As they commemorated soliders who gave the ultimate sacrifice, Harriston Legion members and guests at the Branch 296 Remembrance Day Banquet learned about a successful program to help those impacted by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“We train dogs for veterans and first responders with PTSD,” explained Danielle Forbes of Cambridge-based National Service Dogs. “We also train dogs for children with autism. That’s kind of our claim to fame. We were the first in the world to do dogs for children with autism,” she added.
Forbes noted the centre now trains canine assisted intervention dogs, with the first graduates joining the workforce in 2013.
“Our most recent graduates out of there are courthouse dogs, working with police services and victim services. The dogs are being used to do forensic interviews with children who have been the victims of assaults and abuse, preparing them to testify against their abusers and things like that, and the dogs can actually go into the courtroom with them and support them through their testimony.”
All service dogs go through an 18-month puppy development, living with foster families while being trained in basic obedience and socialization. The dogs are then recalled to the NSD facility in Cambridge for six months of advanced training.
“After that we start streaming them into the program that best suits them,” said Forbes, who was accompanied to the Nov. 11 banquet by Quincy, a six-month-old golden lab cross still in the development program.
“We don’t know where she’s going to end up yet, what program will best suit her personality and her abilities? We try to not force dogs into a working role that doesn’t suit their personality.”
Forbes said dogs selected for the PTSD program are custom trained to suit their companion’s specific needs.
“All of our PTSD clients are looking for nightmare interruption,” she explained. However, veterans and first responders affected react in a variety of ways to their night terrors.
“Some thrash around wildly, others speak in foreign languages. We recreate whatever they do and custom train their dog to respond to that in the middle of the night or whatever.
Some dogs may be trained to pull covers of the bed or turn lights on and off to wake up their companion. Where they can do so safety, some dogs are trained to jump on the bed and nudge the sleeper into wakefulness.
“The challenge with getting dogs to jump on the beds is if they come out of the nightmares violently, then the dog may be injured.”
Service dogs can also help veterans in other ways, Forbes pointed out.
One such task is helping to create personal space around the veteran in a public place. Dogs will stand between their companion and others in a crowd, creating a three-foot zone around them, “So they can feel more comfortable and less anxious in a crowded environment.”
Forbes said NSD currently has 125 dogs in foster care, roughly 100 of which are in the puppy development program, with 12 to 16 in advanced training. In the past year, 30 dogs were placed in the organizations various programs, 18 for children with autism, nine with veterans and first responders and three in the canine assisted intervention program.
NSD relies entirely on private donations, corporate sponsorships and community fundraising to support its work.
The Harriston Legion, Forbes noted, gave a donation to the PTSD program from the branch’s poppy fund.
“So they’re supporting veterans in that way.”
A Second World War veteran who is one of the program’s biggest supports also joined Forbes at the Harriston event.
Kitchener resident Harry Watts, 93, was overseas with the Canadian Fifth Division from 1943 to 1945, when all five Canadian divisions came together for the final push to liberate Holland.
Watts was a motorcycle dispatch rider during the war.
“Most of the time we were carrying messages that were too important to be sent by radio or telephone and they couldn’t risk them falling into German hands.”
Watts said he knows a number of veterans who have benefited from the PTSD dog program.
“They get the dog and the dog is able to sense when they’ve got these hard times coming on,” said Watt, who recalled how a service dog helped one particular veteran through night terrors.
“His was always at four o’clock in the morning and his dog would be beside the bed and the next thing you know his dog was in the bed with him. He senses it before it gets too bad.”
Watts has written a book about his experiences as a motorcycle dispatch rider. He sells the books for $20 each and donates all the proceeds from the 100-page publication to the National Service Dog program. Anyone interested in obtaining a book can write to Harry Watts at 290 Queen Street South, Apt. 21, Kitchener, ON, N2G 1W3.
Forbes said anyone interested in donating or learning more about NSD can find information on the organization’s website: http://www.nsd.on.ca.
