’ll get a break.”

The family has proceeded with Domino’s training even though they’re thousands of dollars from their goal. He began training three months ago, and they’ll continue to pay for the courses one by one as they can afford them. The course he’s working on currently is “dog-friendly active training” and includes such fundamental skills as loose-leash walking and ignoring distractions in public places. Chelsey said, “We go [to training] once a week for an hour. We work on it at home with him and take him out four or five times a day.”

The next stage of training will help him navigate non-dog-friendly places. Then Domino will begin his service training. Boarding stays, recommended at this stage, are $1,000. From start to finish, it will take two years.

As a trained service dog, Domino will be able to assist Avery in navigating the world with hearing impairment, as well as deep pressure therapy to help with his proprioception.

Though the goal is to complete Domino’s training within two years, finances may prevent that from happening. But the Edwards family is dedicated to finishing the training no matter how long it takes.

Having Domino by his side will help Avery no matter how old he is. But at this point, “doing everyday things with [Avery] is difficult,” Chelsey said. The sooner Domino is trained, the sooner the whole family will be able to enjoy life a little bit more. “It is exhausting and discouraging that it’s not happening as fast as it would like it to. We’re just relaxed people, trying to do what we can to help our son be the best he can be.”

You can donate and follow Domino’s training journey on Facebook at “Domino Service Dog in Training.”

Traveling With Service Animals

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) commends a newly issued final rule from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that amends its regulation under the Air Carrier Access Act regarding the air transport of service animals.

The final rule is intended to ensure that the nation’s air transportation system is safe for the traveling public and accessible to individuals with disabilities, according to the DOT’s Dec. 2 final rule.

“For too long, some people have taken advantage of the service animal program by fraudulently claiming disability needs so they could bring a ridiculous range of animals on flights,” said Sen. Burr. “I’ve worked for years to create stricter service animal guidelines, and I applaud the [DOT] for recognizing the importance of creating a safer and more accessible air transportation system.”

Specifically, the final rule defines a service animal as a dog that is individually trained to work for the benefit of a person with a disability; no longer considers an emotional support animal to be a service animal; requires airlines to treat psychiatric service animals the same as other service animals; and permits airlines to require forms developed by the Department of Transportation attesting to a service animal’s health, behavior and training, according to the text of the final rule.

“The Department of Transportation’s revised rule is a common-sense fix and a big win for Americans and for veterans with disabilities,” Sen. Burr said. “It protects the ability of those with legitimate needs to safely travel with trained service animals.”

During consideration of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act in October 2018, Sen. Burr negotiated the inclusion of an amendment to require that the FAA establish a rulemaking to define the term “service animal” for air transportation, and to develop standards for service and emotional support animals carried on airplanes, according to his office.

The senator’s negotiation resulted in the DOT seeking public comments in January for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on traveling by air with service animals.

K9 Officers

Five K-9 officers in Jasper County recently received gifts to help protect them while they are on the job.

Blue Line Tails, an organization established in March by Michael Messer, got a $7,700 donation in August from the group 100+ Sun City Women Who Care that paid for five body armor sets with patrol collars.

Andrea Hoerner, one the Sun City group’s founding members, said it has given away more than $67,000 in donations. At their quarterly meetings, members can nominate any local nonprofit to receive funds. The group votes on which charity will receive the donations.

“Each member writes a check directly to that charity,” she said. “Member Vicki Mack nominated Blue Line Tails after she met Messer and his K-9, Grimm, at Lowe’s where she works part-time. She was really impressed with what Messer was doing and their need for K-9 vests.”

Messer has been with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office for four years.

“I started Blue Line Tails because I saw a lack of help for service animals,” Messer said. “Law enforcement agencies have budgets and many of them are limited as to what it can provide to its service animals.”

Messer said he also wants to help families who need assistance in obtaining a service dog, paying veterinary bills or obtaining equipment, and veterans facilities with service animals that need assistance.

