Veterans, shelter pets meet with Pets2Vets
Jim Higgins
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_pets2vets_122209/
WASHINGTON � Dave Sharpe was troubled by thoughts he could not share
after he returned from a tour in Iraq. "I found myself waking up in the
middle of the night, punching holes in walls, kicking and beating the
refrigerator door," he said.
Then one day, the former Air Force senior airman went with a friend to a
local pit bull rescue and took home a puppy, Cheyenne. Next time he
found himself kicking something, "I saw this puppy, cocking her head,
looking up at me, like, what are you doing?"
Finally, Sharpe had someone he could open up to. "I froze, I put down my
drink, I picked her up and laid with her in my bed," he said. "I cried
and I told her the whole story. I didn't feel judged."
The experience inspired Sharpe, who lives in Washington's Virginia
suburbs, to start Pets2Vets, a group that pairs veterans with homeless
pets by arranging adoptions of shelter animals. It has made two or three
matches a week since its start in October.
One of the goals of Pets2Vets is to raise awareness about post-traumatic
stress disorder. Sharpe says that while a few groups provide veterans
with service dogs, many PTSD and traumatic brain injury patients do not
qualify for these programs. Even when they do, because of the stigma
still attached to psychological problems, they may hesitate to apply.
Cheyenne showed, however, that even a "regular" dog can work miracles,
Sharpe believes, and former Army Staff Sgt. Will "Ace" Acevedo agrees.
Acevedo took Xena, a Jack Russell mix puppy, home to North Carolina at
the beginning of December.
"She's done wonders for me," he says.
Diagnosed with PTSD in 2003, Acevedo says medication can do only so
much. Xena gives him something else to think about instead of feeling
sorry for himself, and with an energetic puppy in a house with brand-new
carpets, he has plenty to concentrate on.
"Instead of you focusing on yourself and your battle wounds, you focus
on the dog," he says.
And like Sharpe, he says, "I talk to her. I tell her how I feel. She
looks at me like, 'Don't worry buddy, everything's going to be all
right,' and she licks my face."
Currently, veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the DC VA
Hospital are adopting pets from the Washington Animal Rescue League,
where staff help make the right match. Ray Crook of suburban Maryland
says that when he visited the shelter and talked about what his family
wanted in a dog, the staff brought out Meyer and "it was love at first
sight."
After just a few weeks, Meyer, a medium-sized shepherd-Akita mix, "feels
like he's been part of my family for a very long time," he says. The dog
loves the grandchildren, but he's also especially attached to Crook, who
says "I should have named him Shadow � he follows me everywhere."
Crook, a former Army sergeant who has diabetes, says his long walks and
talks with Meyer are good for his health.
"I take my medication for depression, but he's really healthy for me
mentally and spiritually," he says.
Washington Animal Rescue League director Gary Weitzman says the
partnership with Pets2Vets was an ideal fit for their organization,
which has in the past worked with veterans at nearby Walter Reed on an
individual basis. Pets can be matched with vets up to two months before
their discharge date and make weekly visits with them; there also are
volunteer opportunities, to spend time with shelter animals, for
soldiers who cannot yet be matched with pets of their own.
It is a win-win situation for the shelter and the vets, Weitzman says:
"We provide them a healing environment, to continue their recovery, but
they also help our animals, many of which are recovering from traumas
themselves."
With the success of their pilot program, Pets2Vets plans to expand early
next year to additional shelters in the DC area and then across the
country in partnership with local veterans organizations.
Sharpe says his long-term goal is to extend the program to police, fire
and rescue personnel and victims of natural disasters and other traumas.
While helping the estimated 10 to 12 million cases of PTSD in this
country, he says, "imagine saving the lives of that many dogs and cats."
Of course, Sharpe would add that it is not just the animals who are
being saved.
"She saved me," he said, talking about Cheyenne.
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