Deanna Dix (left) depends on her service dog, Silas, a 4-year-old Newfoundland-golden retriever mix, to act as her muscles and balance. Dix has several neurological conditions, including myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis. Her husband, Tim (right), holds a labradoodle named Oger at Stan Hedwall Park in Chehalis Friday. The couple often meet at the park with Oger’s future owner, a local girl with cerebral palsy. During his training Oger will be part of a new 4-H program for local students to train service dogs for use by returning soldiers. Oger, who is not quite 4 months old, will be a bit older than the puppies in the program and will illustrate the next steps for the students.
Many soldiers returning from war bring with them injuries and emotional trauma that make it hard to resume the daily lives they once knew before deploying overseas.
But one unique program the Washington State University Extension and Lewis County 4-H will begin soon aims to make that transition easier for wounded warriors and other disabled people by providing service dogs to help ease their pain and nervousness.
Through the Lewis County 4-H Service Dog Project, willing 4-H volunteers in grades six through 12 will raise and train 12 puppies provided by Brigadoon Service Dogs of Bellingham, Wash., for use in a variety of daily activities.
The process is much more than raising a pet, as the dogs will be trained for constant companionship, says project leader Tim Brix of Centralia, who will run the program with his wife Deanna.
“We’ll get each kid a puppy and they’ll raise them in an environment basically where they will be exposed to everything a human would in their daily lives,” Brix said. “They’re not just learning to sit down and stay, but they’ll be taken throughout the community so they’re exposed to different noises, different places. We’re thinking these will more than likely be used by veterans who suffer from PTSD.”
Post-traumatic stress disorder is cited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an increasing problem among soldiers returning from war; a 2009 study conducted by the department ventured that 12 percent of troops returning from Afghanistan and 18 percent of troops coming home from Iraq were probable sufferers of PTSD. The condition is classified as an anxiety disorder usually brought on by the threat of death or serious injury, causing psychological trauma.
Service animals can serve as not only an extra set of eyes and ears, but are keen to learning their owners’ mannerisms, Brix said. The service dogs — in this case, Labrador retriever breeds — show temperate personalities and have a calming effect on their human friends.
The training for the service animals, Brix says, is much more rigorous because the dogs will experience a sensory overload of sorts — 4-H students will train the dogs for six to nine months in not only a variety of environments, but teach them to follow exact and precise commands.
“It’s quite a task — my wife and I have raised puppies for a larger group in California,” Brix said, also pointing out that Deanna Brix has a Labradoodle of her own as a service dog. “We’ve seen the benefit service animals have and we just want to help out any way we can.”
Don’t be surprised if you see the animals in a variety of local businesses over the coming months, Brix said, but do expect the group to follow Americans with Disabilities Act restrictions and not bring the dogs into schools or such places.
Once trained, the animals will be returned to Brigadoon and taken for advanced training through the Bellingham organization, then matched up with a veteran who Brix says will more than definitely appreciate the help.
“I’m positive this is going to have a great impact,” Brix said. “Raising a service dog is challenging, but it’s also fun and very rewarding, and even more when you see what and who it’s going for.”
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