“My wife and I started Blue Line Tails with the goal to make a difference,” he said.

On Nov. 9, the five teams receiving new gear returned to Sun City to meet with some of those who donated to the cause.

“When Michael returned to our November meeting — his charity was nominated in August — he brought four other K-9 officers with him with their dogs,” Hoernersaid. “All with their vests. The ladies were so appreciative to be able to help out.”

Messser said his organization is raising funds for three more sets of body armor for K-9 officers.

“God is good and I am grateful he placed a group such as this in our path,” he said.

Veteran And Her Service Dog

Wearing a mask and social-distancing are stressful for most people, but adding in PTSD and sexual assault provides additional strain, one Murfreesboro resident says. However, she says she is doing better thanks to her service dog, and she wants to help other veterans.

Stefanie Marvin-Miller is a wife, university student, veteran and public speaker on the topics of sexual assault in the military and service dogs. She said she was medically discharged after being diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder following an alleged sexual assault by a servicemember in January 2016.

As she was leaving the military with a PTSD diagnosis, she began applying to veteran service dog organizations. After sending 15 applications, Marvin-Miller said she received 11 rejection letters from organizations, which said her PTSD from sexual assault did not qualify for help – they recognized PTSD only from combat trauma, she said. Southeastern Guide Dogs of Palmetto, Fla., said “Yes.” A non-profit called Sierra Delta helped her find Southeastern. She got connected with her service dog, Leland, a yellow Lab.

Navigating the pandemic has added a layer of complexity to her life, said Marvin-Miller, a student at Middle Tennessee State University. She went from being in classes every day with thousands of people around her to “nothing,” being inside all day.

Having a service dog is a major responsibility, as it needs ongoing work to perform to keep its training fresh, she said. Staying at home meant Leland lost his job except for a few tasks around the house. She went from drilling him 10 minutes a day to one hour daily to keep him occupied. Bored working dogs tend to act out. “It’s a relationship,” she said about having a service dog.

Marvin-Miller said that for her, avoiding people is not conducive to healing.

“It’s not cathartic to me,” she said. “I really need to be around people. “I was on edge like before I got Leland.”

Furthermore, while masks may be helpful, they were a trigger for her as a sexual assault survivor, Marvin-Miller said. She said that even as she made progress in going to the grocery store or to campus, “it was like a switch flipped,” and Leland had to help. For three months after the pandemic started, she said she went out only into the yard to train him and walk in the neighborhood.

She said she began slowly going out into the public after three months. She would still have panic attacks at times in the grocery store or on campus while getting supplies. Further complicating her wearing a mask, she underwent a high-risk surgery a couple of years ago and experienced breathing issues for unknown reasons, she said.

During her time at home, she said she began sewing masks for the Murfreesboro Police Department with her husband, Joshua, and her parents, Michael and Vanessa Happel. The city recognized her work with a citizens’ award, she said. The family reached production levels of 50 masks a day and gave them away.

She said she forced herself to talk to people as they picked up the masks, giving her a social outlet. Making the masks was fun, she said. It took months of working with Leland for her to be able to go out in public and wear a mask, she said. She attends two on-campus classes this semester, so she has to visit MTSU in person.

“Leland – God bless him,” Marvin-Miller said. “He did his job every day. He knew all my signals. He took my leash and took me out of Kroger before I knew I was scared.”

One of Leland’s tasks is to sense when Marvin-Miller is about to panic, she said. At such a time, he will take his leash and walk through the nearest door. That exercise is called “find the door,” and it is something they practice as play.

Marvin-Miller said that during the pandemic, she went to work for Sierra Delta.

B.J. Ganem, founder of Sierra Delta, which is based in Wisconsin, told the Murfreesboro Post his organization focuses on any type of dog that a veteran needs. These veterans do not always need a service dog, but may just need a guide dog or a well-trained pet.

