The Washington Post has a story about a new program to assist two groups of wounded veterans, “Vets with PTSD train dogs to help comrades“:
… The program trains Labradors and golden retrievers – including many offspring of Yount’s dog Gabe – as lifelong service dogs and companions for veterans who use wheelchairs. But for their first two years of life, these dogs spread their love around in another way. They are trained by veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. For many of these psychologically damaged warriors, this human-canine connection provides them with emotional sustenance, a mission and important lessons in patience that help them get on with their lives.
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“It was challenging, and it tested my patience, but it taught me to have patience again, and that was something I had really lost because of PTSD,” said former Army reconnaisance officer Amanda Heidenreiter, 26, of Columbia, of her experience training Owen, a golden retriever. She had returned from Iraq terrified of crowds and children, and “Owen helped me relax, calm my anger.”
[…] __
The vets who train the dogs spend several months with them, sometimes longer, and letting go can be difficult. Yount said that some experience sleep problems after their dogs go, but “processing that sense of loss in saying goodbye to their dog has been a valuable gateway to processing other loss issues that have been hampering their recovery. ”
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And it’s terribly important for veterans to feel they are continuing a mission that held them together through the violence and stress of war. “PTSD carries a stigma, that you’re broken and wounded,” said Yount, “And many guys have guilt for not still being in the fight. The idea of Paws for Purple Hearts is you can be part of the war effort while you’re getting treatment.”
[…] __
This is where the dual benefits of the program are apparent. The vets are working on behalf of a wheelchair-using vet, but are learning – or relearning – the emotional skills needed to manage a dog that will help them function in a world of normal human feelings and interactions.
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“The training of a dog requires you to emote,” Yount says. “That’s hard for a guy with PTSD who’s emotionally numb. But if you tell them it’s necessary to train this dog to help a fellow vet, there’s motivation. First, they have to sound happy. It’s fake. But there’s a concept that says, ‘Fake it until you make it.’ Within a few days, it sounds more and more sincere. Pretending to sound happy actually impacts your feeling of happiness.”
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Heidenreiter, the former reconnaisance officer, said training a golden retriever named Owen forced her to go into malls, restaurants and stores so that the dog would be a good companion for a physically disabled veteran. Doing so terrified her at first, but eventually she learned to relax…
There’s also a slide show, which starts with Yount explaining Gabe’s expert qualifications: “He will train you to pet him.”
Yutsano
ZOMG PUPPEH!! Best part of service dogs is they are some of the happiest dogs out there. My uncle’s German shepherd Monty (my uncle is blind) was probably one of the sweetest friendliest dos, especially in his off-leash hours. Unfortunately he died in an accident. The good news is my uncle is training right now to get a new one.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: You continually surprise me–in a good way.
And, awwwwww! Puppeh! Happy sigh.
WyldPirate
Just for you Obots–Obama gets his war on as he is going to ignore his 2011 withdrawal timeline:
White House moves away from 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal timeline:
Nice job, Obama. Spill some more American blood and waste a few hundred more billion on that shithole in south-central Asia’
And how’s about Obama’s Catfood Commission boxing him into a fucking corner and dropping a dime on him with no notice, Obots? How’s Obama going to square his pledge to not cut SS with the Chairs of the Cat Food Commission recommending cutting COLAs for it?
And how’s about that sterling leadership from Obama? He’s out of the country and Pelosi has to stand up and say the Cat Food commissions chair rec’s are fucking stupid and unacceptable (how could they be anything else with that odious POS Allen Simpson and damn near as equally odious Bowles on it).
Obama’s silence is telling on both these issues. He probably has pulled his finger out of his ass only to wet it and stick it into the wind. ” Fuck principles, get re-elected” should be his new campaign slogan.
I don’t know how you Obot’s keep defending his weak-assed leadership. Furthermore, I don’t understand how y’all don’t get the fact that American people detest that sort of vacillating shit where someone won’t stand up for his/her principles and furthermore won’t stand up for the rule of law.
He’s gone in 2012. May the good FSM have mercy on our souls for the carnage the Rethugs are going to wreak with the keys to all of the government again.
