Rally Point 25

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Rally Pointers fall in once again.Folks, Welcome to the Rally Point Show
with your host Amana Makanu Hah andthe Sergeant James Himanway. Good morning America
and Charlotte County. Today shows tobe spectacular. Who do we have on
our show today? On today's segment, we have a special treat for all

(00:20):
of you. Actually, we haveseveral guests in the studio, some two
legged, some four legged. Ohboy, so yes, the Parade of
Puffs. We're having another segment involvingWolfhound's Legacy. So for those of you
that have been listening to the showfor a while, you may remember we
previously had Mark Fry and Steve Copelandon the show from Wolfhound's Legacy talking about

(00:42):
the program and what an important benefitit is for veterans. And today we
have Vice President Melanie Jacob and wealso have two handlers, one by phone
and one in person that are hereand we'll let them introduce themselves in a
little bit, but first we're goingto talk to Melanie. Welcome to the
show, Melanie, thank you forcoming on. Thank you very much for

(01:03):
allowing us to be here today.Absolutely well, so just to kind of
give everybody a background. So you'rethe vice president of Wolfhounds, but you
have a pretty interesting story with thegroup. Can you tell us how you
came to be involved with Wolfhounds,your previous line of work that led you
into this, Well, all thatgoodness. My previous line of work is

(01:26):
I worked for the State of NewJersey for thirty four years in the probation
division. So I left New Jerseycame to Florida, and I wanted to
work with pitbull and I had ahard time trying to connect, but I
found Golf Coast Humane Society and theylet me foster. It was a wonderful

(01:46):
program, but I got too attachedto the puppies and I raised fourteen puppies
and they were able to go onand get adopted, and especially as pitbulls,
that's hard. Yeah. Well,then I was at a community fair
and I saw this sign that saidWolfhound's Legacy, Help a soldier, help

(02:07):
a dog, save two lives.And I was like, all right,
what's that And I asked the womanand she said, well, yes,
she said. What we do iswe take dogs out of high kill shelters
or bad situations. Then they weretrained to be service dogs at no cost
for a veteran. I was like, oh, we'll sign me up.
Sign How can I not be partof this program. You're helping a veteran,

(02:30):
You're helping a dog. So thentwo weeks later they knocked on my
door and gave me my service dog. Who is my service dog now Bailey?
But I was to foster this fora veteran and to train it.
I was like, oh, okay, I never had a German shepherd before

(02:51):
and I wanted to work with pitbulls. But okay, So I started
training with the group. I hadno experience, no idea what was going
on, and the bond she pickedme. So I did ask if I
could after her training, if Icould keep her. So you're a foster

(03:12):
failer. I am a foster failure. I am a complete failure. Yes,
fostering most probably a training too,because they do call me Grandma.
Because I was going to say,but you're fantastic, I do not care.
If they do their command, youcan still get a cookie, So
I don't care. So what happenedwas they asked me to be the secretary

(03:34):
of the program. I agreed becauseall I wanted to do was write thank
you letters to our donors. Wellthat escalated. I've done everything you could
possibly think of, and now I'mthe vice president. But I just can't
say enough good things about this program, and not because I'm in it.
What I've seen is the benefits ofwhat a dog can do for an individual.

(03:58):
For a veteran, the VA isvery quick to give out a drug
where the dog is so much betterthan a drug. So that's where we
go with that. The dogs arethe big thing, and we've seen it.
We have seen what the dogs havebeen able to do for everyone.

(04:20):
I've had some veterans that when theycome into the program, it's yes,
ma'am, no, ma'am, Andnow we can't keep them quiet exactly.
We've had veterans and now we dotaken first responders also since we had COVID,
which is wonderful. Yeah, becausethere is definitely what what happened with

(04:42):
COVID. It was just a knownfact that we needed to include them.
So we do have to listen ourprogram too. So the program has been
in existence since twenty sixteen. Thisis I started at the latter part of
twenty seventeen, so I've been witha program ever since. I foster many

(05:08):
of the dogs. This little babyright here, we have Freedom in the
studio with us. She's Nancy's dogand she is a bundle of energy,
sure is. But I'll tell youwhat she's worth every single she's my dog's
girlfriend. I know she is.So for those of you listening, I
also have a service dog, Odin, and he graduated this program as well,

(05:30):
and so we joke that Freedom ishis girlfriend. Yes. So we've
had seven graduate prior seven graduations.Yesterday it was our eighth graduation. Fantastic,
Yes, it has been fantastic.We have two hundred and fifty two
hundred and fifty six dogs that havegone through the program. Wow, Now

(05:51):
not everybody has graduated, cracked.So we have approximately one ninety that have
graduated. And we never give upon a dog. If it doesn't get
through the program, then if it'sour dog, we adopt it out.
Okay, Because I was going tosay, like something that I have to
put out there, and I hopeshe hears this Friday, because this was

(06:14):
like a turning point for me andtraining. My dog had a hard time
in the beginning. He was justrambunctious and unaltered. For those of you
who know what that means. Sohe still had quite a lot of risk
that is going on. But anyways, so it made it hard for him
to like pass his tests and stuff, and I just totally felt like a

(06:34):
failure and I was so ready togive up. And we had a nutrition
segment. So Wolfhounds is great becausenot only do they bring you together to
do on site training, and theywill teach you the commands, the methods,
all the ways to train the dogto be a service dog, because
they're training you as the handler justas much as the dog is being trained

