By Elizabeth Bunnell
On the rainy morning of Oct. 28, enthusiastic runners and dog owners met at Wilson park to show their support for the non-profit Service Dogs of Distinction (SDOD).
“Our program’s mission is to assist veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injury to have another resource to help them get their life back,” said Marsha Wyatt, vice president of SDOD. “We shelter and rescue donated dogs only, no puppies and no breeding dogs. Veterans work with us for a year to a year and a half to find a way to improve their lives.”
Runners, dog owners and vendors met at 8 a.m. to participate in the sixth annual Howling Halloween 5k and Dog Walk organized by SDOD as a way to benefit veterans with PTSD receive service dogs.
Wyatt explained she’s always been an animal person and all the men in her life, such as her father and brother, were veterans which led to her involvement in this program.
“I’m very touched by animals, I know they are so wonderful and can help our veterans have some sort of normalcy back in their life because they are struggling when they get back from deployment,” Wyatt said.
Carrie Ward, a veteran military police officer, knows first hand the benefits of a service dog after returning home from deployment. Ward owned a 12-year-old labrador retriever service dog that has now passed.
“He (Ward’s service dog) was a great help. At the time I was having seizures. I was on seizure medication and I lived by myself, so it was really dangerous. I had them a lot in the middle of the night. It was really dangerous for me to be home alone,” Ward said. “He was trained to help me roll over and then lay on top of me so I didn’t choke. It was pretty incredible.”
Ward became the founder and owner of Paw Patrol Mobile Grooming in 2019. Ward’s business is a grooming service that provides all the amenities of a brick and mortar grooming operation, but instead it’s on wheels.
“When I got out of the military I had a really hard time finding purpose, so I jumped job to job. When I started working with dogs I was like ‘this is it.’ I think the week I started (working with dogs) was the week my service dog passed, so it helped me transition,” Ward said. “It’s therapy for me, it really is.”
Wyatt explained her favorite part of the annual event is getting the community involved. As a non-profit, SDOD is completely dependent on local and statewide businesses and individuals to keep the mission going forward.
Here on campus, sophomore Lily Crawford works as a service dog trainer for the Canine Companions program. The program provides free service dogs to individuals with disabilities. Crawford received her third dog in the program in August, a five-month-old golden retriever and labrador retriever mix.
“During this stage, my job is just basic socialization, making sure that he can settle and behave in public. Then we have a list of 30 or so basic commands that they want the dogs to know and be solid on before they go on to professional training, which is where they’ll learn the specific tasks that they’ll actually use to help their person whenever they’re asked,” Crawford said.
Crawford first learned about service dogs at the age of seven while she was reading a magazine. During her senior year of high school she decided this was something she was interested in pursuing.
“At first my big reason (for training service dogs) was ‘I just really love puppies.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this sounds like a fun hobby.’ The reason that I’m now raising my third dog is the stories that you hear from the people who received these dogs on how they’ve impacted their lives, increased their independence, and boosted their overall like mental well being,” Crawford said. “It’s just incredible. It’s such a huge honor to be a part of this program. That’s why I hope I can continue volunteering and serving with them for as long as I’m able to.”
Training service dogs through Canine Companions has helped Crawford become more aware of how she can advocate for people with disabilities.
“I didn’t know what kind of struggles people with disabilities were going through. Even though it’s different for different people with disabilities. There are some common threads that I feel like now I’m more aware of,” Crawford said. “It’s made me very passionate about sharing that with others because there’s some things that I think just everyone should just be aware of.”
Crawford said she hopes to continue training service dogs for as long as she can.
Service dogs provide a way to bring normalcy to people’s lives whether it’s returning home after deployment or adjusting to life with a disability. The community of Fayetteville is finding ways to support people in need of service dogs through the SDOD program and students on campus becoming trainers.