Service dogs like Leland take expensive training, and there are only about 1,000 trained per year, Ganem said. There are 18 million veterans, and 150,000 need some sort of public-access dog. Veterans are dying every day, including some who will never receive a dog.

“We think that’s wrong,” he said.

Ganem said this mission is his passion. The Marine veteran’s left leg was blown off below the knee in Iraq in 2004, he said. He divorced, filed for bankruptcy and was angry. He said he was close to committing suicide but came across an old English bulldog, which had no training; caring for the dog gave him purpose.

Sierra Delta has helped 400 veterans, including Marvin-Miller, since being incorporated in 2017, Ganem said.

“We’re about really focusing on a relationship that the veterans can focus on too without saying they are broken,” Ganem said. “Most clients don’t need a full-service dog. But they can be better with a dog.”

Canine Police Helps Raise Money

Come January, Police Service Dog Nixon will be ready to put his paws up and enjoy retirement.

While the retirement is well-deserved for the now-10-year-old dog, Canine Unit Const. Derrick Fox will transition from handler/partner to owner. That means veterinary bills once paid by the Regina Police Service will now fall to Fox to foot.

“The amount of work that these dogs are put to, the end of their life is when they start seeing the joint pain or hip damage and stuff like that,” Fox said. “It can be expensive with medication, so that’s where the SPCA steps in.”

The Saskatchewan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) launched the Stryker K-9 Care Fund in 2015, said program director Sandra Anderson.

“When law enforcement dogs retire, they generally don’t have any sort of support from the agency that they worked for, so the owner of the animal is responsible for all costs at that point,” she said. “These dogs have worked really hard throughout their careers and they may require surgeries related to the intense workload that they’ve had while serving the police force.” She added that medical conditions can crop up as dogs age, which also require care.

Fox said German Shepherds like Nixon commonly develop hip and back issues over time — something that is exacerbated by the nature of the work they do when serving as PSDs.

“Most of it, it’s repetitive strain,” he said. “Jumping in and out of the truck, it’s something very unnatural for them … They land on their shoulders quite frequently or they jump over fences and they’re landing and jarring their shoulders. So over time, over the seven or eight years the dog works in the unit, that arthritis builds up.”

In Nixon’s case, he’s already had to have surgery on his back legs so he currently works as a drug dog, keeping him from having to do demanding physical work. (Fox has a second, younger dog for those duties.) Nixon is on a muscle relaxant to help him walk, so Fox knows he will need the fund going forward for things like the vet mobility clinic they use. Other bills include things like yearly physicals and dental work, he said.

Anderson said since the Stryker fund’s inception, it’s given out just shy of $25,000 to 21 retired dogs belonging to various Saskatchewan police services — mainly in Regina and Saskatoon — and the Canada Border Services Agency. Funding is provided for things like yearly physicals, medications, dietary supplements recommended by vets and surgeries deemed medically necessary. Money is also used to pay for euthanizing and cremating dogs when the time comes. Anderson and Fox pointed out the fund isn’t usually enough to cover off the entire bill, but rather helps out with the overall cost.

Police services fundraise to ensure there’s enough in the fund when it’s needed. Both Saskatoon and Regina police have often done calendars featuring the dogs on their respective units, but Fox said Regina police changed things up this year. This time, they’re selling stuffed dogs with all money raised going to the Stryker fund.

Fox said the stuffies were already on hand at the RPS, usually given out to kids police encounter during their work to comfort or make them feel better.

Family Gets Reunited With Service Dog

A Michigan couple was reunited with their rescue service dog after spending three years looking for the dog in an emotional reunion made possible just in time for Christmas. The black Labrador retriever mix named Lola, or as Steve and Debra Mejeur affectionally refer to her, Lola Pup or Poo Butt, is home and the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

“Are you ready for this?” Debra said to Inside Edition Digital before sharing Saturday was her birthday. “So yeah, I got an early birthday present, slash Christmas present.”

