Canine Heroes

Enlisting in the military is a sacrifice so enormous it’s almost unfathomable. Although more work undoubtedly needs to be done to support our veterans, many programs currently exist to provide them with support. One of these all-important programs was founded by actor and director Gary Sinise, who wanted to give thanks to those who risk their lives to keep us safe every single day. The Gary Sinise Foundation was founded in 2010, which means that Sinise has been actively honoring and supporting countless heroes for a decade. The foundation’s website states, “We serve our nation by honoring our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.” Sinise helps provide veterans with meals, specialized housing for disabled veterans, and so much more. Sinese’s work supporting veterans has been life-changing for countless people. Recently though, Good ol’ Lieutenant Dan realized there was a different breed of hero that needed support, so he turned his attention to a new paws – uh, a new cause. With the help of Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The Sinise Foundation created “Veterinarians for Valor”. The canine-centered organization aims to provide completely free medical care to dogs working with first responders, police K-9s, and military service dogs. Whether they’re detecting bombs, protecting their handlers, or simply providing some much-needed emotional support, these dogs truly are heroes. They put their lives on the line every single day just like their human counterparts, and Sinese believes that they deserve far more than table scraps.

Wild Dogs

BLUE Mountains residents are being warned not to feed wild dogs, following a series of close calls in the region after bushfires have driven the dogs back into urban areas.

Greater Sydney Local Land Services biosecurity team leader Lee Parker said there had been a series of complaints from residents along Coronation Road near Lincolns Rock in Wentworth Falls and also in parts of Glenbrook about packs of wild dogs roaming the streets, entering backyards and attacking domestic pets.

K-9 Dog Obedience Training

 

After developing a love for Huskies, it didn’t take much for Michael Kurtz to get into rescuing them. Seeing a need for a Husky rescue in the community, Michael works to find these beautiful dogs a new home, trains other dogs with existing homes, and turns some of his rescue dogs into service animals for our veterans. Learn more about Kurtz K-9 and their amazing programs for these gorgeous dogs in our community.

Living Center Gets Visitors

Residents and staff of Spring Village Assisted Living Facility got a special treat Thursday when the Phillie Phanatic and nine therapy dogs visited the center.

“The idea is to put smiles on all the residents’ face, as well as thanking all the health care workers for doing a great job,” said Eric Gerstel, member of the Tri State Canine Response Team, the organization behind the event.

Tri State provides pet therapy to hospitals, schools, assisted living facilities and more.

The Canine Response Team’s volunteers let residents and workers meet with the dogs on the patio entrance of the assisted living center. Volunteers also brought some of the dogs to the windows of residents’ rooms.

The Phanatic, socially distancing from the bed of a pickup truck and wearing a mask, gave the dogs treats, danced and waved to residents.

Donations For Therapy Dog

Tauranga woman Ashley Highnam has battled for eight years to get help for her young, mentally-impaired child.

After years of struggling to get a diagnosis, Highnam is now fundraising to get her daughter a therapy dog and a donation from a car maker’s foundation is putting her one step closer to that goal.

Highnam gave birth to her daughter Tara when she was a teenager.

Eighteen years old and alone, she was still learning the ropes when she noticed her 18-month-old was not the same as other kids her age.

“She was always on the go, every second of the day. Most babies her age were happy to relax, but not her,” Highnam said.

From there, things only got worse.

“We were kicked off buses almost every day as Tara would just scream and yell. I couldn’t drive then so I had to take her with me on public transport everywhere I’d go.”

Growing up with an autistic brother and a non-verbal uncle, Highnam could recognise the signs of mental impairment.

She was certain that Tara was showing signs, but autism and other mental conditions showed a bit differently in boys than girls, which left her stumped.

“The worst part was no one believed me. They’d tell me that she would grow out of it or it was my parenting that was the problem.”

She said she was recommended almost daily to take parenting courses to control her child’s behaviour.

At this time, Highnam was coming into adulthood herself.

“I was made to feel like a failure of a parent … people would tell me that I was just making excuses for her behaviour. I was just trying my best.”

Years passed and Highnam felt health professionals were flippant towards her concerns.

