Service Dog Kicked Out of VA--For Blind Veteran

Blind Vet's Guide Dog Banned From VA Hospital
SF Weekly
Posted By David-Elijah Nahmod
Dec 12, 2014 at 2:14 PM

Matthew Easton's dog Chestnut isn't just his buddy — he's his eyesight.

Easton, an Air Force veteran who served from 2001-2005, lost most of his vision due to an eye disease. Chestnut is Easton's guide dog. With his faithful companion by his side, Easton is able to get around his neighborhood in San Luis Obispo.

Chestnut also guides Easton from Central California to the VA Hospital in San Francisco's Outer Richmond District, where he receives medical treatment for his eyes.

But recently, the VA Hospital delivered some not-so-welcoming news, telling Easton that he could no longer bring Chestnut into the eye exam room at the hospital.

"I was told by the Patient Advocate Office as well as the eye clinic that the only option was to have a family member or a friend watch my dog for me during my exam," Easton told SF Weekly. "I was told if that wasn't an option that I was to call Animal Control and have them take my guide dog to the shelter at my own expense just for the short duration of my appointment."

Easton says that he was advised to "leave his dog in the car."

Obvious questions arose, such as: leave Chestnut in what car? A blind person can't legally drive. As a person who lives on disability insurance Easton can hardly afford boarding fees. And besides, how would Easton get from the pound—which is in the Mission—to the VA Hospital in the Outer Richmond without his guide dog?
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Troublesome grey area in service dog law

Misuse, misunderstanding create troublesome grey area in service dog law
Bangor Daily News
By Abigail Curtis, BDN Staff
Posted Nov. 30, 2014

Ashley L. Conti | BDN Judi Bayly tells her service dog, Kira, a 7-year-old Irish setter, to look at her during lunch at the Olive Garden in Bangor on Tuesday. "The dog gives you the independence to go and do," Bayly said. "Kira's ready to go whenever I am. She's there. She watches over me."

BELFAST, Maine — Judi Bayly’s service dog, Kira, goes everywhere her owner goes. She has to — the calm Irish setter is crucial to the well-being and freedom of Bayly, who has multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

Kira has been on Caribbean cruises, shopping trips to Wal-Mart, to lunches out at restaurants, to appointments at medical offices and many other places. She is trained to pay attention to small signs that indicate Bayly’s blood sugar levels are going out of control, and also to nudge open doors and help her owner navigate tricky, small spaces, including public restrooms.

“Without having Kira to get around, I don’t,” said Bayly, who is living in Hampden right now. “I would just have to stay home.”

That’s why Bayly, 62, gets her hackles up when she hears of people abusing the Americans with Disabilities Act, the law that allows trained service dogs to accompany disabled people in all areas where members of the public can go.

“To be in a store or a business where somebody brings a pet dog that has not been trained for public access, it causes a disruption for the working dog,” she said. “I have literally had a dog jump out of a shopping cart, run five aisles over and bite my dog. My dog got bitten by a fake service dog.”

Bayly and other disability rights advocates would like more people to better understand the law, which makes it a federal crime to both use a fake service animal and to discriminate against a disabled person who is using a real one. More information would help smooth relationships between disabled people and business owners, according to Kathy Hecht of Searsport, a University of Maine at Machias instructor who teaches service dog training and uses a service dog herself.

“As somebody using a service dog, you do have rights protected under the law, but you also have huge responsibilities,” Hecht said. “A lot of people say, ‘I have a disability, and therefore, you have to put up with my dog. But nobody has to put up with a dog that is causing problems.”
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It took an Army of help to reunite Veteran from Arizona with Private Ellen

Saving Private Ellen: Extraordinary lengths injured soldier went to so he could be reunited with faithful bomb-detecting dog
Joshua Tucker lost track of his bomb dog while being treated in hospital
Pair finally reunited after three-year search that led to Germany
Daily Mail
By JESSICA JERREAT
PUBLISHED: 16:37 EST, 11 April 2014

When Joshua Tucker was taken to hospital after serving in Afghanistan the only thing keeping the Arizona soldier strong was knowing his military dog Ellen was waiting for him.

But just as the K9 MP finished his treatment for injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Armed Forces called his wife, Sherie, to say the dog had been moved.

What followed was an extraordinary effort over three years, involving the Army, Air Force and Congress to reunite Tucker with the dog that meant so much to him.
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Puppies At Walter Reed Medical Center Help Veterans Cope With War Wounds

Puppies At Walter Reed Medical Center Help Veterans Cope With War Wounds
WITN
November 11, 2013

(NBC News) Tucked on the campus of Walter Reed Medical Center is a facility focused on helping soldiers recover from injuries suffered during war, training incidents and the like.