(06:57):
to support their handler. So it'sa two full purpose, which is great.
But sometimes we would do like kindof academia classroom stuff and one of
them was a nutrition segment and oneof the trainer's, Heather, she and
I were talking after the nutrition segmentthat we had one night, and I
was just so frustrated and I sheda lot of tears in this program just

(07:20):
out of frustration. Because you know, for those of you listening, veterans
were usually motivated to want to likedo the best, be the best,
or you know, at least havesomething come to us relatively quickly. We
don't like having those stumbling blocks tolearning, and I was hitting walls and
Heather told me, she said somethingto the effect of, you know,

(07:42):
if he doesn't make it through,like there's no time limit on this.
He doesn't have to make it throughthis class. If he doesn't, that's
okay. He can continue in thenext class until he gets it and until
it falls into place. And thatwas like probably the biggest weight lifted off
of me, just to have somebodytell me that. Well, So that's
what I love about the wolf Woundsprogram is that you guys never give up

(08:03):
on anybody. Nope, we doneed to stand There's five people in this
room right now. We all havea different learning ability. And because I
can pick up on something and youcan't, but I can't do what you
do, that doesn't mean we're failuresor we can't do it, not at
all. The dogs are the sameway, they learn at their own pace.

(08:26):
You cannot force a dog. Andwhen you are in Wolfhound's legacy,
it's not a competition. It isnot a competition. You all learn at
your own rate and if you can'tmake this time, you go on to
the next or the other reason.Another thing I'm want to bring up we
shortened our classes greatly. They're downto ten now. And the reason of

(08:48):
having ten in a class is becauseif you can't pick up on something,
I'm going to be able to giveyou individualized training exactly. I can help
you, you know, or ifyou can do it or I can't do
it, you're going to say,hey, no, come here, I'm
going to show you how to doit this way. That's how it's got
to be done. Absolutely. Plus, I would think for the sake of

(09:09):
like the pack mentality which they fosterto and wolfhounds, like all our dogs,
they know each other, they're friends. There's no animosity really there either.
I mean some of them are alittle more verbal than vocal I should
say not verbal, but vocal thanothers. But for the most part,
it fosters that with them. Ithink that will be so much easier to

(09:30):
do too in a smaller setting.Yes, so that everybody gets that,
you know, personal touch, LikeI felt like in our class, we
definitely got a very personal touch.We got to know all of you as
trainers as people, which was nice, yes, and it was just it
definitely. I think I felt likeyesterday it was like the culmination of a
sense of community that has come outof that class, which is wonderful.

(09:52):
Like we're all talking about meetups,we're talking about getting together and hanging out
or volunteering together. Absolutely for sure. So we got more person What was
that, Peppy? A lot ofus got to know each other, like
on a personal level because some ofus did have like similarities when it came

(10:15):
to like a PTSD and all anxietyand stuff like that. So we was
able to compare. You know,see whose dog is, you know,
reacting to what things like that.I definitely learned a lot, So,
Peppy, why don't you take aminute to introduce yourself. Tell everybody out
there in America who you are andwhere you served and how you came to
be part of Wolfhound's. Okay,well, my name is Petty Pool.

(10:37):
I served in the US Army eightysecond that Born first Brigade. You finally
got a fellow Army person. Yeah, paratroopers all the way at Born.
But yeah, I did. Idid my time. I did a couple

(10:58):
of tours overseas, and you know, I had my experience along with other
brothers and sisters of mine. Sowhen I you know, when I came
back home when I was done,I like long story short, I was
just lost more because I wasn't usedto the civilian life, you know,
to me, civilians was different fromwhat I you know what, I was

(11:18):
broken down the building too, andI didn't have an outlet, So,
you know, I let years goby, and like Male said earlier,
if you ain't, it's really quickto give you med Yes, they are.
I'm a and I am a big, big, big what what do
you call an experiment? But I'mone of those that always was said the

(11:41):
medication over, you know, anyother any other resolution, And I don't
know, I won't, I won'tsay it was a problem, But to
me it just was more I waslooking for something to help me, so
like a cure, not just atreatment for symptoms, a lot of treatment,
more of a cure, which inthe in the back of my mind
I knew it was more like,you can't there's certain things you're just not

(12:03):
gonna be able to cure with usand at least we could have at least
for me, it was more ofa Okay, you can't cure it,
but what can I do that?Will? You know? Just easy,
you know, easy for me,not make it so dark, so harsh,
and the medication that was more likea tranquilized you know, if I

(12:24):
could be honest, right, Andall it did was just you know,
kept me in one place and justout of out of you know, out
of the environment, you know,just going you know, just the bailey,
not the the basic I'm sorry,that daily get up, go exercise,
come back and routine, you know. So I wasn't. I was
already used to that coming out ofyou know, serving the country and things,

(12:46):
so I wasn't you know, Ididn't have a problem with it.
But then, you know, somebodyreferred me to a well found we'll pound
and I'm promo for service animal andit was my one of my therapists at
the DA, which I really appreciateher. And at first I didn't want
to give it a try because I'mlike, okay, this is a this
is a dog we're talking about.We're talking about an animal. They don't

(13:07):
speak, you know, I don'tunderstand it. I don't think it's going
to understand me. I wasn't reallyunderstanding you know, the energy thing when
it came to humans and animals.So I was if I was scared of
anything that was it right there?Out of all the things I've done,
that was it right there? Isyou've jumped out perfectly good aircraft and you
are more afraid of taking on aservice dog. And I jumped out of

(13:33):
and I jumped out of plenty times. No problem. It's just more of
a I don't know. So Ithink I just didn't want to ruin something,
you know. I think that's whatit is. Just it's innocence that
you don't that I don't want toruin. So it's like more of a
I don't know this dog. Well, I don't know what the dog's been

(13:54):
through before, you know. Anda lot of these these animals, they
are rescues, so it's like Idon't want the dog to think that I'm
gonna do whatever they came from you. Oh no, no, no,
but you can I say something.Yes. Do you remember how we first
met? Yeah, okay, itwas after the hurricane. I had workers

(14:16):
at my home and and I pulledinto my driveway and there's a knock on
my door, and I said,oh, don't you want to go in
the back with the rest of theworkers. And he's like, I go,
well, what do you want?He sent me over to be interviewed.

