Military Dog Picture of the Week. (July 4th, 2012): Therapy Dogs
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Staff Sgt. Jennifer Connelly, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Protocol office, pets Sgt. 1st Class Zeke, a combat stress dog from Kandahar Airfield’s Role 2, at 73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron Dec. 1, 2011. As a combat stress dog, Zeke and his handler Army Sgt. Paul McCollough visit patients at Role 3 and requesting units around KAF to increase morale and welfare. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. David Carbajal)
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Senior Airman Travis Williams, a radar maintenance technician with the 73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron, lays next to Sgt. 1st Class Zeke, a combat stress dog from Kandahar Airfield’s Role 2, Dec. 1, 2011. As a combat stress dog, Zeke and his handler Army Sgt. Paul McCollough visit patients at Role 3 and requesting units around KAF to increase morale and welfare. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. David Carbajal)
Sgt. 1st Class Zeke, a therapy dog with the 113th Combat Stress Control team visited Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak, Sept. 23, to greet soldiers and help alleviate some of the stress they incur while being deployed. In addition to getting to pet Zeke and play with him, the soldiers learned about his role as a therapy dog and about the programs the Combat Stress Control teams offer when it comes to dealing with tough times.
Staff Sgt. Anthony Houston, of Detroit, and Staff Sgt. Travis Gilbert, of Rockford, Mich., both from the Michigan Army National Guard’s 1225th Corps Support Battalion, which recently returned from Kandahar, Afghanistan, watch 3-year-old therapy dog, Lugnut, do a trick Aug. 4. Welcome Home Dogs, a volunteer organization of handlers and dogs, recently started visiting Camp Atterbury soldiers as they work through the mobilization and demobilization process.
This is a terrific video. A must watch!
Dog Bless You will donate a service or companion dog to an American veteran in need for every 1,000 followers to its Facebook, Pinterest or Tumblr pages. From PTSD to those with life changing injuries, the organization will feature new pictures, videos and stories of war veterans and their dogs every day and work with dozens of service dog organizations to foster discussions aimed at educating and inspiring.
In case you missed or want to revisit prior weeks. Here are the links.
Military Dog Picture of the Week. (June 27th, 2012)
Military Dog Picture of the Week. (June 20th, 2012) Video footage directly from Afghanistan!
Military Dog Picture of the Week. (June 13th, 2012) Anax Retires!
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12 comments on “Military Dog Picture of the Week. (July 4th, 2012): Therapy Dogs”
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Loved the YouTube video. Thanks for including that in your post. Dogs are unconditional love wrapped in fur. They do good work.
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Kevin Hanrahan says:
Hi Barb. Happy 4th of July! I thought the video was very well done my self! You are so right….unconditional love!
I love that you are sharing these stories. It so easy for those of us back home to forget about the stress our soldiers are under every day. I applaud you for making this outreach known and so personal to me as a civilian with many loved ones in the service. Happy 4th of July to you and thank you for your service.
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Hi Rebekah. Thank you and happy 4th of July to you and your family! I thought the happiness and joy our therapy dog provides to our troops could be provided to everyone on this special day!
aj Melnick says: Hi Kevin,
I understand how therapy dogs help the troops and relieve some pressure and stress. My GSD who has his Canine Good Citizen Certification is a Therapy dog. We visit two Alzheimer’s units and a Youth Shelter weekly. The people love Jakie even though he is a large dog–he is very calm and gentle. He’s good with adults as well as young people and children. The people light up when they see him coming and can give him treats. I encourage others to do similar things–it’s rewarding and the canines love it.
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Hi AJ. Do you have a picture of Jakie….. I gotta check this gentle giant out! Isn’t it funny how dogs can melt folks? It is like they have a magical potion…… I want their mojo! Happy 4th to you and your family!
Wow! What a post! This one’s jam-packed with retweetable content, Kevin. Thank you! I’d actually never heard of “Dog Bless You” so the news about donating dogs for followers is amazing (you should be sure to include a link to this in every blog you post from now on!! Let’s get ‘em some likes, eh?)
Gotta go share on both of my IDs, maybe even my personal profile too (haha)
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Great….thank you so much for your support and spreading the word!
aj Melnick says: Kevin, there is a terrific book out about a vet with PTSD who gets an assistance dog. It’s called UNTIL TUESDAY: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan. The vet goes on to get a journalism degree (with the help of Tuesday, the dog) so the book is extremely well written. It also narrates how the assistance dogs are trained. Interesting reading and quite poignant.
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Hi AJ. I think I read about that somewhere. It sounds terrific. I will have to add it to my list of books to read. Thanks for the heads up!
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Loved the YouTube video. Thanks for including that in your post. Dogs are unconditional love wrapped in fur. They do good work.
Hi Barb. Happy 4th of July! I thought the video was very well done my self! You are so right….unconditional love!
I love that you are sharing these stories. It so easy for those of us back home to forget about the stress our soldiers are under every day. I applaud you for making this outreach known and so personal to me as a civilian with many loved ones in the service. Happy 4th of July to you and thank you for your service.
Hi Rebekah. Thank you and happy 4th of July to you and your family! I thought the happiness and joy our therapy dog provides to our troops could be provided to everyone on this special day!
Hi Kevin,
I understand how therapy dogs help the troops and relieve some pressure and stress. My GSD who has his Canine Good Citizen Certification is a Therapy dog. We visit two Alzheimer’s units and a Youth Shelter weekly. The people love Jakie even though he is a large dog–he is very calm and gentle. He’s good with adults as well as young people and children. The people light up when they see him coming and can give him treats. I encourage others to do similar things–it’s rewarding and the canines love it.
Hi AJ. Do you have a picture of Jakie….. I gotta check this gentle giant out! Isn’t it funny how dogs can melt folks? It is like they have a magical potion…… I want their mojo! Happy 4th to you and your family!
Wow! What a post! This one’s jam-packed with retweetable content, Kevin. Thank you! I’d actually never heard of “Dog Bless You” so the news about donating dogs for followers is amazing (you should be sure to include a link to this in every blog you post from now on!! Let’s get ‘em some likes, eh?)
Gotta go share on both of my IDs, maybe even my personal profile too (haha)
Great….thank you so much for your support and spreading the word!
Kevin, there is a terrific book out about a vet with PTSD who gets an assistance dog. It’s called UNTIL TUESDAY: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalvan. The vet goes on to get a journalism degree (with the help of Tuesday, the dog) so the book is extremely well written. It also narrates how the assistance dogs are trained. Interesting reading and quite poignant.
Hi AJ. I think I read about that somewhere. It sounds terrific. I will have to add it to my list of books to read. Thanks for the heads up!
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