Inside those walls, a dedicated group of men, women and puppies are helping soldiers deal with the visible and invisible wounds of war.

The impact of the specially bred service dogs has been life altering for heroes fighting through the horrors of war.

"The impact is evident, and the impact is immediate," says Captain Robert Koffman, the Chief Clinical Consultant at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence.

Ultimately they will serve physically impaired soldiers, helping to perform the daily tasks they can't, but even as they train for that mission the labs and golden retrievers are saving lives.
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Afghanistan veteran with TBI struggling after dog was shot

Is this something that should happen when they come home? Read about everything going on in his life and then as the reporter writes, get ready to have your heart broken.

Veteran with brain injury faces steep bills after his dog was shot
KATU News
By Erica Nochlin
KATU.com staff
Published: Sep 26, 2013

CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. – Be prepared to have your heart broken.

Luke Hunt is an Army veteran who suffered a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan in 2010.

He’s divorced, he’s unemployed and he doesn’t have a car.

The one thing he does have is his dog, Pepper.

Earlier this week, somebody shot Pepper. Now Hunt faces a choice: Come up with thousands of dollars to fix Pepper’s leg, or have the leg amputated.

“It’s weird to say this and I know my family understands this when I say this … but she can’t talk back, and she just lays there and listens to me,” Hunt said. “I have more conversations with the things that I struggle with. Any nightmares I have, I wake up to her. She knows when I’m having a nightmare - I open my eyes and she’s licking my face.”

Hunt was a medic in the 101st Airborne Division when it was involved in a nearly 20-hour firefight in Kunar Province in June 2010. He said a friendly-fire bomb was mistakenly dropped about 25 feet away, leaving him with injuries he didn’t immediately recognize.

Once he got back to safety, he found himself frequently lost, confused, disoriented and unable to remember conversations he’d had just few minutes before.

“The traumatic brain injury is the one I deal with the most,” he said. “But I maintained in country for the rest of my deployment because I did the same thing every single day, all day.

“I didn’t start seeing those issues until I got back. Until there was more than just a horn blowing telling you when to eat breakfast lunch and dinner.”

Life got worse for Hunt when he got home.

He had won two medals and a Purple Heart, but the losses kept mounting.

Heat or stress can cause him to black out. Divorce ruined his credit. His car was repossessed because he couldn’t remember to make the payments.
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Wounded vet returns home to Florida from Afghanistan

Wounded vet returns home to Zephyrhills from Afghanistan
Tampa Tribune
By Eddie Daniels
Tribune Staff
Published: September 26, 2013

ZEPHYRHILLS — Life, today, is much different for Tyler “TJ” Jeffries.

Tyler Jeffries’ dog, Apollo, was trained for five months by Los Angeles-based animal trainer Brian McMillan. Jeffiries and McMillan were connected through a mutual friend, Clay Burwell. McMillan participated in Dicovery’s Shark Week and has a CBS show titled Lucky Dog. TYLER JEFFRIES

Walking doesn’t come easy. In fact, most days, it hurts. Sometimes the pain limits Jeffries, a 2007 Zephyrhills High School grad and former baseball player, to his wheelchair.

Eleven months ago, Jeffries stepped on an improvised explosive device during an explosive-clearing mission in Afghanistan.

The explosion took off a portion of his left leg above the knee as well as a part of his right leg below the knee. It’s also put him in a hospital operating room at least a dozen times.

As difficult as tasks are now, not much can compare to the moments just after the Oct. 6 blast.

“From the time I got blown up to the time I got in the helicopter, it took 50 minutes,” Jeffries said. “So I was waiting there, legless, for 50 minutes on the ground. I remember every single second of that.

“I was awake the whole time talking to my guys and they were taking care of me.”
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Blind Veterans tell congress not to mess with success

Why would someone tell Congress they don't want the money? Simple. It already works the way it is.

Blind Vets Warn Against VA Funding Guide Dogs
Mar 05, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan

The Blind Veterans Association is warning lawmakers against passing legislation – already sidetracked at least twice – to have the Department of Veterans Affairs cover costs of getting guide dogs for blind vets.

BVA officials say that lawmakers have been pressed for three years to provide millions of dollars annually to ensure that blind veterans who want a dog – whose costs have been put at $35,000 – can afford one.

However, the dogs have been paid for by non-profit organization like the The Seeing Eye in New Jersey since the 1960s. BVA officials fear that requiring the VA to pay for a dog will open up the entire system to abuse and fraud.

