VetDog is just the right medicine for veteran

Kirkpatrick’s experienced more lows than highs in his life since his spine and knee were crushed when he was struck by a car while serving as a munitions specialist with the U.S. Air Force.

At age 21, he was fully retired with a service-connected disability. That didn’t stop Kirkpatrick, now 51. He worked at several high level jobs near and far.

But then, he said, something changed. “I went from managing work chaos to not getting out of bed,” he said.

At age 26 or 27, his condition was diagnosed, “but by then there was so much devastation in my life.”

He suffered chronic, excruciating pain from his injuries that led to dependency on pain medication, which exacerbated anxiety, depression and other symptoms, to eventual total isolation. For weeks, he didn’t leave his house or answer the telephone.

“Death would probably be a lot better,” he said. “It’s been a horrible, horrible thing.”

A happenstance meeting at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis has jump-started his life. He struck up a conversation in the waiting room with a veteran who was accompanied by a dog. The vet had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome, of which many veterans suffer.

The vet shared his story which included many of the things that go along with PTSD and mental health issues: drugs, alcohol, loss of marriage, jails, hospitals and recurrent problems.

“It was like he was talking about me,” Kirkpatrick said, adding that the diagnosis isn’t as important as the symptoms people suffer.

The vet told Kirkpatrick the dog had changed his life, and was an assistance dog provided through America’s VetDogs — The Veteran’s K-9 Corps.

While Kirkpatrick doesn’t have PTSD, he suffers from the same debilitating symptoms and the vet gave his comrade the program’s contact information.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” said Kirkpatrick of listening to the vet’s story. “He said it was like his mother had come down from heaven to take care of him. That it totally changed his life.”

After a lengthy and detailed application process, complete with letters of recommendation from doctors and a psychologist, Kirkpatrick was accepted into the program and in August, he flew to Long Island where he met Toby, who based on earlier telephone interviews had been matched to Kirkpatrick’s needs.

Kirkpatrick and Toby completed a two-week training period, along with 11 other vets and their assistance dogs, at the Long Island facility, where they bonded and learned of each others needs and abilities.

He said the family that raised Toby from a puppy for the program attended their graduation ceremony.

As Kirkpatrick told his story, Toby slept at Kirkpatrick’s feet, even giving a dreamy wag of his tail now and then.

But as Kirkpatrick grew emotional telling how Toby had helped him to overcome some of his symptoms, Toby’s training kicked in. He awoke, stood and licked Kirkpatrick’s arm providing both comfort and distraction.

Toby is trained to wake Kirkpatrick if he is experiencing nightmares or sleep walking, provide encouragement for Kirkpatrick to get outside, picks up dropped items, and assists him walking when he loses balance or strength in his limbs.

“It’s been a wonderful, life-saving thing,” he said of having Toby in his life.

“Toby has a real calming effect,” he said. “If you’re stressed out, he puts his head in your lap or comes over and looks you right in the eye.”

Kirkpatrick said Toby has also impacted others, including his family who no longer feel the same level of worry and concern about Kirkpatrick as they did before Toby. “It has a ripple effect,” Kirkpatrick said.

And others, too, have noticed a difference in Kirkpatrick.

“He was a totally different person the first day he walked in with the dog,” said Koochiching County Veterans Service Officer Kathy Sikkila. “This is the most exciting thing I’ve seen since I’ve been working.”

Kirkpatrick said he once felt pretty alone in the world, but now has Toby, who cares about him and interacts with him, but also requires care by Kirkpatrick.

“I have to take care of him,” he said. “Even if I’m not feeling well, I hook him up and take him outside and I’m in the fresh air and sunshine and I am talking to people whether I thought I wanted to or not.”

Sharing the experience

And while Kirkpatrick is grateful for Toby, he sheds tears as he describes other veterans who he says may be more deserving of the support of an assistance dog. Many of those he describes are returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with life-altering injuries to their brains and limbs. He also refers to Vietnam era veterans who have experienced great loss and problems in their lives as a result of serving their country.

“It’s really touched my heart,” he said of the program.

Kirkpatrick wants to share with other vets what Toby has given to him and hopes the community will come together to sponsor a dog for a vet.

“There are so many young soldiers coming home with traumatic brain injuries from the extensive use of IEDs (improvised explosive devises) and their legs are missing, their arms are missing, they go to Germany, get stabilized and come back to one of these facilities,” he said. “A lot of them, their wives have left them and they are alone and they are afraid. Compound it with all the problems that go along with that.”

Kirkpatrick said a young soldier, age 24, who experienced seven explosions in Iraq, the final resulting in a brain injury and the others contributing to PTSD, now has an assistance dog thanks to sponsorship by the History Channel. The pair will be featured in a History Channel documentary about the program next year.

The soldier saw unimaginable destruction of his fellow soldiers and experienced horrible loss.

“Within seven days of having this dog, this man went from being obviously pained at being close to people and functioning to standing with a group of people laughing and carrying on conversations and getting out of his room working with this dog,” said Kirkpatrick.

Koochiching County loves its soldiers and dogs, said Kirkpatrick, so he’d like area residents to combine those loves by sponsoring a VetDog to assist a vet with their physical and emotional needs. There are many places these kinds of dogs could do good, he said, including at vet’s hospitals and living with individual vets.

Kirkpatrick said he hopes that he and Toby serve as ambassadors for the America’s VetDogs. As a part of his goal to bring more dogs to vets and to raise awareness of the program, he and Toby met Tuesday with Koochiching County commissioners, of which at least one, Board Chairman Wade Pavleck, is known to be a veteran and dog lover.

The VetDogs program provides for opportunities for sponsorship of a dog and raising a puppy for the program. Sponsorship of a puppy requires a $6,000 contribution and Kirkpatrick said he’d like the community to come together to raise the funds.

For more information about the program, see the website at www.VetDogs.org or call 1-866-VETDOGS. Or contact Sikkila at 283-1179 to discuss organizing a fundraiser to help sponsor a VetDog.

“People in this community love their vets and soldiers,” he said. “I hope people will want to do something. I know it’s a tough economy, but $6,000 is an attainable goal. And who knows how it could change a vet’s life.”

Service dog etiquette

Approaching a service dog: Service dogs can be easily identified by their harness and vest. The Americans With Disabilities Act guarantees people with disabilities the right to be accompanied by a service animal in all areas open to the general public.

Remember that an assistance dog is a working dog, and you should not do anything to interrupt the dog from performing its tasks.

Here are some tips to follow when meeting a working dog and partner:

• Speak to the person first and not the dog.

• Do not distract the assistance dog with food or greetings.

• Do not touch the assistance dog without permission.

• Do not ask personal questions about the handler’s disability or intrude on his or her privacy. 

• Do not be offended if the handler of the assistance dog does not want to talk about his or her assistance dog.