(14:37):
I go, okay, come onin. Exactly, you guys are
like practically the best of friends,I know, right, because it was
That's another thing it was. Itwas an instant. It was like an
instant clin between me and Melanie becauseshe was literally the first person I met
that has anything that had any involvementwith organization, right, So it was

(15:01):
she So she opened, she hadher arms open, doors open. All
the dogs was in the house.I remember, all the dogs was there
in it. Just that alone waslike another star because I was more on
the guard, like, man,these dogs better chill. You know.
I don't speak dog, and Iunderstand, and I understand what territory,

(15:22):
you know, I understand it.So it's more like I don't have nothing
to gainst you a big dog,but you know, just no, I'm
here on a friendly note. AndMail walked me through it. She helped
me. She helped me really reallylike a lot. She walked me through
it. She she kept me,she kept me with like she just she
just knows a lot. You know, she's really really she goes a lot

(15:43):
and she's really like invested invested intothis. She's not like just coming every
now and then, or oh,I got it. She's there, she's
hands on, she does the walkswith us, she's in the stores wherever
she's there. And that's another thing. You know, she's just more of
the community. Because I was fine, you know, talking to myself and

(16:04):
I was like, you know whatever. But you know, I got into
this male male welcome in like Iwas like a like a like a son.
She welcome in and just her alonehelped me guide me through and keep
me into the program because I didn'teven have a dog, and she was
more like she saw it, likeyou're already giving up on me. No,
no, no, And she keptme in there. And my first

(16:26):
dog, if I was Maverick,big dog. It was a blue tick
count and I was excited I outat first, but I had an upcoming
shoulder surgery and that ain't and likeand like a man was saying, it's
just certain things that will we'll beup high and that and one thing,
small thing that drop us all theway down to the ground. And that's

(16:48):
just how it is. And whenI had Maverick, Maverick wasn't even the
problem. It was more of ait was me. I was like I'm
about to have a shoulder surgery.This dog, it is huge. I
don't want to mess up the dog. You know, I got stairs,
you know, so I was like, dang, how do you return you
know, you know, how doI return this this bet when they didn't
do anything, you know, likewhen it's not them. And once again,

(17:11):
Mal she walked me through it.We talked, and I ended up
with probably my best friend in theworld, Isabelle. Yeah, there you
go. She loves my kid,my daughter, they love each other,
my wife. Everybody's cool. SoIsabelle went through everything with me as if
that was her first day too,because she was a puppy. She was.

(17:33):
Peppy is like almost as tall asyou. To put it in perspective,
which the serge is like the jollygreen giant seven foot tall. I'm
six four man, Peppy, you'rea pretty big dude too. You're like
six foot something as well. Listen, I'm six to see. There you

(17:53):
go, folks. So now youhave a frame of reference. And he
shows up with this adorable little puppywho had so much energy. But I
want to like we could we couldtell the bond from the jump, I
think I vaguely remember you being pairedwith Maverick at the beginning of training maybe,
but I mostly remember seeing you.Yep, what was it? What

(18:17):
was Mike Riker? Right? Yep. It was a few dogs out there,
now, yeah, there were definitelysome some big dogs, but no,
when you showed up with Isabelle,it was like it kind of everything
sort of fell into place. Itwas different. We didn't hear the music
in the background so much as I'mnot saying that. I'm not saying that

(18:41):
to Peppy so much because I'm sayingthat for all of us it was a
giant Yeah, it was a sugarhoney iced t show for sure. Jesus.
So it was crazy. It wasjust absolutely crazy. So so yeah,
so it was just it was kindof one of those things where it
was is chaotic. We're all kindof trying to learn how to you know,

(19:03):
be handlers or you know, andhow to help our dogs perform the
tasks that we needed them to perform. And I even, like you,
Peppy, I've never owned a dogbefore in my life ever, so coming
into a training environment with the firstdog I ever owned, Like you want
to talk about intimidation factor, itwas like, I don't know, I
just felt like one of those whatwas you like major thing when it came

(19:32):
to like you and a dog witha training like the private training like me,
and I could say when it cameto corrections, that was my I
used to I have to have likethis thing. And I can tell mel
Mark, Jeff, and Jeff wasa big part in this too. Mark
always big part. He's just ascrazy as I. I used to tell

(19:55):
him. I was like, youknow, I don't want to pull this
little dog, you know, Idon't want to. I don't want to
g Yeah, it was like thedog would take it, You'll just give
her the correction, and I'm likefreak. So I used that, but
I started implementing other things that Ilearned from the videos. They were sending
us into groups and and like likeyou said, we all got to know
each other. So we was alltalking to each other, towards each other.

