March 29th is designated as Vietnam War Veteran’s Day, during which communities across the country celebrate and honor those who served in the longest conflict in United States history. You may wonder, why is there a specific day in memoriam for these veterans? Well, due to high levels of political tension and upset surrounding the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, there was not a high level of support for those who returned from service. When these veterans came back home, they were not commonly viewed as heroes and were met with societal silence. They were expected to remain qui ..read more

Training a service dog requires a veteran to face their injuries and disabilities head on, which can be extremely difficult. We can train a dog to alert for an impending anxiety attack, but first we need to learn what the veteran does before they have one. Do they fidget? Shake their leg? Wring their hands? Furthermore, training an alert is one thing. But reacting to the alert is another. A trained alert can let the veteran know what’s coming, but they must pay attention to the dog and take the steps to recognize the alert and then act. We often get, “My dog keeps bugging me!!!” Our response i ..read more

In times of uncertainty, we look to each other for courage and hope. We look for the helpers. And I can tell with a fair amount of certainty that we are surrounded by helpers. Our medical community, our first responders, truck drivers and grocery store workers. Local businesses and community members working to help each other, even when they themselves are worried. Worried about the future. Worried about their friends and loved ones. When you think about nonprofits, they are essentially the definition of the helpers. The ones that commit to forgoing a profit to support the greater good. And th ..read more

What happens when interactions between a service dog team and the public go sideways? What do service dog handlers worry about when they go out with their service dog? I capitalized on the unique opportunity to pose a few questions to my friend, Bill Austin, about his experiences with his Great Dane, JP. Bill is a veteran, serving over 30 years in the US Army and Delaware Air National Guard. Bill and JP paired up in May 2011. JP trained as a psychiatric service dog, specifically for PTSD/TBI. Bill is integral in JP’s training, as well as making numerous public appearances and supporting educat ..read more

Post Contributed by Ali Hance and DeeDe Baker I grew up in a small town and, at that time, the only dog I saw that was a service dog was a guide dog for a blind person. Until recently, if a dog wore a service dog vest, it was assumed the animal had been properly trained. We knew enough to leave the dog and the handler alone. That has changed. It is a new world. One with an inordinately high number of individuals who are confusing emotional support and companionship with service. As a trainer for Dog Tag Buddies, I not only help my veterans teach their dogs how to be well-trained service dogs ..read more

Post Contributed by Madie Sanford 2019 already and the making of a service dog project continues. I have asked the participants of this project to contribute blog posts from time to time. Madie Sanford, one of Major’s trainers, returned to Idaho during the Christmas break, taking Major with her. The two of them have been working every day and, as part of the work, Madie has provided an interesting perspective. For those interested in having a service dog, please read this and think very carefully before you jump into it. Madie here. I am one of two trainers who is handling and training Major ..read more

This topic is going to be a feature for the next several months. Not only are we going to share our collaborative story about how a dog becomes a service dog, we are going to share relevant topics surrounding service dogs and the challenges associated. It’s been some time since we’ve shared on our blog. Let’s start with a little bit of history to get you all up to date. Several months ago, I was contacted by Brandy Keely, Director of Veteran Services at Carroll College. A judge from a veteran’s treatment court in Great Falls had contacted the Anthrozoology program to see if there were students ..read more

Last blog I talked about how people can behave inappropriately when it comes to individuals who have service dogs. This blog, I wanted to talk a little about why someone who looks perfectly healthy would need a service dog, specifically a psychiatric service dog. The first service dogs were used for military purposes. Ancient warriors used dogs to help with fighting, think Cane Corso.  In more modern times, dogs were trained to perform a variety of jobs including hauling supplies, guarding units, detecting the enemy, as well as messengers. (militaryhistorynow.com – The Dogs of War-A Shor ..read more