“For 67 years, BVA has worked with both VA and the original guide dog training programs to ensure that any blinded veteran who wishes to have a guide dog can obtain one for free,” Sam Huhn, national president of the BVA, told a joint meeting of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs committees recently. “For decades, hundreds of blinded veterans have received guide dogs from a handful of well-known programs that never charged a veteran to receive a guide dog.”

Huhn said Congress needs to be wary of funding an unnecessary guide-dog program, “for the protection of disabled veterans, the strong potential risk of fraud, misleading advertising, and VA liability for large future expenditures.”
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Wounded veteran from Tallahassee robbed in Santa Fe

Vet says money for service dog lost in robbery
By Nico Roesler
The New Mexican via AP
Posted : Sunday Feb 17, 2013

SANTA FE, N.M. — Brian Ryder has undergone 23 surgeries to repair his spine and hips after a nearly fatal accident in July 2009, while he was deployed with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He was saving his money to buy a service dog that he hoped could change his life.

One day after he moved to Santa Fe last week, however, he lost his savings of about $700 when two men robbed him at gunpoint just north of the city’s downtown.

Ryder, 38, said in an interview Wednesday that he had moved to Santa Fe on Feb. 6 to live with his mother and continue various treatments at the veterans hospital in Albuquerque.

He figured a service dog would help him in every area of his life — mainly with his mobility. He takes falls on a weekly basis, about nine of which have resulted in concussions. “I’m just scared to death of one of these days taking a fall, hitting my head and losing the memory and cognition I have left,” said Ryder, who walks with a cane.

Originally from Tallahassee, Fla., Ryder was walking back to his mother’s house at about 11:20 p.m. Feb. 7, after having a drink at The Rouge Cat bar on Marcy Street. “It was my first time off a base in four years,” he said. “I wanted to celebrate with a beer.”
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Disabled Firefighter Saved by Afghanistan Meatball

Dog rescued from Afghanistan returns favor by helping save owner’s life (With Video)
Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2012
By JOHN KOPP

CLIFTON HEIGHTS — The first time Meatball met Joe McCarty, the Afghan Kuchi puppy welcomed his new owner by peeing on him.

Five months later, McCarty and his wife, Kim, laugh at the story. That’s because Meatball and Joe now share a bond so tight that the 9-month-old dog knows when Joe isn’t right. That keen awareness might have saved Joe’s life earlier this month.

Kim said she was upstairs preparing to fall asleep one night when she heard Meatball begin barking incessantly. Meatball, Kim said, is not known for barking.

Joe, who served as a firefighter for the Sharon Hill Fire Department for 15 years, has suffered four strokes and is paralyzed on his left side.
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Webcams follow Great Dane service pups

Webcams follow Great Dane service pups
The 3-month-old dogs will soon begin training to assist mobility-impaired veterans and people with diseases like multiple sclerosis.
By Laura Moss
Sep 17 2012

Explore.org's newest webcams allow viewers to watch six 3-month-old Great Danes as they transform from playful pups to balance support service dogs at the Service Dog Project training center in Ipswich, Mass.

Similar to the organization’s first service puppy cam, which followed six golden retriever puppies being trained to help veterans with PTSD, the Great Dane cams feature Perry, Lola, Ebony, Mia, Willow and Roxanne as they play, grow and explore their indoor and outdoor environments. In a few weeks, the pups will begin training to assist mobility-impaired veterans and people with diseases like multiple sclerosis and Friedreich’s ataxia.

“Great Danes are generally the best balance support dogs due to their large, sturdy size and docile behavior indoors,” said Carlene White, director of Service Dog Project Inc., in a news release. “By teaming up with explore.org, people now have a chance to witness these beautiful dogs transition from cute little animals to enormous support systems for balance-impaired people and their families, all in real time.”
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Kan. Army veteran’s service dog found dead

Kan. Army veteran’s service dog found dead
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Aug 4, 2012


WICHITA, Kan. — A disabled Army veteran’s service dog is found dead along a Kansas interstate highway about three hours after its owner reported it stolen.

The Wichita Eagle reported Ryan Newell stopped at a car wash in Park City shortly before 7 p.m. Friday to let the dog, a Doberman named Red, stretch its legs.
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Afghanistan veteran's service dog could mean eviction

Taking His Doctor’s Advice Could Cost a Combat Veteran His Apartment
By JOSEPH BERGER
Published: May 28, 2012

After Eugene Ovsishcher returned from a nine-month combat tour in Afghanistan, he experienced what his doctors called symptoms of post-traumatic stress: nightmares, flashbacks and a pervasive anxiety. A psychiatrist advised him to get a dog, and last August he did — a shaggy, mocha Shih Tzu puppy that Mr. Ovsishcher named Mickey because he crawled like a mouse.

