In this article I want to introduce you to a special kind of animal, a service animal. In today’s society, you’ve probably heard the terms service animal, therapy animal and emotional support animal. These terms can refer to almost any animal, but I’m going to talk about dogs. I have trained and worked with dogs for 45 years. My dogs have been my emotional support dogs providing comfort and companionship, and they have been trained as therapy dogs for classrooms, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. I’ve never owned a service dog for good reasons. I’ve been blessed not to have the need for a service dog. Service dogs are top of the line canines that are individually trained to perform tasks that help lessen the impact a person’s disability and make that person’s life a little easier. These dogs have specialized training to perform specific tasks. Full public access rights are given to these dogs under American Disabilities Act, including restaurants, stores and public transportation. These dogs focus on one human and are often that human’s lifeline.
I’ve seen service dogs in action for the last twenty years. Many of you know my cousin Bruce Dellinger, who is an accomplished artist, drawing amazing works of art with only his mouth and a number two pencil. For anyone who doesn’t know him, Bruce fell from a hayloft when he was 14 and crushed the 5th and 6th vertebrae in his neck which rendered him quadriplegic for the rest of his life. In the blink of an eye his life changed, but he adapted, sometimes unwillingly, but adapt he did. His wheels changed to a wheelchair, at first a hand propelled one and later on a motorized one, and a handicapped van that he could drive. His whole house changed to accommodate a wheelchair bound spunky red head. Eventually, someone other than his Mom and Dad and later, his sweet wife Jackie, came into his life and made it a bit easier. Her name was Shannon, and she was a blonde, a beautiful four-legged blonde, also known as a yellow labrador. Shannon was Bruce’s first service dog. Since Shannon, Bruce has been blessed with a black-haired handsome boy named Cole and his second blonde Whit. They have all been trained to specifically help Bruce. What? Trained to help Bruce specifically. Yes and no.
Service dogs are trained for a specific skill set. They are then matched with a human needing those specific skills. Let me explain using Bruce and his pups as examples. Both Cole and Whit have come to Bruce from Service Dog of Virginia in Charlottesville. This nonprofit organization serves all of Virginia. There Labrador Retrievers are trained over a two-year period. Each dog is trained individually with different dogs having different skills. The cost of raising, training, insuring, vetting, etc. a pup from birth to two equals around $40,000.00. Who could afford a $40,000.00 dog? Not many folks. That’s why the organization depends heavily on donations. Individuals needing these dogs are not charged for them.
The human part of this duo completes long and detailed applications and interviews to be chosen to receive a special friend. After the human has been accepted to the program, the trainers and administrators look at the human’s needs and the dog’s training and try to match those. Several dogs matching the human’s needs are chosen, and the human travels to Charlottesville to meet the candidates. In both Cole’s and Whit’s cases, the dog chose the man. The organization had almost given up hope that Cole would pair with someone. In previous “meet and greets” he had not been receptive to the potential human half of the relationship. With Bruce, Cole found a buddy, someone who loved to play ball as much as he did, and Cole chose Bruce. With Whit, it was love at first sight. Whit simply walked right up to Bruce and that was it.
After the connection is made, there is still work to be done. The humans must now be trained and taught how to communicate needs to the dogs and to just become best friends. For 4-6 weeks Bruce and Jackie traveled to Charlottesville for training with their new family member. For folks who cannot make the day trip, a two-week intensive training course was required. All new owners had to pay $1000.00 for this training course no matter how many weeks it took. With Service Dogs of VA if you need financial assistance for the course, they try to find those dollars through donations. Once the human/dog duo has been trained, the dog got to go home with his new family where he is Bruce’s service dog, but Jackie’s sweetheart, too. He becomes a very important and valuable family member.
What exactly does Whit (and his other two) do for Bruce. Things that you and I who aren’t paralyzed and, in a wheelchair, take for granted. The dogs opened doors for Bruce, doors in his home, doors at stores and other buildings, refrigerator and cabinet doors. Just take a minute and think how many times a day you open a door. Until this moment I really hadn’t thought about it, but now that I do, WOW! Besides opening doors for Bruce, Whit also picks up things Bruce has dropped. Again, think about how many times a day you bend over to pick something up that you’ve dropped or that’s rolled off the table (like a number two pencil). Bruce cannot just reach down and get it, but Whit can and does. The third major thing Whit is trained to do is to go get help, aka Jackie, Bruce’s wife. This can be because he needs her to do something neither he nor he and Whit together can do, or he needs medical help. Either way, Whit goes and gets this wonderful, sweet lady!
What else does Whit do? Whit goes with Bruce wherever he goes. That means EVERYWHERE Bruce goes. It could be to his Mouth Drawing Studio to work on Bruce’s newest edition to his artwork, a majestic eagle with the American flag in the background. It could be to shoot with his muzzleloader the biggest buck he’s ever gotten, that scored 126 5/8 at Buckmasters and won second place in the Disabled Hunters category for antler stock. It could be to go with him to one of the many craft fairs and shows they attend every year. Or last but not least to just curl up next to him and offer that unconditional love and support that dogs can give. Service dogs are very special animals. They are amazing to watch work, and they are beloved family members as well. They provide not only the help their person needs, but companionship and emotional support for the whole family. I feel honored to have known and loved Shannon and Cole and now Whit. They were and are very special individuals…dogs.
If you would like to know more about Service Dogs of Virginia visit their website at servicedogsva.org
If you’d like to see some of Bruce’s art and meet “his best four-legged friend” and maybe Jackie, too, he has an open house planned for November and he will be at many art/craft fairs. Check out his art and his schedule of appearances on his website www.bruce-dellinger.com