Debra recalled the day her dog had gone missing. It was in October 2017, when Debra and Lola were visiting friends in Elk Grove Village, Illinois for the day that Lola managed to escape the fenced-in yard she had been in. After she disappeared, they searched almost every weekend over the course of 16 months hoping to find her, traveling from their home in Kalamazoo to Illinois.

But Lola had vanished without a trace.

“I cried all the way home and a few days after because it felt like I abandoned her. There was so much guilt. I felt like I didn’t do enough to keep her safe,” she said.

Debra said she spent endless hours joining different Facebook groups and shelters in the search for her missing dog. She said she even joined the Greenbay Packers fan club page, hoping maybe someone would know something.

For Debra, Lola just wasn’t a family member, but was also her lifeline; her personal service dog that she said she trained herself, that knew how to help her when she had a seizure.

“When I have grand mal seizures, I wake up confused. Lola would lay next to me until I came to,” she explained.  “It was always such a comfort.”

After more than a year-and-a-half of trying to find Lola, Debra decided it was time to move on and they ended up adopting a dog they named Maddox, a black Labrador mix that just happened to be the same breed and color as Lola.

“He was labeled unadoptable. He was sick with heartworm. We didn’t care that he had heartworm. This felt right for us. We would take care of him,” said Debra. “Part of me felt like it was a sign not to let another dog die when it could have been saved. Maybe Lola was telling us to get him.”

Then, on Dec. 3, the phone rang. Debra answered and on the other end of the line, a computerized voice from a shelter told her Lola had been found. “I was stunned,” said Debra. “I kept on saying my husband’s name over and over. It didn’t seem real to me.”

She and her husband hugged, overjoyed by the news, and they went to the Illinois shelter that they soon learned had only been 10 miles away from where they visited friends in Illinois.

Debra soon learned Lola’s story of survival. She had been living in the woods for the last three years, and a retired couple had been looking after her, feeding her and giving her water for the last two-and-a-half years. Each time the couple tried to bring her inside their home, Lola would runaway. At one point, a neighbor called animal control, hoping they’d be able to get Lola on a leash, but they were unable to catch her, Debra said.

“We had the polar vortex last year when it was negative 30 and Lola was living in the woods and she survived it,” Debra said. “People can’t even do that.”

Finally, the couple earned Lola’s trust enough that they were able to finally put her on a leash. They drove her to the Dupage County Animal Shelter, where Lola’s microchip was discovered, and Debra and Steven were contacted. Debra and Steven were reunited with their little girl two days after Lola arrived at the shelter.

Debra recalled how overwhelmed she was with emotion. She said at first, Lola appeared hesitant, but once she called her by her nicknames, “Lola Pup” and “Poo Butt,” Lola began to slowly creep towards her. After a few sniffs and licks, she realized it was her mom.

“She burrowed into me smiling and running around me,” said Debra, whose husband was thrilled to see the pup, too, and was busy filming the long-awaited reunion.

Debra said the first thing Lola did once she was got home was drink and make up for lost time.

“She ran right to the water holder and drank about a gallon of water at one time, then we cuddled. It’s unbelievable. I’m still reeling from this,” said Debra, who said Lola had to get two of her teeth removed and was also being treated for Lyme disease.

Debra hasn’t yet met the people who helped care for Lola, but hopes to one day soon. In the meantime, she’ll be sending them lots of photos of Lola. “They are part of our family now,” said Debra.

Hero Pups Program

 It’s been four joyful and sometimes chaotic years for Laura Barker, training service dogs that will go on to assist veterans and first responders recovering from physical and emotional damage sustained while on the job or serving in the armed forces.

Barker founded the entirely volunteer-run nonprofit Hero Pups in 2016, and this week, she said her organization will prepare to place its 100th service dog with a retired veteran. She said she has already partnered 40 dogs this year with individuals and has another 23 in training.

“You can’t buy the feeling when the individual meets their dog for the first time,” Barker said. “We say even show dogs need someone to look up to, so they created service dogs.”