The dog proved to be the right medicine, Mr. Ovsishcher said: Mickey woke him from nightmares by sensing something was wrong and barking, settled him down when he was alone and anxious, and even checked up on him “like a registered nurse” when he had a fever.

“Take a look at his face,” Mr. Ovsishcher said, comparing Mickey to Chewbacca, the hairy character in the “Star Wars” series. “You can’t stay anxious or angry or whatever. You look at that face and you start laughing.”

But now Mr. Ovsishcher is facing eviction from his three-bedroom co-op at Trump Village in Coney Island, Brooklyn, because the housing complex has a no-dogs policy. He is wrestling with a kind of Sophie’s Choice: his home or his dog.
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Wounded Marine's inspiring recovery

Wounded Marine's inspiring recovery
Posted: May 21, 2012
TAMPA
(FOX 13)

You'd be hard pressed to find a more optimistic man than Mike Jernigan. The wounded war veteran has endured so much in a short period of time. He was severely injured in Iraq when an IED (improvised explosive device) blew-up the vehicle he was riding in.

The injured Marine endured dozens of surgeries, almost dying several times on the operating room table, but was able to recover. His skull was crushed, he lost sight in both eyes, sustained severe burns, and injured his knees.
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Blind Iraq Veteran taking Walk for Vision

Moorhead man who lost sight in Iraq War to take part in Walk for Vision

By: Helmut Schmidt,
INFORUM
April 26, 2012
MOORHEAD -


Eric Marts made it a point to take care of the soldiers he led in battle in Iraq, even as repeated roadside blasts were robbing him of his eyesight.

Now blind, the 50-year-old former Army National Guard master sergeant is still helping others, hoping to give people in the same situation – whether veterans or lifelong civilians – the same advantages.

Marts plans to walk with his guide dog, “Corporal” Deacon, at North Dakota State University on Saturday in the Fargo version of “Walk for Vision,” the main fundraiser for the North Dakota Association of the Blind.

“I’m pretty blessed,” Marts says matter-of-factly.

After all, the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs helped get him the training and the technology to make a life without sight more navigable, as well as his big, friendly English Labrador guide dog.

He wants to be part of the walk to raise money so that those without his support system can go to camps and get the same sort of help to ease their way through the world.

“So I guess that’s a good cause,” Marts said.
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North Myrtle Beach Vietnam veteran sees service dog as ‘godsend’

North Myrtle Beach veteran sees service dog as ‘godsend’
By Janelle Frost - jfrost@thesunnews.com
Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012

Larry McMahan, a Marine who served two tours of duty in Vietnam gives a treat to Abby, a Canine Angels service dog, rescued from the North Myrtle Beach Humane Society, that will assist him in daily life. McMahan has partial paralysis of his right arm and leg related to his military service. 02/08/12 Photo by Charles Slate

The first day Larry McMahan met Abby, they became best friends. That night, in January, McMahan knew Abby was in bed with him, but she lay still and quiet until he turned his head.

That’s when she licked his nose and cemented their bond.

“She’s a godsend,” McMahan, a North Myrtle Beach disabled veteran, said about his new service dog, a 2 1/2-year-old white terrier mix. “She goes everywhere with me. She’s such a good dog.”

Abby is, in fact, an angel -- a Canine Angel -- one of a group of service dogs specially trained to help veterans like McMahan, who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, has a paralyzed right side since having two heart attacks and a stroke, and symptoms of Agent Orange poisoning.

An infantry platoon sergeant in the Marine Corps for 5 1/2 years, McMahan served 1 1/2 tours in Vietnam. Now 61, he and his wife, Piper Belanger, moved from Charleston to the Grand Strand area to help care for their 14-month-old granddaughter, Riley.
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U.S. army braces itself for increase in PTSD in sniffer dogs

U.S. army braces itself for increase in PTSD in sniffer dogs
by Mark Glenning on September 20, 2011
The American Marine Corps is taking steps to combat post-traumatic stress disorder in its’ bomb sniffing dogs, as it prepares to increase the number of those on duty in Afghanistan.

The highly trained canines recently hit the news when Cairo, a Belgian Malinois, accompanied the team that stormed the compound of Osama Bin Laden in May. So far, he is the only personnel to be named as taking part in the operation.

However, as the armed forces begin to rely on dogs more and more, the numbers that are wounded or killed on the front line are rising steadily. In fact, 14 highly trained dogs have died on the front line since May 2010. In that period, six were wounded and three are still missing in action.

Richard Vargus, who is head of law enforcement at the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), understands the support that is required to rehabilitate dogs that have been at the sharp end in the fight against the Taliban. He commented:

“Our biggest issue that we have with canines is canine PTSD.”