It was not until a series of meltdowns at school and teachers putting their worries forward that 6-year-old Tara received psychological testing.

Within 10 minutes, a psychologist came up to Highnam and said he was almost certain there would be a diagnosis. Words she had been hoping to hear for six years.

“I was finally being heard … for years people had been telling me it was my parenting or her age. Someone was finally listening to me.”

Tara was diagnosed with severe Autism, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, and Global Developmental Delay. She was also bordering on intellectual disability.

This sign-off meant Tara was able to apply for a therapy dog, something Highnam had hoped for a long time.

However, the waiting list was more than seven years long.

Now she has taken matters into her own hands and has been working to fundraise the $13,000 needed to buy her 8-year-old the much-needed pet.

Therapy dogs are trained to calm their owners and reduce anxiety through compression methods like laying on their owner’s lap and using their body weight to provide deep pressure calming.

However, they are expensive as they require months of training to learn to respond to specific triggers and conditions.

The Mazda Foundation had got behind the cause, donating $2500 to Highnam and Tara.

“It is genuinely going to change her life if we can raise the full amount.”

She said they own hardly any glass items as Tara would often smash or break them in her meltdowns.

Plates had to be plastic and picture frames had to have the glass taken out of them.

“We only just got a new TV after she smashed one three years ago.”

Highnam was making and selling kawakawa balm as a way of fundraising, as well as planning small events.

They had also raised about $300 on their Givealittle page already.

Highnam said a therapy dog would make all the difference in distracting and calming Tara when her conditions overwhelmed her.

Service Dog Program

Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) founder and president, Gloria Gilbert Stoga, created a program that trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders. Additionally, the organization trains dogs to become explosive-detection canines for law enforcement. Today, PBB operates throughout six correctional facilities in New York and New Jersey and has raised more than 1,200 dogs. PBB has earned its thirteenth consecutive 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, which indicates that the organization adheres to good governance and other best practices.

When Stoga first opened her organization over 20-years ago, she decided to breed her own Labrador retriever puppies. That decision came from wanting to provide canines that had the best genetic backgrounds and temperaments. All of the dogs enter the program at eight weeks old. Due to the high standards of the program, if a dog is released for either behavioral or physical reasons, the dog is put up for adoption. The explosive detection canine puppies are placed into a one-year program, while the service dog puppies participate in a two-year program.

“They live in the cells with the inmates,” Stoga explains. “The inmates are fully responsible for all of the training, the nurturing, the basic medical, the grooming, and once a week PBB staff goes into each prison for a full day of teaching classes and helps solve problems.” Before starting PBB in 1997, Stoga served as a member of New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s Youth Empowerment Commission, whose mission was to secure private-sector summer employment for New York City’s underprivileged youth. She was responsible for developing and securing corporate commitments to provide training and jobs under the Commission’s initiative. Working for non-profits allowed Stoga to figure out how she wanted to operate her organization when it came time. The initial spark that inspired her to start PBB came after reading an article about Dr. Thomas Lane, a veterinarian running a prison guide-dog program in Gainesville, Florida. She subsequently had the privilege of visiting Dr. Lane and spoke with inmates and program staff in three prisons that hosted his program.

Six months later, she quit her job and approached Libby Pataki, who was then the First Lady of New York State. She immediately garnered Pataki’s support to provide education and rehabilitation for prison inmates and provide excellent quality working dogs for the public. Late 1997, she started her program with five Labrador retriever puppies at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York State’s only maximum-security prison for women.

In the beginning, Stoga and her team faced challenges with the unions and was not welcomed at her second prison opening, a men’s medium-security prison. “I wasn’t welcomed by security staff,” she shares. “To show them that I wasn’t just a well-meaning lady from New York City who was coming upstate to say, ‘you should give these inmates something positive to do,’ I went into that prison every single day, Monday through Friday for six weeks. I’d run to the women’s prison for half a day, three days a week, and I’d come back. For six weeks, I more or less lived in that prison…Very slowly, I start talking to some of the corrections officers. I’d always bring my two dogs in, and they’d see how well behaved they were, how friendly they were. I got across to people that I was serious, that the dogs were of high quality and that I wasn’t going anywhere.”