(20:21):
We was going to events and stuff, so it was it was like
a whole big it was. Itwas more like we was back on the
basic again because everybody was locked in. Yeah, it's like basic training again.
What are you in for? Forme? Different when we was all
different parts of the world, allthere for the same thing though exactly.
And uh, I want to saythat from where I'm sitting here back in

(20:44):
the room. I'm James. Ididn't want to say everybody in the room
here, thank you for your sacrifice. And why I'm saying your sacrifice because
it's not I'm not talking about yourservice that you've already done that Sweet Jesus
Christmas. We probably talked circles aroundthat. But right now I want to
say thank you for your sacrifice.And from what I'm taking, I'm taking
a step back as a sergeant.I'm watching people. I'm having a complete

(21:07):
flash back to basic training, andI got privates running all over the place
and they're trying to figure how tosurvive. You know how it goes.
You go through instruction, go backto the American the bunks, and you
guys talk about yourself. And Isee that the service I'm having an issue
called service animals because they were likebattle buddies. Man, I do too.
That's how I'll be confused to broI don't even want to say it

(21:32):
because it's like she's part of myfamily. So that's my favorite right there.
I'm a daughter. You know,we call male grandma. I would
say, your free daughter, myHarry, my hairy Sonob that's my nephew.
I guess you know your uncle Pepexactly another family, you know.

(21:53):
And one of the things I seehere and you kind of hit the nail
and had a couple of minutes ago. One of things the VA wants to
do is kind of put a bangby giving us meds, but you don't
really attack the problem. And sometimesfor me it's like anxiety and trust and
if you had a battle that youcan work that out with your battle buddy.
And think I hear a future Wolfhound'sgraduate talking and hey, I want

(22:17):
to see it. Hey, definitely. And one of the things I will
say is that the fact that youkind of hit the nail on the head.
When we go into service and wevolunteer, no matter what branch are
going to, you're never coming backto the same person that went in.
And one of the few things I'velearned in our time is that people need
to understand the paying what you doin service, you're not going to come

(22:38):
back to the same person. Soif you're trying to go back to who
you used to be, you're failedalready. It's not going to happen.
Yeah, in it's work and itsma life. Just a listening it just
makes our life worse. We're tryingto go back to some that we can't
even we can't reach it anymore.We're not going to go back in time,
will never be twenty years old againand try to be that person is

(23:02):
impossible task. But one thing isI still trying to do my push ups
and running like it. Don't keepas a military life, for sure,
leave the drama, leave the bs. But yes, exactly. And one
of the things that I learned thatthe Wolfhounds group here that I'm sitting here
with you learn to embrace who youare. And that's a lifelong journey.

(23:22):
And anybody thinks a pill that's goingto happen overnight, that's impossible. Depending
again on serve experiences. We haveto learn how to become who you are
day by day. It's not gonnasnap your fingers. I'm going to assimilate
to be you know, perfect civilianone oh one. That's not gonna happen.
And I tell my my soldiers,you have to embrase who you are

(23:44):
and don't seek to be something thatyou're not going to be. Be who
you are, and be you onand just learn how to live with what
you got. There's an awesome quoteby doctor SEUs that says, be who
you are and say what you feel. Those who mind don't matter, and
those who matter don't mind. Iknow that is very truck And there you
go nineteen forty fifty five, goodold doctors, Sush free guys. I

(24:06):
think she pushed that we could go. I'm telling you I got that as
a farewell gift when I left myvery first duty station in two thousand and
seven, and it still sits.It is sat in every office I ever
had for the rest of my career, and it still sits on my windowsill
in my kitchen in my home tothis day because I need a regular reminder
of that. I think everybody does. And I tell you right now,

(24:27):
everyone can have a bad day andthat's okay, that's called being human.
But the cool thing is I tellmy troops, never by yourself. When
the minute you said, he where'syour hand to the United States, You'll
never be alone anywhere. You gota big family. Now, yes you
do, Yes you do, andsometimes you get we do exactly well.

(24:48):
So also we want to bring somebodyelse into the conversation. He's been sitting
here so quietly and nicely. SoNancy Ortiz is also here on the show
with her dog Freedom. Like Isaid, she's my dog's girlfriend. So
a little bit of bias there,It's cool. And so Nancy, tell
us about your journey because you're you'rekind of like. I love your story

(25:11):
because where Wolfhounds helps veterans and firstresponders, you fall into both of those
categories. So I will let youtell your story. I do. I
am a US Navy veteran. Idid go through the VA initially to try
to get some help, and withinthe span of three months, I ended
up on fifteen different medications. Ihad horrible suicidal tendencies, which I didn't

(25:36):
have before I started the VA,so I left them and then I just
buried everything down. It wasn't untilmy children's father passed away that, you
know, my therapist says, oh, honey, you have PTSD. I
don't have PTSD. I just Ican't have PTSD. We can't talk about
that. So fortunately I am remarried. I have a one wonderful husband who

(26:03):
I had a dog prior to Freedomthat was not a service dog. She
ended up being my emotional service animal. Little did I know that I had
the PTSD from being in the military. I had it from a bad marriage.
And also now I am a firstresponder, I get to get the
updates on the radios from my coworkersthat are saving these lives. But the

(26:26):
positive to that is I also getto hear a baby take his first cry,
So that's on the good side.But my dog Juno passed away and
I spiraled very horribly, and myhusband Martin, reached out to a co
worker who used to volunteer with Wolfhounds, and he called me at work one
day, which he never does,so I knew, oh my gosh,

(26:47):
this is big. I answer,I step out of the room. He
goes, your phone is going toring. You have to answer the call.
Please, if you do anything elsetoday, answer her call. Okay,
Well, phone tig happened. SoI get a hold of mel back
and I said, I'm like veryconfused, and like he really called these
people. I was so angry withhim because I don't want another dog.