The story of how Barker came to start an organization dedicated to pairing service dogs with veterans and first responders suffering from emotional trauma connected to their service is rooted in her own personal trauma. Her son was shot three times in the chest serving in Afghanistan with the Marines in 2010.

As her son was recovering stateside in a military hospital in 2011, Barker said she saw firsthand how much service animals could help soldiers on their way to recovery when she saw how a seriously injured soldier responded to a therapy dog that was brought in to visit with soldiers.

“When I saw how much this service dog helped alleviate some of his symptoms, not just the physical but the hidden wounds as well, I said, ‘how could I not do this?’” Barker said. “I didn’t have a nonprofit back then, I was just a Marine Mom who wanted to help and that started this difficult but wonderful journey I’ve been on since. I tell people I’ve been housebreaking dogs for seven years but I don’t keep a single one.”

Barker said not all dogs make good service animals. She said she looks for mixed breeds because they are typically healthier, and they must have the right temperament. She and her volunteer trainers’ experience profiling potential candidate service animals and the behavioral evaluations they undergo helps refine the process.

“The dogs’ individual personality has to be such that they want to work, and that’ll be what makes them a long-term success,” Barker said. “They can’t just be cute and loveable. There needs to be an eagerness to please, but have a certain amount of drive and smarts.”

In order to qualify for a service dog through Hero Pups, the veteran must have been discharged from the military with honorable standing and seeking out some form assistance, like mental health counseling. First responders seeking a service dog have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and are receiving support treatment.

“It’s so worthwhile to help a dog that might have otherwise been homeless or face an uncertain future,” Barker said. “Then, to train that dog to help our heroes who serve us every day.”

Since launching, Barker credits her team of volunteer trainers for helping the dogs, and eventually the individual-service dog team, train and grow together. She said there is also a team of volunteer puppy raisers who tackle the hard work of house-breaking and manners.

Barker also said prior to the start of the pandemic, Hero Pups was running a program with the state Department of Corrections to bring puppies into jails where inmates would care for and train them.

“The inmates work with the dogs on specialized task training and they care for them,” Barker said. “It helps them on their road to recovery and gives them a purpose while they finish out their sentence.”

The only times things can become chaotic for Barker, she said, is when veterans’ and first responders’ current service dogs transition out of its working livelihood and the individual is seeking a new service partner.

Enzo’s Purpose

Alexandra Padilla’s cardiologist recommended that she have a service dog so that she could have a little more independence, and make it easier for her to do things on her own.

Padilla was matched with Enzo, a Golden Retriever medical alert service dog, in late March. Since then, she has come to visit him at least once a month.

“Our bond got really strong now,” Padilla said.

Padilla is in the transfer process. In this process, the trainer will work with the owner so they understand and are comfortable having the dog perform all of the tasks taught. The transfer process will last anywhere from five days to one week depending on the dog, owner, tasks, and more. For the transfer, the owner has the option to travel to Doggie Do Good facility, or they can send a trainer to the owner’s home.

Doggie Do Good and Doggie Does Good are the same in-home environment located in Arroyo Grande. At Doggie Do Good, Inc., each service dog is trained to perform tasks specific to the owner. To match the right dog to the right owner, Doggie Do Good does temperament testing.

“Temperament testing consists in finding a dog that is easygoing,” said Sandy Sandberg, Dog Do Good founder and CEO. “A dog that says how can I serve you? What can I do for you?”

There are different kinds of service dogs. Stability dogs are dogs who will assist people with some kind of a mobility issue.

“We find dogs that like to pick up items, that want to go get things, also more sturdy, more outgoing,” Sandberg said.

For someone that might have a quieter lifestyle, PTSD or they need a dog to do nighttime alerts, they look for dogs that are more mellow and also very sensitive to the person’s needs.

“If someone has autism, they might need a calmer dog,” Sandberg said.

