Matthew
was diagnosed with P.T.S.D. ten years ago due his experiences while serving in
Iraqi. As result he experienced "Night Terrors” and a fear of entering in
darken rooms. He also is very uncomfortable in situation were crowds are
involved. The solution to helping Matthew coup with these problems, was a
service dog.
Josh
Smith the owner/operator of Dynamic K-9 solutions was contracted by Auxiliary
President Josie Fowler to train a dog for Matthew. It took a couple of tries to
find the perfect canine for this important job. Finally, "Sam” was selected, and the intense training began. Mr. Smith
gave us over a 50% veteran discount for the training of Sam and Matthew. In
addition, Dynamic K-9 Solutions, will provide a lifetime of assistance for the
Veteran and Servicer Dog team as needed.
Sam will be trained to do specific task for
Matthew to help ease the strain that PTSD. For example, Sam is being trained to
cut on a light in a room and then sweep the room and come back to Matthew to
let him know it is safe to enter. Sam has also been trained to block for
Matthew. "Block" is a word used to describe the act of walking in front of
Matthew to disperse a crowd which eases the anxiety of walking through a crowd.
Sam has recently started learning how to recognize a night terror and wake
Matthew from his slumber.
The VFW is proud to honor all veterans who are #StillServing, and it's especially meaningful to see the ways Posts have provided much needed assist...
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is now accepting submissions for its 2021 National Publications Contest. VFW...