(27:08):
I just lost. You know,I'm not in the mood for this.
I spiraled horribly, and then Isaid, you know what, my husband's
not going to steer me wrong.He's like, let's go to this class,
let's let's see what's going on.And here I am standing with my
husband. I'm watching people like Amandalike Pipe with their dogs and everyone else.
I'm like, I can never beas good as these people. Lies.

(27:33):
But it comes, it goes througheverybody's head and it's like I'm watching
these dogs, all breeds, allsizes, and these people are so amazing.
I'm like, how am I evergoing to get there? But with
time and patience, the tears,the frustration, the happiness. Everybody cheered
each other on. That was thebest thing about coming is that I found

(27:56):
that I'm not alone. I don'thave to know. Nobody asked me the
details of my traumas. But we'reall in the same boat one way or
another. And I know after mygraduation yesterday, and I'll never be alone.
So anyway, freedom came to meThanksgiving weekends for a home visit and

(28:18):
then she never left. She stayedwith me. So we use emdr therapy.
I have my service animal. Andhere's to a brighter future. Oh,
most definitely, and thank you foryour sacrifice as well. And again
I've been an MP and correction officerand want to be a Florida Higway patrol
guy. And I understand you're ontwenty four to seven is like I call

(28:41):
it. It doesn't turn off ever, not on off. It's the dimersh
which off or slightly off or youknow, blinding like always on. And
the responsibilities and the pressures and theburdens that we carry just by the nature
of what we do or what Iused to do. I get it.
And it's not something you can likeshare at home at the kitchen table.

(29:04):
You guys go and it's a pressurecooker after a while. And I don't
have a service anable yet. Andthat's say I can't call it. I
call a service family member. Ilike that. You're going to get a
four legged battle buddy. Yes,sir, a service You're going to get
a battle four legged battle buddy.It works for me. Whatever and battle

(29:26):
I always envisioned. You'll sit downand I'll do like my little chie and
then my dog will find me.That's how I am. That's how it
works. They choose you. Wegot lucky because freedom kind of chose both
of us. My husband's a firstresponder also he's retired of d n Y
works for Thank You for your Secondabsolutely, so we kind of take turns

(29:48):
with her, and it's pretty impressiveto see that she's so great with both
of us. That was really cool. Like I, like you said,
like, we don't really ask eachother a whole lot of like terribly personal
questions at training only because obviously weall know why we're there. We all
have a need for a service animal. So those details. Is not to
say they don't matter, it's justwe don't need to get into that because
we have a mutual recognition of theneed and why we're there. But the

(30:12):
cool thing was seeing you and Martinhandling Freedom at training. That was so
cool. Like at first I waskind of like, okay, so whose
service dog is she? But atthe same time, I was like,
that's pretty cool that you can.Actually y'all got a three four on that
one because you are able to savetwo legged people and a four legged So

(30:36):
that was pretty neat. And thefact that like Freedom listens to both of
you, she is able to assistboth of you with the tasks that she's
trained to do, that's pretty cool. And I mean that's another piece of
it. Just so y'all know.I mean, I know, unfortunately,
sometimes service dogs get a bit ofa bad rap. Unfortunately, there are
people who will slap a vest ontheir dog and say it's a service animal

(30:56):
when that dog has not been formalproperly trained. But the true essence of
a service animal is obviously going throughproperly accredited programs. But also the dogs
aren't just trained to do things likesit or you know, lay down or
anything like that. They're also tryingto perform tasks that are specific to their

(31:18):
handler's needs. So that might bepicking stuff up off the floor for them
if they drop it because maybe theyhave neuropathy and a bad back, or
it might be that they are ableto do. I believe it's called deep
pressure therapy where and my dog istrained for that. So I mean,
anxiety, it comes out of nowhere. And I think a lot of us

(31:40):
in the veteran community, whether werealize it or not, it's it's there,
especially if you've been in for alittle while, or depending on your
experiences while you were in, youmight have only been in two years,
four years, but some experience mighthave you know, caused you to suddenly
have anxiety or PTSD where you didn'thave that before. And sometimes in just
everyday life, something will come outof nowhere, yeah, and it will

(32:05):
just blindside you. It's like beinghit by a bus. And with the
deep pressure therapy, it's like allthat dog has to do is basically put
their hands on you, put theirweight while their hands their paws on you,
their weight on you, and justputting that pressure on there kind of
helps, I guess, distract orkind of relieve, Yeah, relieve some
of that some of that anxiety,some of that tension, some of that

(32:30):
kind of I call it lock upthat comes from a really debilitating anxiety or
panic attack. So these dogs,I mean, they're they're trained to do
any number of tasks depending on whatthe handler is in need of and exactly.
And so that's the really cool thingabout wolfhounds is that not only do

(32:51):
they teach them like the basic caninegood citizen, you know, skills for
being out in public, being amongstother people, and functioning like respectful member
of society. I almost think somehumans could benefit from that, but that's
just me. We do say thatit's much easier to train the dog than
these humans. I believe that butyeah, I mean, so it's like

(33:14):
so much goes into it because it'snot just Kenine good citizen. It's also
those specific tasks. And the nicething about it is we were always able
to ask for help whether we werein the group, and it was kind
of like okay, guys, likewhat do you think about this? Or
like we'd bounce stuff off of eachother, but we also always asked our
trainers like what do you think aboutthis video? Does this make sense on

(33:35):
how to train this? Or doyou have suggestions of how to train this?
And I know for one of ourother tasks, it's retrieval because there
are just days where for me tolean over and get something it will hurt.
And so just because of stuff thatI went through while I was in
the military. But anyway, somy dog, it's like you said earlier,