MattR
@Yutsano:
Well, dogs really do seem to live to serve us and those service dogs are trained to take it to the extreme. Seems logical that they would think they had the perfect life.
I love the story (from a couple years ago) of one veteran whose dog, among other things, would sense if he was starting to get anxious in a crowded area and would stand up and circle around him to create an open space. Then there was the one of a guy who was stabbed in an ambush and the biggest thing his dog does for him is to “pop the corner” and check both ways at an intersection or in a new room so he knows its safe.
freelancer
My Best Friend in the entire world is returning from Ukraine as we speak due to some unforeseen medical complications. She may return to complete the 7 months left of her “deployment”, but she might be discharged from the Peace Corps to complete treatment. The best thing she has waiting for her when she comes home is her red heeler who goes by Coltrane. Great dog, but he barks a lot. I am so excited just to hear of them being reunited again. I think it’ll be a moment, wish Sharon and Coltrane luck.
asiangrrlMN
@freelancer: Good luck to Sharon and to Coltrane. Cute puppeh.
Yutsano
@freelancer: That is one sweet little puppeh right there.
WyldPirate
@MattR:
What a load of anthropomorphisizing crap.
Dogs “live don’t serve us” because they are our pets and they love us. They do so because during several million years of evolution, they adopted a lifestyle of allegiance to the pack and pack leader. They see us as “leaders” of their pack and food dispensers.
And they “think they have a perfect life”? Good gravy what sheer fucking sappy-assed goofiness. Try this on for size–maybe it’s a hell of a lot easier for a dog to “earn his keep” by wagging his tail and licking our faces than out running around trying to run down his own food. No conscious thoughts or plots necessary on the dog’s part whatsoever.
Jman
This is the other side of rescue dogs where the dogs rescue the humans. My dogs rescue me with happiness and joy every day. What does a rescue dog say in Minnesota? Woofda!
TheMightyTrowel
**Must not cry at work**
Reks
WyldPirate: This website is obviously beneath someone of your stature and intelligence. One has to wonder why you stick around and bother to take potshots at those to whom you express such contempt.
I am curious about why you think the “Cat Food Comission” has Obama boxed in. Nothing they propose is binding even if 14 people were to agree on something. I always thought this was basically a non-starter that Obama set up to make it look like he was taking the villager’s concerns over deficits and the debt seriously. I doubt he sees their present recommendations as palatable.
debit
From the article:
Anyone know what bill it is? Seems like something that deserves a letter or phone call to show support.
And can I please suggest that if you can’t pie WyldPirate, you refrain from giving it any attention in open threads, especially pet related? I’d like one fucking refuge from the bullshit, please.
AdamK
Thank you, Sen. Franken.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7zeBNGj0XE
MikeJ
@Reks: Reks, you’ll be happier with a pie filter. All you’ll ever hear the trolls do is talk about sweet, sweet pie.
brantl
Unfortunately, the dogs are helping those that have been through the meatgrinder make accessories for those going into the current meat grinder. That’s pretty fucking sad, to me.
JPL
@AdamK: Thanks for the link. I had seen it before but it is so timely to the story that Anne linked to. The dogs are preventive care for the soldiers.
EDIT: The ultimate preventive care would have been not going to war but that’s not where we are at..(the comment is added for the trolls among us.)
Matt
Nice to see us capitulating again.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/white-house-gives-in-on-bush-tax-cuts_n_781992.html
Josie
@debit: “And can I please suggest that if you can’t pie WyldPirate, you refrain from giving it any attention in open threads, especially pet related? I’d like one fucking refuge from the bullshit, please.”
This
WyldPirate
@Reks:
Because you’ll be watching the development of President Foldobama of the net 2 years as he desperately struggles to keep from losing the 36% of independents who flippe3d on him. If shit doesn’t straighten up with the economy. Obama will not win in Ohio or Wisconsin and probably not any of the rust belt states. He barely carried some states like NC and Virginia. He has no prayer of taking them again.
\
Keep kidding yourselves Obots. Obama will fold like a bitch on the over 250K tax cuts. He will fold on them without forcing offsets (which would be stupid given the shape of the economy.