PBB has become a goal for prison inmates. Although the program is volunteer-based on top of the inmates’ mandatory prison job, it does not accept everyone. Stoga does not interview sex offenders, anybody with direct child abuse or animal abuse or anyone with a high mental health issue. Additionally, the inmates have to be ticket free for 12-months meaning that they haven’t received any form of disciplinary action in a year. Having something to strive for keeps the inmates focused on the goal.

“You see people [inmates] change literally before your eyes,” Stoga smiles. “The other end of the spectrum is our [canine] recipients. We work with veterans. We also work with first responders, and to hear from our recipients and their families that they cut way back on their meds, or maybe they’re now med free, that they now go out in public or that they now engage with their families is incredible.”

As Stoga continues to grow the organization, she focuses on the following essential steps:

Clearly define your purpose and what you want to do. If you start to veer away from that, you will stretch yourself thin mentally, emotionally and financially, which will not lead to long-term success.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Being honest when you don’t know something will garner better results than faking your way through; it may hurt you in the long run.

Be prepared to work hard, especially when pivoting. You will work harder than you ever have before. You have to give it your all if you want to achieve your goal.

“When I first started working in prisons,” Stoga concludes, “I was totally completely black and white. There were good guys in the world and there were bad guys. That was that. Very soon on, the inmates taught me there’s gray; that people can do bad things, but they’re not necessarily bad people forever. There are some bad people forever; I’m not naïve. However, some people are gray.”

Caregiver Canines

We found Diego through a Petfinder. We began our search soon after the loss of our beloved cocker spaniel Doogie. Diego was rescued with his mother as a puppy from a rural Alabama animal shelter.

Diego’s mom had been shot with buckshot, but continued to care for and protect Diego before being rescued. His mom was adopted by his rescue foster mom, and we happily adopted him after his rescue group transported him up to the northeast.

We named him after the character “Diego” in Dora the Explorer because that character saves animals, and our Diego was a rescue.

Diego was found to have a serious congenital defect shortly after adoption and needed to undergo a $10,000 operation to save his life! Diego also lived with us through Superstorm Sandy, shortly after which he tore BOTH of his ACL’s and required further surgeries. But throughout all his life challenges, he was always smiling!

He became a certified Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dog and helped found a groundbreaking local therapy dog visitation program for homebound seniors called Caregiver Canines. Diego was the very first Caregiver Canine. Diego brought smiles to the faces of people of all ages while working as a therapy dog for over ten years and he LOVED his therapy dog work!

Sadly, Diego passed away in January of this year.

Dogs Miraculous Recovery

It’s a new “leash on life” for a dog who was found living in horrible conditions but is now recovered and ready for adoption.

The 7-year-old German shepherd, who has been named “Baby Yoda,” was one of more than 30 pets rescued from filthy conditions at a Phoenix-area home. The dog was in the worst condition of all the pets. In fact, she was in such bad shape, rescuers couldn’t even identify her breed.

“You couldn’t even tell what she was when we picked her up. It was just one big pile of wrinkles. You couldn’t even tell she was a dog, let alone what breed she was,” said Tracey Miller, field operations manager for the Arizona Humane Society.

When the dog arrived for treatment in AHS’ Second Chance Animal Trauma Hospital, she was almost completely hairless, covered in scabs, and could not comfortably settle down without scratching her irritated skin until it bled. She also needed a great deal of dental work.

Despite the extreme pain she was living in prior to her arrival at AHS, staffers say she maintained the sweetest personality and the best attitude throughout her entire recovery.

And it was definitely a long road back to health. Baby Yoda had to undergo treatment for mange, skin mites and other conditions. Over the course of six months, she endured medicated baths, low-level laser therapy and oral medications. As she gradually recovered, she also got lots of love in a foster home.

Now, Baby Yoda is ready for adoption, and hoping to find her forever home with a loving family!

Although she has made a near-miraculous transformation during this time, staffers at AHS say she does have ongoing medical needs, mostly due to allergies, that will require financial support throughout her lifetime.

Those who know and love her say Baby Yoda is friendly with all people and other dogs. She previously lived with dogs and cats, but there is no information on her previous interactions with cats.