(33:57):
Melanie, it's every dog learns differently, and every dog learns on their
own pace, and mine is he'spart Schnauzer and part poodle, so Schnauzer
equals stubborn. I really think that'slike a German synonym for stubborn. But
anyways, so it's kind of hardsometimes to teach him things, and so
I've had to try multiple different approachesto get him to work that task,

(34:19):
and one of the trainers, Michelle, actually gave me like fantastic advice on
how to just baby step him becausehe's one of those dogs you cannot push
him. You cannot, you know, sometimes for some dogs it's like this
method will work well for my dog. It's like if where there's a straight
line, you drop. He's likeme, like, that's why we drive
drawsquiggly line in eight gazillion different directionsand then you get to the endpoint and

(34:45):
that's my dog too. So it'sbeen so helpful to have that kind of
support base and be able to tapinto that to get our dogs trained.
And Nancy, I think too,you had a really interesting facet. Tell
us how you and Freed, Well, you, Martin, and Freedom kind
of came to be paired together becausefrom what I understand, she had previously

(35:07):
been in training but with a differenthandler, right, and then she came
to you. Yeah, so Freedom, I'm assuming the previous owner surrendered her
and I was told that, youknow, there was another dog involved and
she was attacked and Freedom did notdisplay any of the aggressions or any behaviors

(35:32):
that led us to believe that shewould be any kind of problem. I
know I have a senior cat,and there was a concern about that too,
But I have so many pictures ofthem just laying back to back or
cuddled up with one another. Itwas more me. I think Pepe hit
the nail on the head when hesaid, oh, what am I going
to do? I know from myfirst class, I went in without a

(35:54):
dog and I was watching everyone elsedo their amazing training. I on the
car ride home, I had atleast thirty seven questions of how to handle
different things, and the more Ithought about it, the more questions I
had. But Freedom has been atrue blessing. She has saved our lives.

(36:15):
I'm not sure if that's kind ofthe direction. That's what it's all
about. Has saved our lives,she continues to save mine. And the
way that I see it as I'mgoing to do absolutely everything I can to
give her everything that she needs forher life while she's dedicated to me.
My side question that I have isthrough Wolfhounds, you're an accredited organization.

(36:37):
Correct. Yes. The reason I'masking that question is because months ago I
did some extensive research with the VA, and they have a program that through
accredited programs, they pay one hundredpercent for the medical costs of the service
family member, as I will callthem. Not too many people know about

(36:59):
that. Well, we are acandidate in that program. Yes, and
it's called Assistance Dog International. Yes, it is a very hard program to
get into. We are a candidateand we are trying to be accredited.
Once we become accredited, then AmandaNancy can come in and what will happen

(37:22):
is you'll get recertified, all right. And then once you have that recertification,
which Freedom and Nancy did yesterday,you can apply to the VA and
they're in there and their job isto make sure that your service family member
is maintained. Yes, do havethe life of there. We have a
two year there's a two year expirationreally, yes, so every two years

(37:45):
you must come back in and getit. Just like the military. You
got to come back and recall.Do you have to be is going to
pay for something if you're in,if you're not on the open up?
I agree, but I would saythat there are many I guess service animal
training programs and I'm like going,well, I mean it's portioned of the

(38:06):
VA, like going, do youguys do this? And they're like going,
huh huh exactly. And one ofthe things one of my frustrations is
that the VIA doesn't really advertise that. No. And also President Biden signed
the Pause Act. Yes, andthat was something similar I believe it was
last year. Okay, and thatwas something similar. But you must be

(38:28):
in order to get the VA topay, Yes, you must be accredited.
So you know, I gotta getthat. Yet that little thing that
we had here case that's invaluable.I was going to say, yeah,
we can absolutely get more information toall of you about that. For those
of you who are in southwest Florida, you can go to the Wolfhounds Legacy
website, which is I believe it'sWolfhounds Legacy dot org. Yep. So

(38:54):
you can go to Wolfhounds Legacy dotorg if you want to get more information,
if you want to apply, it'snot a terribly difficult application process through
them. I had to fire offa couple of secure messages to some of
my providers to ask them to writea letter because you do have to have
a recommendation letter, but you alsohave to fill out an application to kind

(39:15):
of give a little more information toMelanie Mark and the team so that they
can help pair you with the bestpossible service animal to meet your needs.
And so that is the whole pointis rescuing dogs from high kill shelters,
from just less than ideal situations toallow them to really achieve their own maximum

(39:37):
potential and really experience the purpose andthe love and the bond of being a
service animal to a veteran or afirst responder. And we've seen like Peppi
talked about, like Nancy has talkedabout. I mean, we had folks
show up at training. One guyin particular, he actually asked me to

(39:59):
kind of share a lo little biton his behalf, Matt Moses. If
you're listening, Matt has a dognamed Mollie. Matt is a He was
a firefighter. And when Matt firstshowed up to training, it was like
you could feel the nervousness just comingoff of him. He was just a
bundle of nerves, very shy,very quiet, didn't really interact, but

(40:21):
he wasn't rude at all. Hewas just very very quiet, very extremely
introverted, and through Wolfhounds, likewe saw Matt basically come back to life.
Like I mean, he started talking. We saw him smiling, laughing,
joking. His dog, Mollie islike part of Odin's core, you
know, pack I guess his innercircle at training. So it's Odin,

(40:46):
Mollie and Yuki. She's a Sheba, you knew. And I mean these
three are just they're when they're together, they're all more confident, they're all
calmer, and I mean Matt hasjust he's come out of a shell,
Oh my goodness. And he takesMolly to work with him and she's such
a help to him at work.And so it's just it's been so fantastic