You people need to wake the fuck up. Just because Obama has 80% approval of democrats, he can’t win without independents. He’s getting out maneuvered at every turn by the Rethugs.
It won’t matter soon whether he takes to heart the Cat Food Commission’s recommendations or not. You’re going to see a bigger margin for the Rethugs in the House in ’12 and a 60+ majority in the Senate. Unlike the De3ms, The Rethugs will hang together and vote as a block. They may be stupid and evil but they do stand for something however evil it is.
debit
@Matt: I won’t give the HuffPo any traffic, so I’ll have to assume it’s just the kind of finely nuanced, unbiased, and multiple sourced reporting I’ve come to expect from there.
WyldPirate
@Matt:
Some of this sill-assed Obots are beyond hope, Matt. They would rather stick their fingers (or perhaps digital pie) in their ears and scream “la-la-la-la-la, i can’t hear you”
Dumb as fucking posts they are—just like the dumb sonsabitches that supported everything Bush did and said DESPITE evidence to the contrary.
WyldPirate
@debit:
fucking hiding from reality, huh? “la-la-la-la-la, Obama is wonderful, he and the country are doing great”.
Fucking idiot is what you are…
Chyron HR
@WyldPirate:
Even Stairway to Heaven eventually had a second chord. Just saying.
gbear
Play with kittehs live online.
Gus
@WyldPirate:
Dear troll,
Why don’t you fuck off to a thread that at least is about politics.
Sincerely,
Gus.
compound-6
This is such a great idea.
This is a little off topic, but it’s close. There’s a group out here in CA that rescues pit bulls, and has parolees come out and work in their kennels. The local news report I saw (sorry can’t find that link, cause it was awesome, here’s their page) had some pretty bad dudes, who were really blown away by the experience.
I grabbed this quote from here but the article doesn’t do it justice.
Torres remembers the earliest days of her parolee program, when she noticed that A.J. in particular was taking too long to clean the kennels. When she asked if there was a problem, he answered, “Well, I have to play with them all. I’ve got to talk to them. I know what it feels like to be in a cell.”
Platonicspoof
Last night the local PBS station ran two NOVA programs from earlier in 2010 on dogs. This first link is a transcript of the program about service dogs.
This second transcript link is for the program that explored the mutual emotional links, mutual hormonal effects and mutual evolution of dogs and people.
These are based on developments in actual research over the past fifty years and might be especially helpful to people who want to avoid embarassing themselves with comments that are wrong about evolution by orders of magnitude and wrong about the number of processes at work in that evolution.
These transcript links also lead to online video links.
polyorchnid octopunch
@WyldPirate: Actually, I saw a very interesting show not too long ago about some breeding experiments the Russians did with (iirc) sables. They were trying to get sables that would be calmer around people; handling sables is genuinely dangerous. They were breeding for startle distance; sables that took longer to react to people than other sables were bred. In a surprisingly small number of generations, they ended up with dogs.
Interestingly, the new animals also exhibited a lot of other genetic traits as a result of this… fur patterns being a notable one, which of course meant no fur industry revenue. I’ve seen some film of them, and it’s amazing. Get within twenty feet of a sable and they flip out if they can’t get away. Generations later, they were freely bounding around following staff in and out of their houses.
The implications are profound: dogs are human beings’ oldest genetic engineering project. Which is pretty cool, when you think about it.
So yeah, they are in a pack with us.
@WyldPirate: Here, on the other hand, you’re just being a dick.
@Chyron HR: Comes pretty fast, IIRC. About a bar and a half. Might be part of the reason it was as popular as it was.
@compound-6: We just had a lot of activity up here in my town about the prison farms in the area. It’s pretty much the only program Corrections Canada runs that statistically outperforms the mean for recidivism.
@Platonicspoof: Yeah, this is the one. Very interesting show.
Nancy Irving
Very cool story.
I was reminded of a quote from (I think) Henry James, to the effect of:
“Live as if life had meaning; and by living so, you will make it so.”
(Sorry for the paraphrase, but Google brought up nothing.)