This week I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Wilmington to work with STEWART and my new trainer Sherry.  I was very anxious and excited.  I was anxious because I was traveling alone, which is something I have not done in a long time.    I was anxious about the car trip, staying in the hotel, and meeting Sherry.  Over the years it has gotten harder and harder to meet new people and to ...

4/23/2012 Hello everyone Neal and Piper here: Today's events has been quite amusing, we ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items that we needed, while there Piper performed as usual allowing me to cope with the shoppers. before leaving Becky picked up a fresh fried chicken for Dinner. Going home Piper laid where he was placed occasionally glancing at the chicken, never making an attempt to get up. On ...

http://www.caregiver.va.gov/support_benefits.asp Family Caregivers provide crucial support in caring for Veterans. VA recognizes that Family Caregivers in a home environment can enhance the health and well-being of Veterans under VA care. Under the "Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010," additional VA services are now available to seriously injured post-9/11 Veterans and their Family ...

This past week, I completed a research paper discussing many aspects of PTSD, and considering that p4p just added a Post Traumatic Stress Newspage to the site, I thought I would share some of the more interesting things I found about PTSD. Some of the more prolific symptoms of PTSD that a person must experience in order to be diagnosed with the disorder are arousal symptoms, which includes hyper-vigilance, ...

Yet another semester in my assistance dogs class has flown by. This one was filled with several highlights including class visits from Monty’s Home (along with our stressful evaluations!), Jeff and TAZIE, Rachel and DAWSON, a few soldiers, the P4P Family Reunion/Graduation and 5K, and we even had some classes taught by Terry. In all it was of course, and just as I expected, another great semester spent le ...

[caption id="attachment_8424" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Daisy loves her baby"][/caption] The weather is SO pretty right now. I was working in the garden yesterday and took my little guy out side with me. He was sleeping on a blanket under the umbrella. I was a little nervous and kept turning around to check on him. I think Daisy picked up on my worry and when I turned back around this is what I ...

This is very difficult to write. We've had some sleepless nights and very scary days since taking TAZIE to the vet this week. We noticed a small bump under her left arm and Jeff took her to get it checked out - the biopsy was inconclusive and the vet recommended surgery so that they can remove the entire tumor and test it to be sure exactly what it is. Surgery is scheduled for 8:30 am on Monday morning. T ...

Life changes never take long when Terry is around. There is not really any moment when engaged in paws4vets that doesn't make me smile and enjoy the experience. Terry has been an uplifting friend and mentor throughout my involvement in paws4vets, allowing me to stretch, learn, and teach in situations I'd dreamed of being involved with,  have challenged me, encouraging me the entire way.  He's made ...