(41:10):
to see changes in people from dayone. Because we might not notice it
in ourselves. Other people probably do, but we don't notice it in ourselves.
It's so much easier to notice itin those around us. And that's
that's the power of the program.I mean, like Matt has helped me
with things from a training standpoint,from from a medical standpoint, you know,

(41:31):
and it just he's given me suchgreat advice and just we've had such
wonderful conversations. I mean, Iwould have never known him. I would
have never had those experiences if notfor wolfhounds, that's what brought us all
together. So socialization basically for thefor the dog handler or the service family

(41:51):
member handler, you're being reintegrated andit requires you to exay certain social skills.
So absolutely, just like there weall have our baggage, but forces
us to unload that bagage like intointeract correct So I'm like, it's it's
therapeutic. Well, just like thedogs kind of form a pack, I
mean, the handlers, we arewe're a community, like I can confidently

(42:15):
say, like I think yesterday Nancy'shusband Martin and my husband Brandon pretty much
struck up a bromance. So wewill be oh yeah, we will be
hanging out. We have so muchin common it's almost scary and the best
way, Yeah, it is,And it's like it's wonderful because when you
leave, when you leave fraternal circleslike the military, like law enforcement,

(42:36):
corrections, you know, whatever thecase might be, there is some camaraderie
in those settings. There is andwhen you leave those settings, especially like
I mean, we're one hundred milesaway really from the nearest base mcdill's,
like whate hundred five miles north atleast, so when you're so far removed
from that, it takes a whileto kind of find your feet again and

(42:58):
kind of find that community. Andfor some people, they don't want to
return to that community. And that'sperfectly understandable and okay. But the fraternal
bond, the community, the camaraderiepiece of it is something that I mean,
I don't know. I know Imissed some of that kind of structure
and some of that bond with otherpeople. And Wolfhounds again has has brought

(43:22):
some of that to me. LikeI have a bunch of friends that now
live an hour south of me,which is cool. Yeah, which is
And I just want to interject fora minute. Is a good parent,
which Wolfhounds is. A good parentraises their children to be independent into go
off like a mama bird, gofly. You know, I don't have

(43:44):
to worry about you anymore. Iwill in the back. You'll always be
in the background, saying I knowin the beginning you did, But that's
a parent's job. Yeah, tolet you go, to let you grow,
and you're independent. So we've doneour job. We've met, you
have now meshed with others. Sonow you've started your building box and you

(44:08):
just go up. We're there asthe base, as the foundation, but
you're growing exactly for sure. AndI mean, it's just it's so incredible
the opportunity that we're given, becauseI mean, it doesn't I don't take
it lightly to know, like havingmy dog as a service dog, like

(44:28):
that's a huge responsibility for me aswell. And I'm sure Nancy you would
agree. It's just it's humbling,but at the same time it's kind of
neat. Like I don't know aboutyou, but yesterday when I got home,
I was like, oh my gosh, we actually graduated this program.
Like we did it. It's done. And that was like six months or

(44:49):
so because we started in I thinkwe had orientation in September. We had
our first class in October, andwe met two days a week for about
an hour apiece to go over things, and we did our last I think
our last meeting was in April,near the end of April, and so
that was about a solid six anda half months really of meeting twice a

(45:12):
week to do this. And thenthere was homework for sure, like you
had to go home and there wasalways home. Oh yeah, you had
to watch videos like it never stops. It's like you know, training and
readiness, it never stops. Ifyou're really working to something like that,
you have to kind of do itpretty regularly. So we would be working
with our dogs at home on certainthings, so the next time they came
to training, hopefully they were alittle bit better with it. And it

(45:37):
was just it's a huge commitment,but in a way, after a while,
it just becomes part of the routineand so it's it's not a burden.
I mean, in the beginning,it's a little overwhelming. I think
any kind of change like that toyour schedule, to your lifestyle is a
little overwhelming. It you've been hearingbasic training, basic training exactly. You
had just changed location. Things fallinto a rhythm and it's nice because just

(46:00):
like basic training, Melanie and thenwill tell you where to be and when
to be there, which is great, so you don't have to think too
hard about it. You just haveto do your piece at home, practicing
and trying to help, you know, trying to bond with your dog and
also trying to help your dog learnthe tasks they need to learn. But
yeah, it's great. I mean, they'll tell you where we're meeting.

(46:20):
When we're meeting, and then whenwe get to training, it's it was
nice because there there was structure,but at the same time, sometimes if
an opportunity presented itself, the structurewould kind of be set aside for that
session and it would be hey,let's focus on this and discussing the reasons
behind it, like it's not justdo this or you know, it's not

(46:42):
robotic. It was very much.Yeah, it was a multi tiered approach,
like we would learn why they needto know how to do this or
what's the benefit, and you know, different ways to teach it depending on
how the dog would learn or howhow the handler was able to maneuver.
Really because I mean we had somefolks that you know, maybe had some

(47:04):
mobility issues or something like that.So yeah, so it was just it's
a fantastic program. And you alsohave a chapter in Wisconsin, correct,
So if we have veterans that arelistening who are up north, if you're
in Wisconsin, it's possible that youcould live close to that chapter. When
you go to the Wolfhound's Legacy website, there is a tab on there that

(47:27):
kind of breaks down some of thestructures so that you can figure out how
to contact the chapter that's up inWisconsin. But there are so many programs
around the country, so no,not enough programs around the country. So
if you hear that, and ifyou know you have a dog training background,
you know that there's a need.So if you're if you're interested at

