A Saturday morning story

[ksmith]

By way of Balloon Juice. Stories like this amaze me. The sublety and sensitivity of the training.

Like any other golden retriever seeking a treat, Tuesday nudged his owner's hand with his snout one recent morning and waited expectantly.
Luis Carlos Montalvan got up from a chair in his small Brooklyn apartment and walked to the kitchen. Tuesday followed close behind, eyes fixed on a white cabinet. The retriever sat alertly as Mr. Montalvan, an Iraq war veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, reached for a vial of pills, lined a half-dozen on the table and took them one by one.

The dog had gotten what he wanted: When the last pill was swallowed, he got up and followed his master out of the kitchen, tail wagging.

Comments

[michaeldthomas.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link. I am continuously amazed at all of the different tasks that service animals can do for their owners. It will be fascinating to see what one can do for Caitlin in a few years.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I donated to the organization. It offers so much to so many different people.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

I've seen something (?) on TV about the use of prisoners to train service dogs...and in the process, apparently, the work with the dogs teaches the prisoners things. Not this program, though, another one (it was a women's prison.)

Wonderful programs. I wish, when people talk about life extension research, they'd start with service dogs (and other service animals, too.) We don't really need humans to live longer (not that I'd mind if I had my 35 yo body back and it lasted another hundred years, but...would I really be contributing that much?) But the people who depend on service dogs do need them to last longer.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

This is a good point. It takes so long to train these dog.

If they can do that, is an attempt to boost the dogs' cognitive abilities far behind...?

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

I love this story!!