The Good Life – September-October 2018

LOCAL HERO | PATRIOT ASSISTANCE DOGS
A practical process
For veterans seeking a service dog, the
process starts with a basic application
and an inquiry about the top three
things a dog would need to do or help
the person with. In order to comply
with the American Disabilities Act,
Wiedewitsch says the dog must be able
to perform specific tasks to mitigate
symptoms. For example, a dog can
be trained to wake a veteran who
experiences anxious dreams, she says.
The dog is then trained to respond
to its natural sensing of heart rate or
respiration changes. Dogs can even
sense adrenaline and blood pressure
changes.
“They sense these changes before
we as people are even aware they are
happening,” Wiedewitsch says. They
can calm the veteran before a panic or
anxiety attack actually occurs.
Prior to acceptance, veterans have to
provide information regarding their
branch of service, dates of service
and the terms of their separation from
service, plus proof of treatment for
mental health.
“A dog is not the silver bullet,” she
says. “A dog won’t cure everything.”
That’s why the veteran has to supply
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information about mental health
treatment, and the provider needs to
detail the diagnosis and how a service
dog would be a good component of the
treatment.
Veterans also need to supply
information about a veterinarian
that would treat the dog. “We’re very
particular about the care of dogs,”
she says. “We require that the dog be
maintained at a healthy weight, be
checked regularly, vaccinated properly.
This is the dog’s second shot at a good
life for them, and it’s our responsibility
to make sure the veteran will provide
that.”
Finally, the veteran provides a sponsor,
a friend or relative who will check
in regularly on the person and the
animal. A sponsor agrees to keep PAD
informed if unusual circumstances
arise.
Once in, a veteran undergoes a weeklong
training class to determine which
dog is the best fit. Trainers may think
they know which dog is right for a
veteran, but often the dog identifies its
own veteran.
“We as trainers have to sit back because
the dogs don’t get it wrong,” she says.
Down to business
Training dogs to serve humans is a
serious business, and every dog has
to pass the Canine Good Citizen test,
the final check in a 10-step program
developed by the American Kennel
Club.
The dog also has to demonstrate its
ability to perform the three tasks that
will help mitigate the symptoms the
veteran experience. Both evaluations
are conducted by someone outside of
PAD.
Once the team has trained, the veteran
and dog return home and spend a
minimum of six weeks and a maximum
of six months living together and
acclimating to the new life.
“Basically, we’re looking for whether
the dog does at home what we have
trained it to do,” she says.
If the dog does, the team returns to
perform a public access and skills test
conducted by a master dog trainer
PAD hires to certify the dog. After that,
the team is on a two-year probation to
make sure the dog remains healthy, a
check possible due to the veterinarian
submitting records of annual
checkups. Only after those two years
and no infractions does the veteran
take full ownership of the dog.
A life spent serving
PAD wants to serve veterans, and
the demand for trained service dogs
is high. When the organization was
first founded, it accepted veterans
nationwide. Soon after, PAD shrunk
its service footprint to make sure it
could adequately serve the teams it
was matching and training.
Applications roll in consistently, and if
the wait for an available class exceeds
12 months, the organization will
suspend processing applications to
make sure veterans don’t have to wait
too long to receive a service dog.
PAD is a lean organization, with no
full-time employees and only four part-