Doggie Do Good offers a lifetime training guarantee. The training guarantee states that for the rest of the dog’s life the owner will have access to them over the phone and via email regarding any questions and concerns. The owner will also have free, one hour-long private lessons at our Doggie Do Good facility. This training guarantee covers anything the dog learned at Doggie Do Good.

“Enzo alerts me to my blood pressure,” Padilla said. “He is letting me know two to three minutes before I start feeling any symptoms, so then I can sit down. He will stay by my side until I start to feel better, and he will not let me get up either.”

Because there are so many different tasks Doggie do Good can train a service dog to do, the cost of the training is dependent on the tasks taught and the difficulty of those tasks.

“Go through the proper channels to get the right dog so that the dog is performing the tasks, not only when it’s going out in the public or when it’s at home, whatever settings it’s in, but it is having manners and also making sure it’s keeping the public safe,” Sandberg said.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990) a dog is considered a Service Dog if it has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.  These dogs are more than just pets; they are companions, and often lifelines. A service dog will provide safety, confidence, independence, and companionship to its owner.

Service Animals On Planes

The days of pets flying with their owners in airplane cabins for free are coming to an end.

The Department of Transportation issued a final rule Dec. 2 covering animals on airlines. It decided that only dogs can fly as service animals, and companions that passengers use for emotional support don’t count.

The rule aims to settle years of tension between airlines and passengers who bring their pets on board for free by saying they need them for emotional help. Under a longstanding department policy, all the passengers needed was a note from a health professional.

Airlines argued that passengers abused the situation to bring a menagerie of animals on board including cats, turtles, pot-bellied pigs and, in one case, a peacock.

The agency said it was rewriting the rules partly because passengers carrying unusual animals on board “eroded the public trust in legitimate service animals.” It also cited the increasing frequency of people “fraudulently representing their pets as service animals,” and a rise in misbehavior by emotional-support animals, ranging from urinating on the carpet to biting other passengers.

The Department of Transportation proposed the new rule in January and received more than 15,000 comments. While 3,000 commenters favored dropping protections for support animals, 6,000 spoke in favor of them, including people suffering from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, the department said.

The Paralyzed Veterans of America said the mere presence of a dog, cat or rabbit – even if untrained – can help some travelers, and pet fees of up to $175 one-way are a hardship on low-income people.

The new rule will force passengers with support animals to check them into the cargo hold – and pay a pet fee – or leave them at home. The agency estimated that airlines will gain up to $59.6 million a year in pet fees.

Delta Air Lines says it carried about 250,000 animals including service dogs in 2017 and about 600,000 last year.

Under the final rule, which will go into effect at the end of the month, a service animal is a dog trained to help a person with a physical or psychiatric disability. Advocates for veterans and others had pushed for inclusion of psychiatric service dogs. Airlines will be able to require owners to vouch for the dog’s health, behavior and training. Airlines can require people with a service dog to turn in paperwork up to 48 hours before a flight, but they can’t bar those travelers from checking in online like other passengers.

Airlines can require that service dogs to be leashed at all times, and they can bar dogs that show aggressive behavior. There have been incidents of support animals biting passengers and growling or barking at guide dogs for the blind.

Airlines for America, a trade group for the biggest U.S. carriers, said the new rule will protect passengers and airline employees while helping people travel with trained service dogs.

The Department of Transportation stood by an earlier decision to prohibit airlines from banning entire dog breeds as service animals. That is a setback for Delta Air Lines, which banned “pit bull-type dogs” in 2018, a move that was criticized by disability advocates.

Delta, however, is giving no indication of backing down. In a statement, a Delta spokeswoman said the airline is reviewing the new rule but, “At this time, there are no changes to Delta’s current service and support animal policies.”

My girl suzzie!

Susie just keeping her eye on me I wasn’t feeling good and she leans up against me and watches my face

Police Gets Service Dog

More than 10 years after losing his leg in the line of duty, police dispatcher Don Schultz is getting the service dog he needs thanks to a Utah-based nonprofit.