“We’ve seen a significant issue with that because when you’re standing 10 feet away from an explosion, the dog has emotions and the dog is affected as well.”
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Bill approved to make VA service-dog friendly

Bill approved to make VA service-dog friendly
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 12, 2011 16:55:07 EDT
The House of Representatives could vote as early as next week on sweeping legislation that makes the Veterans Affairs Department more dog-friendly.

A House committee has approved legislation that would allow service dogs to be used on any VA property or in any VA facility, including any facility or property receiving VA funding.

“I’m really pleased this legislation is moving, just for the sheer fact we have been trying to do this for so long,” said Christina Roof, deputy national legislative director for the veterans’ service organization AmVets. “VA could have done this itself, by regulation, a long time ago if they wanted, but they haven’t done anything so it looks like Congress will.”

Under current law and regulation, VA is required only to allow guide dogs for the blind onto its property and into facilities because those are the only type of assistance animals specifically covered in federal law. Individual facilities directors can be more flexible, if they wish.

VA officials have been working since March on trying to come up with a new service dog policy but discussions have been bogged down, in part, over the question of whether the policy should specifically list the types of service dogs that should be allowed or to leave that open to interpretation.
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Iraqi Vet Says Tuesday Saved His Life

Iraqi Vet Says Tuesday Saved His Life
A man and a dog named Tuesday brought a message of salvation to Miami
By Christina Hernandez
Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011
A dog can be a man's best friend and for one war veteran, his dog named Tuesday, saved his life.

The pooch had such an impact on Luis Montalvan's life, that he wrote a book about it and brought it to Miami.

Montalvan and his golden retriever with the odd first name have been inseparable for more than two years. Montalvan got the service dog in 2008 after serving two tours in Iraq.

Montalvan was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and a doctor suggested a four-legged companion might be the perfect prescription.

He said Tuesday is a gift from God - bringing back ambition the former U.S. Army captain lost fighting over seas.

"I needed support and the fact that there were highly trained, loving dogs there to help mitigate these disabilities was a godsend," Montalvan said at a book signing at Books and Books in Coral Gables
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Iraqi Vet Says Tuesday Saved His Life

Fort Lewis ‘stress relief dogs’ are bound for Iraq

Lewis ‘stress relief dogs’ are bound for Iraq
By Adam Ashton - The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune via AP
Posted : Saturday Feb 12, 2011 12:35:16 EST
TACOMA, Wash. — As far as retrievers go, Zack is exceptionally impervious to distraction.

He calmly walked at his handler’s side through a training ground at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Friday while automatic weapons and cannons fired in the background.

He greeted teams of camouflaged soldiers and offered his golden head for petting.

Zack is one of two dogs preparing for a mission in Iraq with a medical company charged with providing stress relief for deployed soldiers. The canines’ job is to draw out soldiers who normally would avoid a therapist or to just give someone a break from thinking about a long tour in the desert.

Soldiers are “built to be strong, so we go to them,” said Capt. Andrea Lohmann, who’s deploying with about 50 members of the 98th Medical Company and bringing a stress-relief black Labrador named Butch.

Zack and Butch will be the seventh and eighth stress-relief dogs provided to the Army for combat deployments since 2007 from VetDogs, a New York-based nonprofit that also gives specially trained canines to disabled veterans.

The animals are “icebreakers” for the therapists and psychiatrists who walk through bases and check in on soldiers. People who’ve worked with the pets say the sight of a wagging tail can lift a soldier’s spirits.
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Lewis stress relief dogs are bound for Iraq

VA not approving enough service dogs, IG says

VA not approving enough service dogs, IG says

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jul 7, 2010 17:19:44 EDT

A new report by the Veterans Affairs Department Inspector General says VA should be doing more for veterans whose lives could be improved with help from service dogs.

Eight years after receiving approval to help pay for dogs to assist veterans with mobility problems, seizure disorders or other disabilities, a report released Wednesday says VA has approved only eight requests.

VA officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said VA supports providing service dogs for veterans with physical and hearing issues, and does so on a case-by-case basis.

Relaxed policies that might make service dogs more widely available are under review, but rule changes take time, officials said.

“It is unacceptable not to exercise the authority given to them to improve the quality of veterans’ lives,” said Christina Roof of AmVets, a group that has been pushing the issue for years.

When service dog benefits are provided, VA does not pay for the dog nor its training, but veterinary bills, vaccinations and treatments for fleas and ticks are covered by VA. In some cases, a veteran can be reimbursed for food if a dog is on a medically ordered diet.
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VA not approving enough service dogs IG says