(47:50):
all, definitely as a veteran,plug into the VA and try to find
out what those resources are in yourarea. But if you're in Southwest Florida,
Well Founds Legacy has you're back andwill definitely help rescue you and rescue
a dog to pair you with.And for you veterans out there listening,
I don't to remember this. Weare designed to be independent, fully functional

(48:14):
soldiers, Marines, air corpsmen,semen, the whole nine nine yards were
built to be independent. But inthat being said, you're not alone.
Don't be able to put yourself inthat silo. And after service, like
I said before earlier in the show, we come back with an expectation to
try to go back to who weused to be. I'm going to let

(48:35):
you know, fools errand you mustaccept who you are no matter how it
may look. We come with ourbaggage depending on what we've done. Embrace
who you are and accept where youare. To move forward, you need
certain and new materials. These serviceanimal, these service family members, I
will call them, they are thekey to find continuity with ourselves and with

(48:58):
them. And remember you're not justsaving yourself. You're gonna have a battle
for the rest of your life thatknows you better than yourself. When you're
about to have anxiety attacked, highblood pressure, I've seen it. It
is uncanny. I've seen one Servicefamily member, you know, my friends
sugar is getting high and gave asa reminder to either take insulin or eat
a cookie. The point in thematter is, do not sit there and

(49:20):
suffer in silence. There's no strengthin that. It is not It is
painful suffering. And I'm speaking frompersonal experience because pride can be a mastard.
Oops, sorry about that. Uh. Being prideful and being all this
and sometimes the ribbons get in theway of our mission are personal missions.

(49:42):
So the Wolfhound Legacy Group and manyother versions of them, they are phenomenal.
And by the way, how canthey find you if they're in Florida?
At what website? Phone number?Can they call? It? Contact
you okay. The telephone number istwo three nine six oh one six seven,
and our website is Wolfhounds Legacy dotorg, or you can email Wolfhound's

(50:07):
Legacy gmail at gmail dot com.Outstanding. And I want to say one
thing before we potentially wrap up.I had an individual cape crow who had
a I guess a uh a poundand I haven't I talked to them maybe
four or three months ago, andI had nowhere to go with them the
same way. They want to pairup with. They have animals to help.

(50:30):
They want to see their dogs beretrained. If they can either they
can be a service or emotional supportfor like a veterans hospital. I think
that's what you're talking. I havenot given them a reference. Is it
positive for me to pass out onto you guys? Because they're looking for
they want they want to help.Sure, you can give them our number.

(50:50):
I just know how well. Youdon't have to speak with them to
see what we could do. Theywant to sit there and mind me.
I said, I'll be I'll giveyou in phone number. You guys figure
out stuff. I'm just that's onmy leg. Yeah, if it's an
option, you'll find a way,Melanie, you bet I appreciate that.
Yes, absolutely, Well, wewould just want to say thank you to
Melanie, Jacob Bailey, Nancy Ortizand Freedom and Pepy Pool, who he

(51:15):
had to hop off the phone alittle bit earlier he had an appointment.
But thank you so much for beingon the show and talking to us about
graduation and the process with Wolfhounds andjust the amazing work that y'all do and
will continue to do. I mean, I know Nancy, I probably speak
for both of us, like we'reboth very excited to continue helping this program
succeed. And I love that you'lllove this serge. Their motto is no

(51:39):
hero walks alone. I love it. I'm taking it. So there you
go, so very shortly you shan'tbe walking alone. You heard it,
And we'll have you back on ashow when I'm at that point. Possibly.
Yes, well, I was gonnasay, there's five of us in
the room. There's two dogs.I know there's another room for a dog
over there. Oh yeah, yeahthere is. OHR sure, be very

(52:04):
happy to help you. Thank youvery much, and we're honored to have
you on our show. Thank you, Thank you too. Easy. It's
therapeutic, all right, folks,once again, I'm thankful for our guests
that we had here today and alwaysit's always been a pleasure and autor have
them here. And are we're hereis because all you're out there, we've
all walked in your shoes. You'renot by yourself, and I know asking

(52:29):
for help can be painful. Welllet me tell you something again. It's
not a handout. It's a handup. And as you're sorry, I'm
telling you do not sit there byyourself and suffer. If I got a
fuck, come find I'm going todrag out off the bed and bring you
to these people, because I'm gonnatell you something to Guests on our show
are here for us. They areus, and you got anything else to

(52:49):
share with them. If you're inSouthwest Florida, mark your calendar for May
twenty second. How many y'all probablyhave bags or boxes of stuff that you
need to shred and you just haven'tgotten around it. Well, guess what
Wednesday, May twenty second is yourlucky day. From ten am to noon
at ten ten Northeast ninth Street inCape Coral, there will be a shred

(53:10):
event brought to you by Compass,Rows Management and CRM maintenance services. This
will be a benefit for Wolfhound's Legacy. So if you want to support Wolfhounds,
bring all your shred of bulls,all your goodness to this event.
Just make sure you do things likeremove all the paper clips, staples,
other bindings. You can't leave yourcardboard boxes there at the event, and

(53:31):
the shredding will be accepted until theshred truck reaches capacity. So remember,
this event goes from ten to noonand they're asking for a voluntary donation of
five dollars per bag or box,the proceeds of which will benefit Wolfhound's Legacy.
So you will, in essence behelping to save lives by participating in
this event. So again, reallyit's Wednesday, May twenty second, ten

(53:53):
am to noon at ten ten Northeastninth Street in Cape Coral, Florida,
So hopefully you can make it outthere and support a fantastic cause like Wolfhounce Legacy.