In 2019, Schultz paid a Tampa area business nearly $10,000 to train and provide him with a service dog with the hope of regaining his independence. But Schultz says the trainer broke the contract leaving him with an untrained puppy.

“I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to turn I didn’t have any more money,” he said.

Schultz turned to ABC Action News for help. Our calls and emails to nonprofits led to Labs for Liberty, a Utah charity that trains and donates service dogs to veterans.

Labs for Liberty contacted Canine Champions for Veterans, a nonprofit that gifts service dogs to first responders.

After hearing of Schultz’s plight, Canine Champions donated a yellow lab puppy named Ryder. The nonprofit spent the last year training Ryder to assist Schultz with everyday tasks such as picking up items and opening doors.

In November, Ryder was ready to fly to Tampa and permanently move in with his new partner.

“I think it is going to help me so much,” Schultz said, as he waited for Ryder’s flight to land.

Canine Champions trainer Joe Tomsich accompanied Ryder on the trip and spent two days instructing Don on how to work with his new partner.

“It is a thrill to be the guy who gets to work right alongside people who’ve made sacrifices,” Tomsich said.

Seconds after Ryder and Schultz met, the pup began sniffing his new companion then licking him on the cheek.

“It is an amazing feeling. Words don’t express how I feel now,” Schultz said.

Before leaving the airport, Ryder fell into step with Schultz’s wheelchair quickly taking his position as a permanent member of the family.

“A Godsend, it was awesome,” Schultz said. “Made dreams come true that’s for sure.”

Warrior Canine Connection

A Warrior Canine Connection dog has been honored with the AKC’s 2020 Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence in the service dog category.

Beavercreek Ohio residents Ryan Garrison and Luke, a six-year-old Labrador Retriever and mobility service dog, were paired up by WCC in 2016.

Garrison, who enlisted in the Air Force after the 9/11 attacks, was severely injured while deployed in Iraq in 2006. His injuries included fractured and torn discs in his back, which have resulted in numerous surgeries, chronic pain and anxiety.

Luke not only helps Garrison with his mobility and everyday tasks but since being paired with him, Garrison has been able to better control his anxiety and PTSD.

“I feel beyond blessed to be able to share what Luke, and other WCC service dogs, can do,” said Garrison. “My hope is to encourage other veterans to take a step forward to seek help.”

The official announcement was made earlier this month on an AKC.tv special, which featured a daily episode on each of the five ACE award categories.

“Ryan and Luke have had a special bond since day one,” said WCC Founder and Executive Director Rick Yount. “Luke started healing humans as soon as he was named after 1st Sgt Luke Mercardante, a proud Marine killed in action in Kandahar Province Afghanistan.”

Yount said the service dog brought comfort to the Mercardante family, the many veterans who helped train him in WCC’s Mission Based Trauma Recovery program, and especially to Garrison and his entire family.

In January of this year, Ryan, Luke and his son were involved in a rollover vehicle crash, which triggered flashbacks of his incident in Iraq. Luke gently nudged and pawed at Ryan to pull him out of his anxiety attack. Once they were pulled to safety, Luke calmly walked over to him and took the comfort command position that he was taught at WCC. Even during such a traumatic incident, Luke followed his training and put comforting his owner ahead of anything else.

That experience inspired Garrison to form, Valor Therapeutics, a nonprofit he and his wife are launching to serve active duty veterans and first responders in Dayton and the surrounding area. They plan to provide creative arts therapies, such as music and art therapy, to individuals who’ve seen and experienced traumatic life events.

Penny for a thought

Out and about in Montrose County, Colorado during his training with Iron Will.  Aston at 7 months old is already a caring companion.

Little Boy Needs Alert Dog

A few months ago, we brought you the story of a Springfield boy who suffered a life-threatening seizure.

His parents are now raising thousands of dollars to get him a sidekick that could be lifesaving, but they’re still a bit short on funds.

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