The case involving Baby Yoda and more than 30 other pets is currently ongoing through the Phoenix Police Department.

Owners With ESA’s

A vulnerable man who was prescribed an emotional support dog to help with mental health problems is facing eviction – because he has a dog.

Christopher Palmer, 63, was prescribed a mental wellness animal companion in the form of beagle Tammy after suffering years of depression, anxiety and mental health problems.

But despite his pet being prescribed by a doctor, Christopher is being threatened with eviction by his housing association landlord.

Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) has said he is in breach of his tenancy agreement which forbids him from keeping a dog as he lives in a high rise flat.

The organisation has offered to rehome Christopher and Tammy but the 63-year-old’s GP fears moving him from his home of eight years could make his condition worsen.

PCH took Christopher to Plymouth County Court in a bid to evict him but a judge granted him a stay of execution, saying they can stay until another hearing in January.

Christopher, from Plymouth, Devon, said: “Without Tammy I would not be able to get out of the house.I need to have her 24 hours a day. I suffer panic attacks and anxiety so I need to have her with me.

“There have not been any complaints. I just don’t understand it. They allow deaf dogs, so why not her?”

Dr Michaela Stoffregen, who prescribed Tammy in December, has written to PCH to urge them to allow Christopher to keep the dog.

She wrote: “I strongly advise that everything possible has to be done to let Christopher keep his little dog, as it is a lifeline for him. A move would be disastrous to his mental health in my opinion.”

PCH’s Pets Policy does make an exception for Assistance Dogs but at the court hearing Vincent Davis, representing the organisation, said Christopher had been offered the choice between re-homing the dog or moving to an alternative premises that has its own garden.

“Most tenants would jump to move from a multi-storey block to their own garden but Mr Palmer has not engaged with that,” he said.

“Various efforts have been made but he has not engaged with the process. This is a long standing policy that was adopted in 2011/2012. The reasons why you cannot keep pets in a high rise flat is the nuisance it causes to other neighbours.

“We recognise the benefits to having a pet but to have one in such close proximity to others causes problems with urine and faeces in communal areas.”

But Judge Vanessa Priddis said: “If Mr Palmer was blind and had a guide dog would we say the same?”

“He is disabled and ten minutes to deal with and make a decision on this is not fair. There are technical and legal issues to consider.”

The case will resume on January 9 2020 when a hearing will look at aspects around the equalities act and how they correlate with Christopher’s case.

Coast Guard Morale Dog

A beloved U.S. Coast Guard comfort dog has died after more than a decade on the job in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Senior Chief Morale Dog Onyx was 13.5 years old when she died surrounded by members of her crew and loved ones at U.S. Coast Guard Station St. Ignace on Tuesday, June 16.

Born in Fremont, Ohio on Feb. 1, 2007, Onyx was adopted by Senior Chief Paul Decker on July 13, 2008.

Onyx served from July 2008 to June 2020, diligently serving for 4,356 days of consecutive duty “without relief or complaint, to ensure the morale of the crew remained high. Being ever mindful of the recruiting mission and the need to share the story of the United States Coast Guard,” according to Facebook tribute posted Wednesday.

Throughout her years of service, Onyx was on hand for a slew of missions involving aid to navigation, search and rescue, coastal security, ice rescue and recreational boating safety patrols.

But perhaps her biggest contributions came through her attendance at multiple safety demonstrations at area schools or National Boating Safety Week open houses where she helped educate thousands about the importance of wearing a life jacket.

Onyx also patrolled the Coast Guard property in St. Ignace, keeping watch for intruding geese and mink, and was the lead character in a children’s book series read by more than 100,000 people.

“It will serve as a teaching tool for children and adults for many years to come,” a Coast Guard statement reads. “Onyx’s diligence, perseverance and devotion to duty are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.”

“As the sun sets on Onyx and her many adventures, her legacy will continue to inspire all because she was a Hero, a Watchful Protector, a Guardian of the Straits of Mackinac. Onyx was a Coast Guard Morale Dog and the Lord of the Lakes.”

U.S. Coast Guard personnel shared several tribute photos of Onyx on Wednesday.

RIP Onyx. Thank you for your service.